Kruska Japanese Internment Collection, 1905-2013 and undated

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Summary

Creators:
Kruska, Dennis G.
Abstract:
Dennis G. "Denny" Kruska, a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles, Hughes Aircraft physicist, venture capitalist researcher, printing consultant, historical author and bibliographer and collector of Yosemite and Sierra Nevada materials amassed this collection of Japanese American internment items. The collection covers a wide variety of materials, ranging from 1905 to 2013 which are arranged into six series, with like materials being grouped together, including newspapers and clippings, photographs, postal materials, printed matter, realia, and research materials.
Extent:
7.2 Linear Feet (2 document boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English , Japanese .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Kruska Japanese Internment collection (H.Mss 1047). Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection covers a wide variety of materials, including newspapers and clippings, photographs, postal materials, printed matter, realia, and research materials regarding Japanese American internment during World War II. Newspaper clippings about the beginning of the process of exclusion of Japanese Americans and memorialization throughout the century are included. Photographs ranging from evacuation of Japanese Americans to relocation centers to life in internment camps are also included. Postal covers, a postcard and letters, various forms of propaganda, including anti-Japanese and pro-Japanese propaganda, pamphlets, brochures, and newsletters from as recently as 2010 are also some of the materials in the collection. Artifacts are from Japanese internment camps and relocation centers, ranging from authentic materials, like a wooden "laundry" sign, to tourism souveniers, like a tea towel. Documents used by Dennis Kruska for background to the collection are also included, such as short articles, website pages, and correspondence with people donating items to Kruska.

Biographical / historical:

Dennis G. "Denny" Kruska was trained as a cloud physicist at UCLA and worked for Hughes Aircraft for 25 years. He has also been known as a venture capitalist researcher, a printing consultant, historical author and bibliographer who has published a number of works mostly on the high Sierra and Yosemite. These works include Sierra Nevada big trees: history of the exhibitions, 1850-1903 (Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1985), Bibliography of Yosemite, the central and the southern High Sierra, and the Big Trees, 1839-1900 in collaboration with L. W. Currey (Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1992), Twenty-five letters from Norman Clyde, 1923-1964 in collaboration with Chester Versteeg and Clyde Norman (Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1998), A celebration of Clifton F. Smith's life, 1920-1999 : a Santa Barbara native son in collaboration with Clifton F. Smith (Sherman Oaks, Cal.: the author, 1999) and others.

As a collector, Kruska's main collecting focus has always been Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. However, through stories told by his mother about a friend's "disappearance" following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, later contacts with Japanese American co-workers at Hughes Aircraft and close family friends, Kruska developed a curiosity about the Japanese American internment experience. He began collecting material dealing with "America's injustice to the Japanese people during WWII, especially Manzanar material, since it is on the border of the Sierra Nevada, my main collecting interest." (Kruska, 2014).

Acquisition information:
Collection was partially gifted by and purchased from Dennis Kruska in May 2013.
Processing information:

Processed by Phoebe Huth in 2014 in the Claremont Center for Engagement with Primary Sources (CCEPS), with assistance from Lisa Crane. Overall, the collection is in good condition. Newspaper clippings were photocopied onto acid free paper and the original discarded; however entire newspapers were kept in their original format. Photographs were placed in mylar sleeves. The collector, Dennis Kruska, did not arrange the collection prior to it being received by Special Collections; the arrangement was created by the processor. Monograph items were removed from the collection, added to Special Collections' monograph collection and cataloged in the online catalog for the Claremont Colleges Library. These items can be located in the catalog using the keyword search term "Kruska Japanese Internment Collection".

Arrangement:

This collection has been organized into the following series:

  • Series 1: Newspapers and clippings, 1905-2013 and undated
  • Series 2: Photographs, 1942-2000 and undated
  • Series 3: Postal materials, 1913-1991 and undated
  • Series 4: Printed matter, 1942-2010 and undated
  • Series 5: Realia, 1945 and undated
  • Series 6: Research materials, 1917-2013 and undated

The materials have been arranged alphabetically by folder title within each series.

Accruals:

No additions to the collection are anticipated.

Physical location:
Please consult repository.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Kruska Japanese Internment collection (H.Mss 1047). Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, California.

Location of this collection:
800 N. Dartmouth Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711, US
Contact:
(909) 607‑3977
specialcollections@claremont.edu
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