Muramoto (Walter) Collection, 1942-1945

Collection context

Summary

Title:
Walter Muramoto Collection
Dates:
1942-1945
Creators:
Muramoto, Walter
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Gift of Walter Muramoto Family, Japanese American National Museum, 97.292

Background

Scope and content:

361 black and white photographs of daily life in camp in Rohwer, Arkansas.

Biographical / historical:

Walter Wataru Muramoto (1915-1984) was an amateur photographer from Redondo Beach, California. Muramoto, a nisei, learned about taking pictures from his father, a photographer who specialized in school photos in Japan. While incarcerated at Rohwer concentration camp with his family from 1942 to 1945, Muramoto became known as the unofficial camp photographer. He was often asked to photograph events and people in camp with the camera he had borrowed from a Buddhist reverend. The collection consists of over 300 loose prints that document daily life at the Arkansas camp.

Custodial history:

Gift of Walter Muramoto family.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Japanese American National Museum staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Snowden Becker
Date Prepared:
© 2001
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid derived from FilemakerPro 5 Database developed by the UC Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive. Date of source: 5/22/2001

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research by appointment. Please contact the Japanese American National Museum's Collections Management and Access Unit at (213) 830-5615 or collections@janm.org to schedule an appointment.

Terms of access:

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).

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Gift of Walter Muramoto Family, Japanese American National Museum, 97.292

Location of this collection:
Collections Management & Access Unit
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012, US
Contact:
213-625-0414