Manzanar War Relocation Center records, 1942-1946

Summary

Creators:

Manzanar War Relocation Center

Abstract:

The Manzanar War Relocation Center was located in the Owens Valley in Central California. The United States Army initially established the camp as the Owens Valley Reception Center under the management of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), March-May 1942. On June 1, 1942, Manzanar was reconstituted as a War Relocation Authority (WRA) center. Its peak population was 10,121, and the majority of its internees came from pre-World War II Japanese American communities in the Los Angeles basin. The collection consists of files collected and maintained by Ralph Palmer Merritt (Director of the Japanese Relocation Center at Manzanar, California) including files of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), the War Relocation Authority (WRA) records and correspondence from April 1942-December 1945, a history of the Manzanar Center (5 volumes), daily records of the Block Managers, Ralph Merritt's office files, and a two volume index of all evacuees at Manzanar. There are also books, clippings, copies of the Congressional Record, reprints of committee hearings, and magazines documenting the history of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States and their internment and military service, photographs and photographic negatives documenting activities and people at Manzanar, and approximately 170 photographs by Ansel Adams of the Manzanar War Relocation Center on 14 x 18 inch mats. The collection also contains copies of various newspapers and printed materials such as the Manzanar Free Press.

Extent:

68 boxes (34 linear ft.) 39 oversize boxes

Language:

Finding aid is written in English.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of files collected and maintained by Ralph Palmer Merritt, Director of the Japanese Relocation Center at Manzanar, California. Includes files of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) and the War Relocation Authority (WRA) records and correspondence from April 1942-December 1945. Also includes a history of the Manzanar Center (5 volumes), daily records of the Block Managers, Ralph Merritt's office files, and a two volume index of all evacuees at Manzanar. Books, clippings, copies of the Congressional Record, reprints of committee hearings, and magazines document the history of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States and their internment and military service. Approximately 100 photographs and 400 photographic negatives in the collection document activities and people at Manzanar. Includes approximately 170 photographs by Ansel Adams of the Manzanar War Relocation Center on 14 x 18 inch mats. The collection also contains copies of various newspapers and printed materials such as the Manzanar Free Press.

Biographical / historical:

The Manzanar War Relocation Center was located in the Owens Valley in Central California; the site was used by Paiute-Shoshone Indians for centuries until it became a Euro-American fruit-growing settlement, 1910-35; the United States Army initially established the camp as the Owens Valley Reception Center under the management of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), March-May 1942; on June 1, 1942, Manzanar was reconstituted as a War Relocation Authority (WRA) center; its peak population was 10,121, and the majority of its internees came from pre-World War II Japanese American communities in the Los Angeles basin; Manzanar was declared a state historical landmark in 1972, a national historical landmark in 1985, and a National Historic Site (managed by the National Park Service administration under the United States Department of the Interior) in 1992.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Ralph Palmer Merritt, 1946.

Finding aid and digital representations of archival material funded in part by a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

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Physical location:

Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

Japanese American Research Project collection of material about Japanese in the United States (Collection 2010) . Available at Library Special Collections, UCLA.

Japanese American Research Project - Fading Footsteps of the Issei (Collection 2010) . Available at Library Special Collections, UCLA.

Separated material:

• Extra copies of publications and printed material about Japanese in the United States, in California, and in the Armed Services, and about Japanese relocation. These have been filed in the California Ephemera Collection (Collection 200) . See “Japanese in America.”
• The broadsides of the Civilian Exclusion Orders were a gift of the Bancroft Library, 1969, as were the smaller duplicates.

The broadsides are in the Manzanar War Relocation Center records (Collection 122) , Portfolio 74, while the duplicate smaller set is filed in the California Ephemera collection (Collection 200) . See “Japanese in California.”

Both collections are available at UCLA Library Special Collections.

Other descriptive data:

Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online: Manzanar War Relocation Center records (354 items).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945--Archival resources.
negatives.
Photographs.

Location of this collection:

UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library

A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library

Box 951575

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US

Contact:

(310) 825-4988

AskLSC@library.ucla.edu

Website