Finding Aid for the Collection of Material about Japanese American Internment, 1929-1956 bulk 1942-1946

Series 1: War Relocation Authority (WRA), 1942-1945.

Physical Description: 2 boxes.

Scope and Content Note

Publications and speeches sponsored by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Includes annual and semi-annual reports for the years 1942 through 1946, assorted pamphlets advocating Japanese Americans internment, resettlement, and enlistment in the armed forces, and transcripts of speeches by Dillon S. Myer, Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA).

Box 1, Folder 1

Quarterly report. 1942 March 18-June 30.

Scope and Content Note

Report includes chronology detailing internment process from 1941 December 7 to 1942 June 29. Gives brief descriptions of relocation center sites.

Box 1, Folder 2

Quarterly report. 1942 July 1-September 30.

Scope and Content Note

Report covers employment statistics within internment camps, leave regulations, college student relocation, and general aspects of life in internment camps, such as education, mess operations, religious activities, and the fears and anxieties of internees.

Box 1, Folder 3

Quarterly report. 1942 October 1-December 31.

Scope and Content Note

Report covers general aspects of life in internment camps, including relocation progress, employment of internees, and repatriation. Includes description of disturbances at both Poston and Manzanar.

Box 1, Folder 4

Semi-annual report. 1943 January 1-June 30.

Scope and Content Note

Report covers general aspects of life in relocation centers, including mess hall operations, recreation, and education. Also details senate subcommittee investigation, Spanish Consular visit, isolation procedures, and segregation procedures for pro-Japanese and pro-American internees.

Box 1, Folder 5

Semi-annual report. 1943 July 1-December 31.

Scope and Content Note

Report covers general aspects of life in internment camps, including segregation process and problems. Details Tule Lake incident and November 1 demonstration at Tule Lake Hospital. Fold-out map of Tule Lake included.

Box 1, Folder 6

Semi-annual report. 1944 January 1-June 30.

Scope and Content Note

Documents the WRA's transfer from independent war agency to Department of the Interior. Includes general description of life in interment camps, including reaction of internees and enlistment. Includes report of the House Sub-Committee on the Tule Lake Incident, the closing of the Jerome Relocation Center, and tables and charts showing average relocation center populations.

Box 1, Folder 7

Semi-annual report. 1945 January 1-June 30.

Scope and Content Note

Report discussed resettlement procedures, housing problems, internee attitudes, the children's village at Manzanar, and labor attitudes of the CIO and AFL. Details the West Coast opposition toward Japanese American resettlement, including boycotts and terrorist incidents; legal issues regarding ownership of property included.

Box 1, Folder 8

Semi-annual report. 1945 July 1-December 31.

Scope and Content Note

Report summarizes resettlement, liquidation, and departure process from various camps. Resettlement issues of Tule Lake internees are discussed, including renunciants and the declining influence of the Hoshidan (pro-Japanese societies).

Box 1, Folder 9

Final semi-annual report. 1946 January 1-June 30.

Scope and Content Note

Report documents the end of the WRA, as of June 30, 1946, including the relocation of Tule Lake residents; renunciant hearings; closing of Tule Lake; and a general summary of internment processes.

Box 2, Folder 1

Address. Ben Kuroki. 1944 February 4.

Scope and Content Note

Address by Sergeant Ben Kuroki, U.S. Army Air Force, before the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA (sponsored by the WRA). Details Kuroki's experience with racial prejudice while in the army, and calls for the humane treatment of Japanese Americans in the future. Kuroki was previously awarded with two Distinguished Flying Cross Medals.

Box 2, Folder 2

Address. Dillon S. Myer. "One Thousandth of A Nation". 1944 March 23.

Scope and Content Note

Address by the Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), before a joint meeting of civic organizations in Salt Lake City, UT. Includes descriptions of life in the camps, and argues for the resettlement of Japanese Americans.

Box 2, Folder 3

Address. Dillon S. Myer. "Problems of Evacuee Resettlement in California". 1945 June 19.

Scope and Content Note

Address by the Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), at Eagle Rock, CA. Provides brief overview of relocation process after 1943, and argues for resettlement of Japanese Americans.

Box 2, Folder 4

Address. Dillon S. Myer. "Relocation Problems and Policies". 1944 March 14.

Scope and Content Note

Address by the Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), before the Tuesday Evening Club at Pasadena, CA. Details the operations of the relocation centers in response to Hearst papers' claims that internees were coddled; Meyer also contends that Japanese Americans must be protected and allowed to resettle.

Box 2, Folder 5

Address. Dillon S. Myer. "The Facts About the War Relocation Authority". 1944 January 21.

Scope and Content Note

Address by the Director of the War Relocation Authority (WRA), before a luncheon meeting of the Los Angeles Town Hall, Los Angeles, CA.

Box 2, Folder 6

Community Government in War Relocation Centers. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Report on the development of internal governments run by internees. Subjects include the problems and confusion surrounding the Poston Strike and Manzanar Riot, community organization, and the future of Japanese American communities. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 7

The Evacuated People: A Quantitative Description. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Report on the experiences of internees at relocation centers, specifically moving, segregation, settling into camps, and resettlement. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 8

Impounded People: Japanese Americans in the Relocation Centers. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Report on constitutional issues involved in the relocation process, the WRA's legal framework, and the organization of the Office of the Solicitor. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 9

Legal and Constitutional Phases of the WRA Program. 1945.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet designed to ease agitation and anti-Japanese American sentiment. Questions addressed include: Japanese religion and ties to emperor, Japanese Language Schools, Nisei in the Army, honesty of the Japanese as a race, assimilability of the Japanese, agricultural Competition, and coddling by the WRA.

Box 2, Folder 10

"Message from the National Director to the Residents of Relocation Centers". 1945 July 12.

Scope and Content Note

Open letter instructing internees about resettlement, including timely departure from camps and camp closing dates.

Box 2, Folder 11

Myths and Facts About the Japanese Americans: Answering Common Misconceptions Regarding Americans of Japanese Ancestry. 1945.

Scope and Content Note

Reprinted newspaper articles on the bravery and sacrifices of Japanese American soldiers in World War II. Newspapers include Los Angeles Times, Tacoma News-Times, Chicago Tribune, and Omaha World Herald.

Box 2, Folder 12

Nisei in the War Against Japan. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Illustrated pamphlet on Japanese Americans in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Battalion. Includes an article about Ben Kuroki.

Box 2, Folder 13

Nisei in Uniform. 1945.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet on the segregation of Tule Lake internees, including living conditions, improvement in public attitudes, and the records of Japanese American soldiers.

Box 2, Folder 14

Press releases. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

WRA press releases on subjects related to internees. Two items commemorate the military service of Japanese Americans, including the 110th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Box 2, Folder 15

Relocating Japanese Americans. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Statistics on internees, including marriage and divorce rates, numbers of renunciants, population at Tule Lake, and age composition of relocation center populations. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 16

The Relocation Program. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Historic overview of the WRA and events leading to its creation. Includes early internment policies, evacuation processes, and resettlement. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 17

The War Relocation Work Corps: A Circular of Information for Enlistees and Their Families. 1942.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet for Japanese Americans about internment camps, including family life, health, education, household effects, and the War Relocation Work Corps.

Box 2, Folder 18

Wartime Exile: The Exclusion of the Japanese Americans From the West Coast. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Report on the justification for internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans, including a history of Japanese travels to North America beginning 1610, and general descriptions of Japanese and Japanese American populations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 19

The Wartime Handling of Evacuee Property. 1946.

Scope and Content Note

Report on property issues created by internment, including the raid on Nichiren Temple, Los Angeles. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 2, Folder 20

War Time Authority Community Government Handbook: A Summation of the Functions, Organization, and Relocationships of the Council of Administration. 1943.

Scope and Content Note

Summary of the organization, techniques, function, and objectives of internment camp Community Councils in 1942-1943.

Box 2, Folder 21

"What We're Fighting For": Statements by United States Servicemen about Americans of Japanese Descent. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet attesting to the loyalty of Nisei soldiers.

Series 2: Internment camps, 1942-1945.

Physical Description: 1 box.

Scope and Content Note

Small publications, including yearbooks and newsletters, written and produced by Japanese American internees from the Manzanar and Minidoka internment camps, and the Camp Harmony assembly center in Puyallup, Washington.

Box 4, Folder 1

A Barrack Becomes A Home: A Cooperative Project in Homemaking by the Students of the Home Economics and Woodshop Departments of the Manzanar Secondary School. 1945 January 5.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet prepared by Beatrice White, Home Economics Supervisor, Manzanar Secondary Schools, documenting class projects. Includes photographs of typical Manzanar barrack interior, and photos of altered barracks.

Box 4, Folder 2

Camp Harmony Newsletter, v. I no. 4-[8] (complete run). 1942 May-June.

Scope and Content Note

Camp Harmony Assembly Center newsletter, Puyallup, Washington. Includes articles on daily life in the camp, such as conditions, sports, school, the assembly center, and employment.

Box 4, Folder 3

Camp Harmony Newsletter, v. I no. 9-11 (complete run). 1942 July-August.

Scope and Content Note

See above.

Box 4, Folder 4

Education Section Summary. 1945 May 31.

Scope and Content Note

Report on the closing of Manzanar's education system, prepared for Ralph P. Merritt for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Includes brief overview of pre-school, elementary, secondary school, adult education programs, and library systems. Final page includes signatures of Manzanar education staff. Cover artwork by Takamura, 1942.

Box 4, Folder 5

Lil Dan'l: One Year In A Relocation Center. 1943.

Scope and Content Note

Limited edition pictorial review documenting the first year of life in the Rohwer internment camp. Designed and illustrated by George Akimoto.

Box 4, Folder 6

Manzanar High School Year Book, "Cardinal and Gold". 1943.

Scope and Content Note

Soft cover yearbook for the Manzanar Internment Camp graduating class of summer 1943.

Box 4, Folder 7

Manzanar High School Year Book, "Our World: Manzanar, California". 1943-1944.

Scope and Content Note

Hardcover yearbook for the Manzanar Internment Camp graduating class of 1944. Illustrated.

Box 4, Folder 8

Manzanar High School Year Book, "Valediction". 1945.

Scope and Content Note

Soft cover yearbook for the Manzanar Internment Camp graduating class of 1945. Illustrated.

Box 4, Folder 9

Manzanar Libraries and Visual Aid Program. 1945 January 2.

Scope and Content Note

Report prepared by Ruth Budd, Director of School and Community Libraries. Report covers library history, staff training, fiction library, high school and elementary division. includes black and white photographs of staff and facilities.

Box 4, Folder 10

Minidoka Irrigator, v. I no. 15-20 (complete run). 1942 November.

Scope and Content Note

Minidoka Internment Camp newsletter. Includes articles on daily life in the camp, such as conditions, sports, school, and employment. Also includes Japanese Language section on back page with brief English guide.

Box 4, Folder 11

Minidoka Irrigator, v. I no. 4-14 (incomplete run). 1942 September-October.

Scope and Content Note

See above.

Box 4, Folder 12

Senior Edition: The Spot, v. III no. 7. 1944 April 6.

Scope and Content Note

Student newsletter from Manzanar, Calif. Includes senior class wills of last graduating class from Manzanar High.

Box 4, Folder 13

Toy Loan Library. ca. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet on the Manzanar Toy Loan Project, began in 1944. Topics include founding, organization, objectives, floor plan, and mimeographed forms used by the Center. Booklet also includes six black and white photographs of children at the Toy Loan Center.

Box 4, Folder 14

Trek, v. 1 no. 1. 1942 January 12.

Scope and Content Note

Special publication of Reports Division, Central Utah Relocation Project (Topaz), compiled by camp internees. Consists of short stories, essays, and a biographical sketch of Mine Okubo. Includes artwork by Mine Okubo.

Series 3: Miscellaneous, 1929-1956.

Physical Description: 1 box, 1 map folder.

Scope and Content Note

Assorted printed materials including articles, clippings, a World War II recruiting poster, publications, speeches, and theses; and a recording of a radio broadcast. Creators include the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the American Council on Public Affairs, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and various individuals.

Box 3, Folder 1

Audio recording: "Minority Report III: The Exile's Return". 1956 July 1.

Scope and Content Note

Two 10", 331/2 rpm long playing records encompassing Parts 1-4 of a special report on the Japanese American community in Los Angeles. Originally broadcast over KMX on July 1, 1956 (production of CBS-KNX News in cooperation with The Fund For The Republic).

Box 3, Folder 2

Carter, Genevieve. "Child Care and Youth Problems In A Relocation Center". 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from the Journal of Consulting Psychology (v. III no. 4), p. 219-225. Topics include the influence of the non-citizen parents on their citizen children, youth and delinquency, and the problems of younger children.

Box 3, Folder 3

Casey, Gene. "G.I. Japyank". 1944 August 5.

Scope and Content Note

Reprinted by the WRA, with permission from Collier's. Includes interview with Pvt. Mac Yazawa.

Box 3, Folder 4

Clark, Blake and Russell, Oland. "Hail Our Japanese-American GIs!". 1945 July.

Scope and Content Note

Condensed reprint from the American Mercury. Describes heroic acts by members of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Infantry Regiment.

Box 3, Folder 5

The Displaced Japanese-Americans. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Pamphlet published by the American Council on Public Affairs; text originally appeared in Fortune, April 1944, under the title "Issei, Nisei, and Kibei." Defends the position of WRA against the Hearst papers, and describes life of the internees. Calls for protection of civil liberties. Includes artwork by Mine Okubo.

Box 3, Folder 6

Excerpts and clippings. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Excerpts from American newspapers regarding Japanese Americans. Newspapers include: The Courier (Camden, NJ); Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ); The Register (Des Moines, Iowa); The Tribune (Cheyenne, WY); The Record (Philadelphia, PA); Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT); Herald and American (Chicago, IL). Topics include employment, Nisei volunteers in the armed forces, and Japanese American resentment of Japanese brutality to prisoners of war.

Box 3, Folder 7

Foote, Caleb. Outcasts! The Story of America's Treatment of Her Japanese-American Minority. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

Illustrated pamphlet. Text questions the constitutionality of internment, citing racial prejudice and political pressure as the dominant forces behind internment; describes life in the camps. loyalty, and assimilation issues.

Box 3, Folder 8

"Hawaii Soldiers Died Fighting As Loyal Americans, Col. Fielder Says". 1944 March 13.

Scope and Content Note

Copy of an address delivered by Col. Kendall Fielder on the presentation of Purple Hearts to the families of 60 Japanese American soldiers killed in action in Italy. Photographic illustrations, with an article by Elmont Waite describing the ceremony.

Box 3, Folder 9

"Klu-Kluxism on the West Coast". 1945 July 14.

Scope and Content Note

Illustrated article from Collier's, denouncing the Japanese American Exclusion League.

Box 3, Folder 10

Message from the President of the United States: "Segregation of Loyal and Disloyal Japanese in Relocation Centers". 1943 September 14.

Scope and Content Note

Message before the 78th Congress, 1st session, transmitting a report on Senate resolution no. 166 relating to segregation of loyal and disloyal Japanese in internment centers.

Box 3, Folder 11

Morimitsu, George. "These Are Our Parents". 1943 October.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from the Oct. 1943 issue of Asia and the Americas. Details the cultural and generational gap between Isei and Nisei, beliefs and values of Isei.

Box 3, Folder 12

Nishimura, M.S., et al. "The Propagation of Guayule from Cuttings". 1944 July.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from the American Journal of Botany (v. 31 no. 7), p. 412-418.

Box 3, Folder 13

O'Brien, Robert. "Reaction of the College Nisei to Japan and Japanese Foreign Policy". 1945 January.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from the Pacific Northwest Quarterly (v. 36 no. 1). Article on the experience of Nisei college students before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and their reaction to recruitment efforts of Japanese government.

Box 3, Folder 14

O'Brien, Robert. "Selective Dispersion As a Factor in the Solution of the Nisei Problem". 1944 December.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from Social Forces (v. 22 no. 2). Article examines dispersion of second generation Japanese Americans through college education as solution to assimilation process.

Box 3, Folder 15

Rice, Richard B. The Manzanar Relocation Center. 1947 August.

Scope and Content Note

Thesis. Attempts to trace the forces which created a democratic way of life in Manzanar. Topics covered include evacuation, WRA, Relocation Program, early history of Manzanar, employment problems at camp, problems with community government, and special projects.

Box 3, Folder 16

Spier, Leslie. "Growth of Japanese Children Born in America and Japan". 1929 July.

Scope and Content Note

Reprint from the University of Washington Press, University of Washington Publications in Anthropology (v. 3 no. 1), p. 1-30. Topics include observations of body characteristics of Japanese children born in the United States and Japan such as length of head, width of face, and average age of loss of teeth.

Box 3, Folder 17

Sproul, Robert Gordon. Address: "The test of a free country...". 1944 June 29.

Scope and Content Note

Copies of a speech by Dr. Robert Gordon Sproul, President of the University of California, at the California Club, Los Angeles, Calif. for the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play.

Box 3, Folder 18

Stearns, Marjorie. The History of the Japanese People in Oregon. 1937 July.

Scope and Content Note

University of Oregon Thesis Series. Topics include settlement of the Japanese in Oregon, relations between the Japanese and white residents, and anti-Japanese legislation.

Box 3, Folder 19

Tatsumi, Henry S. Language Maps: Comparative Syntactic Charts for Japanese and English. ca. 1949.

Scope and Content Note

Visual aid illustrating the patterns of Japanese and English language structure.

Box 3, Folder 20

They Work for Victory: The Story of Japanese Americans and the War Effort. 1945.

Scope and Content Note

Illustrated promotional pamphlet published by the Japanese Americans Citizens League. Advocates the efforts of Nisei, specifically service in armed forces and Nisei women working in manufacturing plant s. Includes photographs of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and Ballerina Sono Osato.

Box 3, Folder 21

Town Meeting, v. 11 no. 21. Transcript: "Who Should Control the Atomic Bomb?". 1945 September 20.

Scope and Content Note

Transcript of radio broadcast sponsored by the American Broadcasting Company. Moderated by George V. Denny, Jr. Speakers: Raymond Swing, Hanson Baldwin, Owen Brewster, and Edward R. Murrow.

Box 3, Folder 22

United States. Dept. of the Interior. Division of Budget and Administrative Management. People in Motion: The Postwar Adjustment of the Evacuated Japanese Americans. 1947.

Scope and Content Note

Report on internment, public acceptance and attitudes toward resettlement, economic adjustment of internees, evacuation loss and remedial legislation, and social adjustment. Gift of Bradford Smith.

Box 3, Folder 23

Yoshida, Shigeo. In Memoriam: An Address in Honor of the University of Hawaii Varsity Victory Volunteers Who Died In World War II. 1944.

Scope and Content Note

University of Hawaii Occasional Paper 44, Honolulu. Includes brief history of the Varsity Victory Volunteers, by Margaret Blegen.

Box 5, Map Folder 1

Poster, "Miles of Hell To Tokyo". 1945.

Scope and Content Note

World War II recruiting poster published by the War Manpower Commission. Text reads: "Miles of Hell to Tokyo! Work Where You're Needed: Consult Your U.S. Employment Service Office." Illustration by Amos Seweil.

Container List