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Title: Marion & Lorne W. Bell papers
Date: 1942-1949,1974-1978
Collection number: 88.36
Collection Size:
.4 linear feet (1 box)
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Creator: Bell, Marion
Creator: Bell, Lorne W.
Abstract: This collection contains the materials collected and created primarily by Marion Bell, dating from 1942 to 1978. The contents
are primarily watercolor paintings and woodblock prints of the Topaz Relocation Center, as well as a diary, articles, ration
books, and books.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is
required.
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Marion & Lorne W. Bell Papers. 88.36, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Acquired in 1988 as a gift of Marion and Lorne W. Bell.
Items retain their original titles when available. The collection was processed at an earlier date; the contents were re-inventoried
and a finding aid created in 2016 by Jamie Henricks. One item may be missing – watercolor #7 in 88.36.9A watercolor portfolio.
Marion and Lorne W. Bell lived in the Los Angeles area before World War II, and were sent to be administrators at Topaz Relocation
Center from September, 1942 to October, 1943. Marion was born February 7, 1900 or 1901 in California, and died September
21, 1992 in Claremont, California. Lorne W. Bell was born in Michigan to Canadian parents, on July 16, 1901, and died in
Los Angeles on March 14, 1984. Before Topaz, Lorne worked in various jobs in Los Angeles including a fitter at a ship yard
in the 1920s, and later a secretary and administrator at the YMCA until the early 1940s. The Bells had two children, Barbara
and Lorne W. Jr.
This collection includes materials collected by and created primarily by Marion Bell, dating from 1942 to 1949 and 1974 to
1978, relating to her and her husband’s time spent at Topaz Relocation Center as administrators. The bulk of the collection
are watercolor paintings and woodblock prints created by Marion Bell, Chiura Obata, Emily Minton, and George Hibi. A handwritten
diary of Marion’s includes the first three months spent at Topaz. A transcription of the diary is available at the bottom
of this page, under additional collection guides. The collection also includes a few articles, books, and a small collection
of war ration books.
Photographs of other Topaz Relocation Center staff, including Marion and Lorne Bell, can be found online in the Eleanor Gerard
Sekerak scrapbook, Topaz Museum Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. Another Topaz administrator
family was also named Bell, and that other family had children whose pictures show up in multiple online collections. The
Japanese American National Museum has other collections of WRA staff members, including the Hugo W. Wolter papers (97.329),
and others. The museum also has extensive holdings of art by artists known by the Bells, including Hisako and George Hibi,
and Chiura Obata.
Original arrangement was preserved.
Bell, Marion
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Central Utah Relocation Center
Watercolor painting