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War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, 1942-1945
BANC PIC 1967.014--PIC
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Collection Title: War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1967.014--PIC
Extent:
88 volumes and 8 boxes (ca. 7000 photographic prints) : black and white; various sizes
317 Kodachrome slides : black and white and color
57 negatives : film, black and white 6834 digital objects
317 Kodachrome slides : black and white and color
57 negatives : film, black and white 6834 digital objects
Photographers:
War Relocation Authority Staff
Repository:
The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Languages Represented:
English
Collection stored, in part, off-site. Advance notice required for use. Restricted negatives. Use of negatives only by permission
of the Curator of Pictorial Collections, The Bancroft Library.
The photographs in this collection were taken by photographers working for the U.S. Government. Generally speaking, works
created by U.S. Government employees are not eligible for copyright protection in the United States. However the photographs
may be under copyright in some foreign countries, and privacy and publicity rights may apply.
All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Pictorial Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted
to research and educational purposes.
[Identification of item],
War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement, BANC PIC 1967.014--PIC, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Digital Representations Available
Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Library originals were scanned by project staff using a Hewlett Packard flatbed scanner. Processing of the raw scans and
creation of the master digital files was completed by Museum Informatics Project (MIP) staff. JFIF (JPEG) viewing files were
prepared by the Library Photographic Service from the MIP master files.
Title: Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Records,
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 67/14 c
Title: Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1942-1946: Field Basic Documentation
Located at the National Archives...[microform],
Identifier/Call Number: BANC FILM 1932
The Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement Photographs were originally part of the War Relocation Authority (WRA) portion
of the Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement Papers. The WRA designated the University of California, Berkeley Library
as the prime depository for WRA record materials outside the National Archives on September 7, 1945. The photographs were
transferred with the papers to The Bancroft Library July 3, 1963.
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) records represent the official documentation of the United States agency created to assume
jurisdiction over the Japanese and Japanese Americans evacuated from California, Oregon, and Washington by the Western Defense
Command, the Fourth Army, and the Wartime Civilian Control Administration (WCCA) during January/February of 1942. During its
existence from March 1942 to 1946, the WRA controlled the administration of the relocation centers, administered an extensive
resettlement program, and oversaw the details of the registration and segregation programs. Included in their records are
administrative files, official publications, reports and surveys, legal papers, correspondence, and photographs and scrapbooks.
All of the records except the photographs have been cataloged as BANC MSS 67/14 c.
It is important to note that the photograph collection, as the official documentation of the WRA, reflects the point of view
that the WRA wanted to present to the citizens of the United States during World War II. A number of photographs exist in
5 x 7 format and as enlargements that one assumes were made for public exhibition. The photographs, presumably created for
public exhibition, and the captions accompanying them written by WRA staff, present an idealistic view of the relocation centers
which clashes greatly with the harsh realities detailed by many survivors and historians in the decades following the internment.
The collection contains approximately 7000 photographs and 317 Kodachrome slides which have been arranged into 18 series (described
below). Series 1-6 and 8-11 document day-to-day life and activities in $individual relocation centers in California, Arizona,
Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas as captured by WRA photographers. The remaining series cover pre-evacuation activities
in California only; relocation of evacuees in various states; assembly centers in California; and resettlement activities,
primarily in California cities. Most of the photographs are well captioned with information on the photographer, place, date,
people, and activities featured in the photographs. Series 18 consists of Kodachrome slides for the WRA lecture "The Wrong
Ancestors", and slides of the Granada and Central Utah relocation centers.
Among the WRA photographers is Dorothea Lange. There are 691 photographs by Lange in the collection, 209 of the Manzanar Relocation
Center (Series 8), and 482 of pre-evacuation activities in California cities (Series 14). Other WRA photographers include
Francis Stewart, Hikaru Iwasaki, Joe McClelland, Tom Parker, Charles E. Mace, Gretchen Van Tassel, and others.
The bulk of the photographs are 5 x 7 inch black and white prints that are housed in 88 volumes. One additional box contains
oversize enlargements. In the container listing these enlargements are referred to as being in volume "AX1". Seven additional
boxes (stored off-site) contain oversize enlargements duplicating photographs in the volumes.
There is currently no concordance for these oversize duplicates.
WRAs original organization has been maintained for Series 1-17. Within the container listing,
Volume refers to the physical location where the Library has stored each photograph. Use this number when requesting an original
or group of original photographs. Volumes "AX1" and "AX2" refer to oversize enlargements (see above) and should be requested
as "BANC PIC 1967.014--AX box 1" (or box 2).
Section refers to the WRA drawer number where the photographs were originally stored. Letters A-J (except I) were used and correspond
to Series 1-17 as follows:
Section A: Series 1-4Section B: Series 5-7Section C: Series 8-9Section D: Series 10-11Section E: Series 12Section F: Series 13Section G: Series 14Section H: Series 15Section J: Series 16-17
WRA no. refers to WRA's original alpha-numeric numbering system. This alpha-numeric combination is written on the front of the photographs
and used to arrange them within the volumes.
Series 18 (Slides) was not numbered by WRA and therefore has only volume and item numbers within each of four sub-series.