Japanese American Relocation Collection Research Guide

For the current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Department of Occidental College Library at (323)259-2852.

Administrative Information

Access

The collections are open for research by appointment only. Appointments may be made by calling the Special Collections Department at (323)259-2852.

Accruals

Additional materials may be added to this collection.

Publication rights

Property rights reside with the Occidental College Library. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Special Collections Department at (323)259-2852.

Preferred Citation

Suggested citation of records contained in this collection is: [Identification of item], Japanese American Relocation Collection, Special Collection Department, Occidental College Library, Occidental College.

Scope and Content

The Japanese American Relocation Collection consists of correspondence, magazines, newspaper and journal articles clippings, and publications from the War Relocation Authority, religious groups, as well as civil liberties organizations. The subject of Japanese American internment is vast and widely-studied. This collection, though not possessing the breadth and depth of holdings found at repositories such as the National Archives and Records Administration, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the Bancroft Library at University of California at Berkeley, still reflects the tenor of the times. McCloy clearly chose not to "take sides" in her endeavor; using neutral languages, she wrote to organizations on both sides, those sympathetic and those hostile to Japanese Americans. Additionally, researchers will find publications authored or sponsored by the War Relocation Authority, which offer some insight to the civilian agency charged with the day-to-day operations at various relocation camps.

An unique and significant portion of the collection consists of a series of correspondence to and from Bird's office, reflecting the flurry of activities aimed at establishing a national program which would assist Japanese American college students displaced by the evacuation orders. To that end, in addition to the letters, the collection also contains meeting minutes and other publications from the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. This will draw researchers interested in how educators responded to the Japanese American internment during World War II, particularly in the little known history of Bird's efforts.

History of Collection

Since being assembled by College Librarian Elizabeth McCloy and her staff in 1946, the collection has been held, in closed stacks, at Occidental College Library's Special Collections department. There is no record to indicate that McCloy, who served from 1928 until 1957, or her successors had sought to acquire additional related materials after 1946. However, since Occidental College belonged to the Federal Depository Library Program until 2002, a number of related post-World War II publications by the War Relocation Authority are in the general library holdings. A Bibliography of these related publications is included in this Research Guide.

In 1996, Jean Paule, retired Secretary of the College, returned to Occidental to serve as the College Archivist. Around this time, Michael Sutherland, Special Collections Librarian since 1970, asked Paule to organize the collection in archival boxes. Paule re-affixed folder and box labels without renaming the folders or boxes or disturbing the original order.

In 2004, while processing the collection for online access, Digital Archivist Dale Stieber came across a typed manuscript describing the Library's holdings that appeared to be a submission for an article. The article, Japanese-American Relocation Collection, was subsequently located in the September 1946 edition of CLA Bulletin (1946: 22), a publication of California Library Association. In it Elizabeth McCloy describes the collection in terms of its scope and contents in order to share information with colleagues in other libraries. The organization of the collection, when reviewed in 2004, reflects the arrangement and scope described by McCloy in 1946.

Biography of Remsen DuBois Bird

(This Biography is adapted primarily from Joan P. Olson's Remsen DuBois Bird: A Biography, a Master of Arts thesis written in 1977 when Olson was a graduate student at Occidental College's history department.)

At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Remsen Bird was the president of Occidental College, a position he had held since 1921. Convinced that he and his colleagues shared a compelling obligation to help displaced Japanese American college students, Bird and a few other educators were instrumental in laying the groundwork for what would become the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council. This is all but one of the many projects Bird took on during his long career in academia, and it conforms to his belief in the importance of an "open mind" throughout his life.

Born on January 3, 1888 in New York City, Remsen Dubois Bird lost his father at an early age and grew up in dire poverty. Bird recalled in later years how his mother was forced to surrender their furniture to a landlord in order to avoid eviction. From about the age 12, Bird lived periodically with an aunt and an uncle, who emphasized patriotism, hard work, and religious faith in their home. When he was 13, he lost his older sister Daisy to consumption; this was followed four years later by his mother's death. Bird later told friends that as he sat beside his gravely-ill mother, noting her worsening conditions and her thoughtfulness of him, he resolved to lead a life of service in her memory.

In 1905, Bird left New York for Easton, Pennsylvania, where he entered the Presbyterian-founded Lafayette College and earned an A.B. degree in 1909. (Lafayette College endowed him an honorary degree in 1919.) From 1909 to 1912, Bird matriculated at the Princeton Theological Seminary, earning a B.D. degree in church history. Perhaps because of the difficult and humble beginnings, Bird relished every opportunity to learn and to broaden his horizons, extending his studies in church history by another year at the University of Berlin. Rumors and talks of the impending world conflicts did not dim Bird's enthusiasm for Berlin and its vigorous intellectual as well as cultural life. At the end of the year abroad, Bird returned to Princeton Theological Seminary to teach church history.

That Bird believed in an open and liberal mind is evidenced by his decision to move, with his wife Helen (they had married in May 1914), from the east coast to the west. While developing a reputation as a good teacher at Princeton, Bird nevertheless found himself at odds with fellow faculty members and the school's prevailing rigid, conservative, and closed-minded attitudes. Bird was particularly disturbed by the Seminary's insistence on narrow interpretations of Presbyterian doctrines and its failure to utilize the Christian faith in important social issues. Finally in the summer of 1915, Bird accepted an invitation to become the California Chair of Church History at the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California.

The Birds, who shared a passion for natural beauty, music, books, and friendships with people all over the world, found their new surroundings in northern California immensely satisfying. Between 1915 and 1921, Bird taught with other devoted and like-minded faculty, wrote poetry as well as plays, and when the need presented itself, filled temporarily empty pulpit in the area. (Bird had been ordained as a minister in 1912.) This relatively idyllic period was, however, interrupted by a major world event: World War I. The United States' entry into the war in 1917 was significant for Bird personally in at least one way: it was the impetus for serious introspection. Bird, despite a patriotic upbringing, wrote that he was "anything but heroic and belligerent and ... had no hatred of the Germans." As an ordained minister, Bird thought he might be called upon to serve as chaplain but found no enthusiasm for that role either. At 30, he was within draft age and dutifully filled out a government questionnaire. While awaiting a response, Bird learned unexpectedly that the Presbyterian Church of Pasadena had recommended him to serve at YMCA's centers in France. For the second time in his life, Bird found himself crossing the Atlantic Ocean full of hope, believing that he would well serve his country and his fellow men.

During his wartime service, Bird had been surrounded by people from various backgrounds --- people outside the circle of faculty and students and their families which the Birds had built their lives around --- and after his return to California, he grew increasingly aware that he enjoyed the company of people above everything else. His calling in life was not serious scholarly research. Bird wrote, "I loved people, all kinds of them, wanted them around in great numbers ... And helping solve the complicated problems of persons enmeshed in difficulties soon became for me the most satisfying of all." The opportunity to enable Bird to utilize the talents he knew he possessed came in 1921 when the Board of Trustees of Occidental College asked Bird to become its next president. It was a position he would hold for the next 25 years.

At the age 33, Bird was the one of youngest men ever to lead the school. He brought to Occidental, in the words of colleague Robert Cleland, "spontaneous enthusiasm, extraordinary energy, capacity for making friends for the college, imagination, a contagious love of beauty, and zeal for contributing to the common good." All of these qualities proved enormously beneficial for the liberal arts college. Bird's appreciation for natural beauty led to large-scale projects which improved the physical environment of the school, transforming the relatively barren landscape to one dotted with trees and vegetation.

His genuine interest in and love for people meant that he was comfortable with persons of status --- and that he was a prodigious fundraiser. The Birds counted as their friends politicians, people in the entertainment and finance industries, members of the church, and of course, colleagues in the academia. Occidental's registrar during Bird's administration once said of him, "He had charisma before that word became overworked." Bird's ability to utilize his contacts raised much-needed funds for Occidental, especially during the Great Depression years when the school seemed to be perpetually mired in dire financial straits.

Those who worked with Bird would recall most vividly his enormous energy in both utilizing his talents and inspiring those around him. Ideas poured out of him so fast that others at times found it difficult to keep up with him. Bird's mind was always engaged in visions of how to make the school better: an auditorium/theater on campus, the building of a second campus, fundraising campaigns, recruitment of faculty, relationship with local communities, strong interests in student affairs, and so on. Olive Hutchison, Bird's personal secretary from 1928 until 1945, remembered working with the president with fondness and amazement --- fondness because of Bird's kindness and amazement because of the zest he brought to his work, exemplified by his voluminous letter writing. At one point in the 1930s, the workload grew to a point where her doctor ordered it to be reduced.

Bird's long tenure at Occidental was not without its critics. Admittedly and proudly an idealist, Bird often approached situations with emotions and not much analysis --- his contemporaries have described him as a "great dreamer" who "engaged in flights of fancy." He had been known to envision a large project, convince colleagues and community members to join the endeavor, and then dash off to another project leaving the details to others. At times potential donors found his fundraising tactics distasteful. Bird's feelings were hurt by some of the criticism, particularly the publication in 1939 of After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley, whom Bird had regarded as a friend. In his satirical novel, Huxley portrays the character based on Bird as a college president wholly preoccupied with the pursuit of the rich and well-connected, speaking in an "oily manner, like vaseline with a flavour of port wine". According to Hutchison, Bird "went right to town and told Huxley just what he thought of him!"

Bird's 25-year tenure covered tumultuous times in history; his leadership took the College through first the Great Depression and then World War II. It is his idealism, however impractical or imperfect, that prompted him to defend liberalism and academic freedom (when George Day, professor of sociology and economics, was accused of being pro-communist, Bird resisted calls for Day's resignation and threatened to resign if the Board of Trustees fired Day), to refuse a large but questionable donation (businessman George Pepperdine had proposed to support the school's religion program with the condition that he would exert considerable influence by naming faculty members), and to become involved with the Japanese American student relocation.

Bird announced his resignation from Occidental College in 1945, citing health reasons. For the next 25 years he and Helen resided in Carmel, California where he remained active in preserving the natural beauty of the Monterey Bay area and in the founding of the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in 1955. Remsen Bird died of heart disease on April 9, 1971.

Chronology timeline

A historical timeline of national, regional, and local events compiled from different sources to integrate the events documented in the correspondence of Remsen Bird with national, local and regional events. The research is offered as an aid in using the collection.

Correspondent List letters and papers list

The letters and papers list is an inventory of the folders and documents in Box 1 of the collection. It includes a limited number of letters from other sources and folder 1A has not been inventoried. The list is arranged in box and folder order, then sorted by date within the folders. Each document is identified with a database number (Dbase No.) and its availability online. The Dbase number can be used to search the Online archive for the digital copy. [published July 1, 2005]

Related Collections electronic resources

Links to Resources and related collections.

Bibliography bibliography

Additional information about the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, the War Relocation Authority, and Japanese American internment can be found in the following publications:

Controlled Access Headings

List of Library of Congress subject headings most-frequently used to describe the collection:

Bird, Remsen Du Bois, b. 1888

Concentration Camps -- United States -- Newspapers

Japanese American college students

Japanese Americans - Education (higher)

Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945

McCloy, Elizabeth

National Japanese American Student Relocation Council

United States. War Relocation Authority

World War, 1939-1945 -- Education and the war

Collection Organization

The filing system of this collection has been kept substantially in its original form; the original folders and their titles are retained. As a result, researchers will find that a given Series may contain boxes and folders whose numbers are not in numeric order.

The collection is organized in 4 record series, some of which are further divided into subseries:

Series I: Letters and papers of Remsen Bird

Subseries i: Concerning students, relocation, and return

Subseries ii: Establishing the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council

Subseries iii: Establishing the collection

Series II: Contemporaneous publications

Subseries i: Newspaper clippings and magazines

Subseries ii: Civil liberties, community, and church organizations

Series III: Assembly and relocation center publications

Series IV: War Relocation Authority and other U.S. government publications

Collection Contents

Series I: Letters and Papers of Remsen Bird [Box 1]

In the winter of 1942, shortly after the Pearl Harbor bombings and the proposed internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans, President Remsen Bird of Occidental College became concerned with the educational prospects of thousands of college-age students who had their education involuntarily interrupted. A member of the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Pacific Southwest (later renamed Western College Association), Bird began a series of correspondence with members of the Association, other educators, and government officials, attempting to establish "a proper centralizing of authority and approach" (Letter to Earl R. Hedrick, April 1, 1942) to facilitate the relocation of students to colleges outside the military zones on the West Coast.

Subseries i: Concerning students, relocation, and return [Folder 1Ea, Folder 1Ec, Folder 1Ed]

The earliest letter in the Occidental College Library collection dates December 10, 1941. Barely three days after the Pearl Harbor attack, Occidental College student Sinpachi Kanow wrote to Bird, relating an incident of the previous day when his brother was prevented from boarding a bus in Los Angeles. Worried that what happened would not be an isolated case, Kanow decided to withdraw from school, noting that "I am bitterly disappointed in not being able to continue with my schooling". On December 11, Bird wrote Kanow back, urging him not give up his plans.

Throughout spring and early summer of 1942, hundreds of letters from Bird's office reached various individuals and organizations: To presidents of colleges in the interior inquiring whether they would accept Japanese American students; to the same groups recommending former students forced to leave Occidental; to former Occidental students sending messages of encouragement; to California Governor Culbert Olson urging further discussion on internment matters; to colleagues at the Western College Association and leaders at Christian education groups attempting to coordinate student relocation efforts already engaged by various organizations.

Notably on April 4, 1942, E. R. Hedrick, provost of the University of California and chairman of the Committee on American-born Japanese and Aliens of the Western College Association, wrote to Bird and invited him to become a member of the Committee. Bird accepted the invitation four days later. On April 23, Bird wrote to Lieutenant General John DeWitt, Commander of the Western Defense Command, expressing an interest in assisting with the student relocation. It can be surmised that Bird had high expectations of what Western College Association could accomplish and hoped to play a large role in that.

Folder 1Ea: Concerning Japanese students

Folder 1Ec: Internment/Relocation: 1942-1945

Folder 1Ed: Bird's personal correspondence/misc.

Subseries ii: Establishing the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council [Folder 1A, Folder 1B, Folder 1C, Folder 1D]

In addition to educators, religious groups, and civil liberties organizations, the federal government was also aware of the predicament facing the displaced students. In April 1942, the State Department held the Conference of Advisors of Foreign Students in Cleveland, where educators presented the relocation of students to colleges and universities outside the restricted zones as a possible solution. On May 5, 1942, Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy asked Clarence Pickett of the American Friends Service Committee to undertake, with other organizations, an extensive program of student relocation. On May 29, 19 46 individuals representing the government, institutions of higher education, the Japanese American Citizens League, and other organizations gathered in Chicago to form the National Student Relocation Council (renamed the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council in March, 1943). Bird, in a May 18 letter to Pickett, expressed his regret for not being able to attend the meeting due to commencement at Occidental. On the same day, Bird also sent Guy Snavely of the Association of American Colleges a letter, stating, "I would not select them [American Friends Service Committee] as the agency through which college students should be relocated. I think this type of doing should come out of college administrations as such."

That the government had chosen the American Friends Service Committee to "spearhead" a student relocation program disappointed Bird, who might have felt that his and his colleagues' efforts were negated. In a May 27 letter to Pickett, Bird wrote, "I wish very much that Mr. Eisenhower [Milton Eisenhower, the first Director of the War Relocation Authority] had gone over the matter with the Western Association of Colleges and the Association of American Colleges in laying his plans, in that we were already 'on the alert'." However, he added, "This is no time to stand on any degree of sensitivity. It is a moment when all who believe in the American faith should put it in practice." In letter after letter, while commending the military's execution of the blanket evacuation order, Bird also stressed the importance of student relocation as a matter of principle, as a way of upholding "American democracy and faith".

Folder 1A: National Japanese American Student Relocation Council

Folder 1B: National Japanese American Student Relocation Council - printed matter

This folder contains the following records:

“Directory of American Students of Japanese Ancestry in the Higher Schools, Colleges, and Universities of the United States of America.” June, 1943. (2)

“How to help Japanese American Student Relocation.” September 1, 1943.

“Japanese American Student Relocation: An American Challenge,” circa 1943.

“The test of a free country: A talk given by Dr. Robert Gordon Sproul…on June 29, 1944”

“From Camp to College: The Story of the Japanese American Student Relocation,” circa 1945. (2 copies)

Folder 1C: National Japanese American Student Relocation Council - minutes

Folder 1D: National Student Relocation Council - war relocation

Subseries iii: Establishing the collection [Folder 1Eb, Folder 1F, Folder 1G]

The genesis of the collection can be traced to a letter Bird wrote to College Librarian Elizabeth McCloy some eight months after the Pearl Harbor attack, on August 18, 1942. Noting that "[s]omething tremendous is happening in our times of which we are all aware", Bird wrote, "I would like very much to keep as full a record as possible of all the documents and material dealing with this particular phase. Will you please help me?" McCloy and her staff honored this request, and from 1942 until 1947 the Occidental College Library collected a wide range of materials related to the Japanese American internment during World War II.

Folder 1Eb: Library

Folder 1F: Background for the Japanese relocation collection

Folder 1G: Miscellaneous

This folder contains the following records:

A copy of the Los Angeles School Journal, vol. XXV, no 26, April 13, 1942, which contains an article entitled, “Evacuation Information.”

“Nisei Students in Junior College: A Symposium,” reprinted from Junior College Journal, September 1943, Vol. XIV, no. 1.

A map, entitled “Nisei Students in Colleges and Universities Outside Restricted Areas: 1941 and 1943,” published by the Department of Sociology, University of Washington, circa 1943.

“Section of Anthropology,” reprinted from Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences Series II, vol. 5, pp. 106-124, March 1943.

A newspaper clipping from the Pasadena Chronicle, Sept 29, 1944, which mentions Japanese-American student Esther Takei, and includes an article entitled: “What Shall be Done With the Nisei?”

Itemized list of correspondence: Letters and papers list

Series II: Contemporaneous Publications

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, anti-Japanese sentiments surfaced in many spheres and Japanese Americans on the West Coast were confronted with confusion, fear, and hysteria. This would persist throughout the war and its immediate aftermath. However, many individuals and organizations took the opposite view, advocating and working for the rights as well as the well-being of a displaced people. The tenor of the times is reflected in the collection of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, pamphlets and other publications from civil liberties, community, as well as church organizations.

Subseries i: Newspaper clippings and magazines [Box 2, Box 3B]

The collection contains an assortment of newspaper clippings and reprints of periodical articles. The majority of clippings are from the Los Angeles Times and the rest from other West Coast publications, including San Francisco Chronicle, Santa Barbara Star News-Press, Pasadena Star News, Sacramento Bee, San Diego Union, and others. The opposing sentiments and views regarding the Japanese American internment can be found in these clippings. The February 28, 1945 edition of the Los Angeles Times, for example, carry stories of "Bullets fired into home of returned Jap" and "Jap-American's war record given praise". Organizations such as the Anti-Japanese League and the Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, two groups on the opposing sides, are covered by newspapers in the collection.

Box 2: Background for collection clippings

Box 2 contains newspaper clippings organized in 34 8 1/2"-by-11" envelopes; typed on the outside of each envelope is a list of items inside, designated by names of the articles. Of the 34 envelopes, 28 are Los Angeles Times, 2 San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Santa Barbara Star News-Press, 1 Pasadena Star News, 1 Herald News (Klamath Falls, Oregon), and 1 "Miscellaneous". The number of items contained in each envelope range from 1 to 41. In all, the 34 envelopes contain approximately 760 items.

Clippings from the following newspapers are in the "Miscellaneous" envelope: The Christian Advocate, Occidental, Eagle Rock Sentinel, Eagle Rock Advertiser, Oakland Tribune, Inyo Independent, The Pasadena Post, The San Francisco News, Sacramento Bee, Vacaville Reporter, Oberlin News-Tribune, and San Diego Union. 27 items are in this envelope.

The dates of clippings range from 1942 to 1947, with the bulk date being 1944 and 1945. The clippings are fragile, and many items are torn where the pages are folded.

Of note to the Occidental community is a May 17, 1944 article in Occidental titled "SPACtivity" by Urb Whitaker. SPAC (Student Political Action Committee), according to this short article, has taken on the merchants in the vicinity of York Boulevard and 42nd Avenue near campus. SPAC urges students to boycott merchants who have displayed the "We don't want the Japs back here, EVER" sign on their storefront windows.

Box 3B: Original copies of magazines

Box 3B contains original copies of The American Legion Magazine, The American Magazine, Coronet, Collier's, Country Gentleman, The Intercollegian, The Commonweal, and The Wellesley Magazine. All have articles related to the Japanese American internment. Please see the citations below.

Murray, Frederick G. "Japs in Our Yard." The American Legion Magazine June 1943: 12-13, 42, 46.

Sinclair, John A. "California: On the Alert!" The American Legion Magazine April 1942: 28-29, 56-58.

Eddy, Don. "What Shall We Do with Our 150,000 Japs?" The American Magazine March 1942: 14-15, 101-103.

Lin, Yutang. "The Chinese Gun at Nippon's Back" The American Magazine March 1942: 24-25, 112-113.

Robinson, William. "Outcast Americans" The American Magazine September 1942: 30-32, 96-98.

Evans, Michael. "Concentration Camp --- USA Style" Coronet October 1942: 51-54.

Davenport, Walter. "Holy Harold" Collier's 11 October 194: 13, 44, 49-50.

Marshall, Jim. "West Coast Japanese" Collier's 11 October 1941: 14-15, 71.

Marshall, Jim. "The Problem People" Collier's 15 August 1942: 50-52.

The Commonweal 10 March 1944: vol. 39, no. 21.
[This issue's topic is about Japanese American.]

Bird, John. "Our Japs Have Gone to Work" Country Gentleman August 1942: 7, 22-24.

Fante, John. "Mary Osaka, I Love You!" Good Housekeeping October 1942: 40-41, 167-178. [Short story]

Reith, Marian. "Crisis on the West Coast" The Intercollegian May 1943: 151-154. [with other articles] [2 copies] [Discusses the plight of Japanese American students who await college relocation.]

Robinson, Marianne. "The War Relocation Authority, Tule Lake, California: Extracts of Letters by Marianne Robinson, '39" The Wellesley Magazine February 1943: 147-149.

Subseries ii: Civil liberties, community, and church organization publications [Folder 3B, Folder 3C, Folder 7A, Folder 7B, Folder 7D, Folder 7E, Folder 7G, Folder 8B, Folder 8C, Folder 8D]

The collection contains publications from various organization involved in activities concerning first the internment and then the resettlement of Japanese Americans, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Japanese American Citizens League, Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, Home Missions Council of North America, and others. Throughout the war, many church organizations were involved in various activities related to the evacuation and resettlement of Japanese Americans; and publications became one of the means through which these organizations sought to convey their messages and carry out their mission.

Folder 3B: The Japanese American Review

This folder contains 7 issues of The Japanese American Review. It was established in 1900 and published by Nippon Publishing Co. Inc. in New York. The publication measures 11"-by-17 1/2" and runs from 8 to 14 pages. This folder has:

Vol. 41, No. 2116 (July 12, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2117 (July 26, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2118 (August 9, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2119 (August 23, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2120 (September 6, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2122 (October 4, 1941);
Vol. 41, No. 2122* (October 18, 1941).

*The October 4 and October 8 edition share the same issue number.

Folder 3C: The Open Forum

This folder contains 46 issues of The Open Forum, which was published in Los Angeles by the Southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. At one time, The Open Forum had noted writers Upton Sinclair and John Packard as its contributing editors. This publication is 11"-by-16", with each 2-page issue printed on both sides of a page. This folder has:

The Open Forum
Vol. XX, Nos. 17-20, 27-29, 35, 44, 47-51. (April - December, 1943);
Vol. XXI, Nos. 2-3, 5-12, 14-15, 17, 21-24, 29-30, 32-33, 35-38, 47. (January - November, 1944);
Vol. XXII, Nos. 38-41, 47. (September - November, 1945)

Folder 7A: Resettlement Bulletin (and Committee on Resettlement)

Resettlement Bulletin was published in New York by the Home Missions Council of North America. For three years beginning in early 1943, the Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans put together this monthly paper (the first three issues were published bi-monthly and thereafter monthly) with George Rundquist and then Toru Matsumoto as its editors.

The paper is a collection of articles, announcements, and editorials concerning Japanese American resettlement. Contributors include representatives from the Japanese American Citizens League as well as church organizations, Dillon Myer (Director of the War Relocation Authority), Thomas Bodine (National Student Relocation Council), and relocation center residents/ evacuees.

This folder contains 18 issues of Resettlement Bulletin. Each issue measures 81/2"-by-11". The length varies from 8 to 16 pages. The following is a list of the issues.

Resettlement Bulletin
Vol. I, No. 3 (June 1943);
Vol. I, No. 4 (July 1943) "Evacuees speak on resettlement" issue;
Vol. I, No. 5 (September 1943) "Evacuees speak on resettlement" issue, part two;
Vol. I, No. 6 (October 1943) "The Churchs role in resettlement" issue;
Vol. II, No. 1 (January 1944);
Vol. II, No. 2 (February 1944) "To the 96". This refers to the 96 Japanese American
     soldiers killed, based on figures supplied by the War Department on January 20, 1943;
Vol. II, No. 3 (March 1944). This issue devotes one page to "Japanese Canadians Today";
[Vol. II, No. 4] (April 1944);
Vol. II, No. 5 (June 1944);
Vol. II, No. 6 (July 1944);
Vol. II, No. 7 (September 1944)
Vol. II, No. 8 (October 1944) "Student Returnee Reports" by Frank T. Inouye. This is a
      summation of various students' experiences in their capacity as returnees to their
      relocation centers. The article mentions the National Japanese American Student
      Relocation Council;
Vol. II, No. 9 (November 1944). "From Camp to Campus" by Thomas Bodine;
Vol. II, No. 10 (December 1944);
Vol. III, No. 1 (January 1945);
Vol. III, No. 2 (March 1945);
Vol. III, No. 3 (May 1945);
Final Number (April 1946). "Towards the True Meaning of Democracy" by Dillon Myer.

Folder 7B: Return to West Coast

As the war progressed, it became increasingly clear to some government authorities that keeping over 110,000 Japanese Americans in confinement for prolonged periods of time would be undesirable. As early as March 1943, Dillon Myer, Director of the War Relocation Authority, wrote to Secretary of War Stimson recommending a relaxation in the West Coast exclusion orders. (This was rejected by Stimson.) Nevertheless, through leave programs selected evacuees were able to leave relocation centers for employment and college education outside the restricted zones.

The issue of resettlement became more urgent in December 1944, when Myer announced that all relocation centers would be closed before the end of 1945. In particular resettlement on the West Coast, where the overwhelming majority of evacuees had had their homes and properties, stirred much discussion and debates. This folder contains documents dealing with this topic, including views of both pro- and against- Japanese American resettlement.

This folder contains 18 documents of varying formats and lengths. The following is a list of the documents.

Ford, Julia Ellsworth. "Something to Think About."

Dedicated ("in great admiration") to Madame Chiang Kai-shek, this short pamphlet includes section headings such as "Japanese treachery", "Japanese disloyalty", and "California's problem". Ford advocates the permanent relocation of Japanese Americans in the interior. (Self Published? Date unknown. 51/2"-by-81/4". 8 pages.)

Ford, Julia Ellsworth. "Supplement to 'Something to Think About'"

Ford writes in the opening paragraph, "After the publication of my pamphlet "Something to Think About", ... I have since come upon further proof of the treachery of the Japanese ... of which, and of additional pertinent facts, this Supplement is a resume." Included in this Supplement is an excerpt of a letter dated June 16, 1942. It reads, " ... It appears that after years of studied deceit in which every Japanese participated, the Japanese are now beginning to get the fate they deserve. I feel sure that as a result of the war they will be reduced to a semi-agricultural nation, and will menace no one for several hundred years." (Self-Published? Date unknown. 51/2"-by-81/4". 8 pages.)

Schuyler, Lambert "The Japs Must Not Come Back!" Winslow, Wash: Heron House, 1944.

The cover, title page and first page of text only represent the booklet published by Heron House, Winslow, Washington. Subheadings include: A national, not a local problem; citizens by the accident of birth; American citizens with Japanese minds; the white race wants to survive; a scientist speaks his mind; Japs barred from Australia; a solution within the limits of our true ideals; segregation; Jap traitors; Jap-lovers; the Jap doughboy deserves the best; and, why not remove all our race problems?

Lechner, John R. "Playing with Dynamite: The Inside Story of our Domestic Japanese Problem."

Compiled at the request of the 23rd District of the American Legion. Los Angeles: Americanism Educational League.
Lechner makes several recommendations, urging readers and authorities to "discourage the propaganda that the evacuation of the Japanese is in violation of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights", "prohibit the holding of mass meetings ... in internment camps by Japanese or Japanese-Americans", "place complete control of all Japanese activities in hands of United States Army", and so on. ( date unknown. 171/2 cm-by-25 cm. 15 pages.)

Lechner, John R. "Race Discrimination or not?" Los Angeles: Americanism Educational League.

Stating that "[N]o other racial group has been so widely engaged in mass espionage", Lechner argues that the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans is not an act of discrimination but one born out of the question of loyalty. ( date unknown. (2). 4"-by-9". Folded pamphlet.)

"Community Preparation for Resettlement of Japanese Americans." New York: The Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans.

This document is published by the same organization responsible for Resettlement Bulletin (see Box 7A). Stating that "Christians have a special responsibility in this program [settlement of Japanese Americans]" , it lists actions that can and should be taken to aid the resettlement process, including finding employment, homes, and other types of support for returnees. (date unknown, (2). 6"-by-9". 4 pages.)

"A petition to restrict the rights of Japanese Americans." Sponsored by the Japanese Exclusion Association. Los Angeles: Japanese Exclusion Association.

This petition reads in part, "[Initiative] prohibits persons ineligible to citizenship and persons of Japanese ancestry or other ancestry ineligible to citizenship under United States naturalization laws who owe any foreign allegiance from acquiring, possession, leasing, enjoying, chartering or transferring real property or watercraft or any interest therein." ( date unknown. 83/4"-by-27". 2 pages.)

"Resolution on the Return of American Citizens and Resident Aliens of Japanese Ancestry to the West Coast". Adopted by the Los Angeles CIO [Congress of Industrial Organizations] Council. 5 Jan. 1945.

This Resolution reads in part, " ... American citizens who are of Japanese ancestry who are returning to their native state to the homes and lands in which they have lived for years are entitled to a place of dignity and opportunity within the community." ( 81/2"-by-13". 1 pages.)

"Brief Facts About the Japanese Americans". [Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans]. January 1943. ( 81/2"-by-11". 1 pages.)

"War Department Views on Japanese Returning to Pacific Coast" ("Letter from Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy to William G. Merchant, President of the Down Town Association of San Francisco"). (Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 2 pages.)

MacNair, Mary. "Report on Democracy in Action". Pasadena, CA: Friends of the American Way. ( Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 2 pages.)

This is an open letter to the community appealing for good will and aid towards Japanese Americans as they resettle back to their former homes.

"Pasadena, CA: Friends of the American Way."

This is an open letter to the community which reads in part, "We hold the view that it is high time that all churches, synagogues, educational institutions, and many other organizations make their position emphatically clear and demand fair play toward Japanese Americans and all other racial minorities." It also encloses a list of reasons as to why Japanese Americans should be allowed to return to their homes. ( Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 1 pages.)

"Considerations Favoring the Release of Japanese Americans from Relocation Centers with Complete Freedom to Reestablish Themselves". Pasadena, CA: Friends of the American Way. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 2 pages.
This document lists 8 considerations or reasons in favor of the resettlement of Japanese Americans.

"Poulson Reports from Washington". June 3, 1943. 81/2"-by-11". 1 pages.
This is a news release distributed by the office of Congressman Norris Poulson (R-California) who, as a member of the California delegation, met with Dillon Myer of the War Relocation Authority. "The Delegation", this release reads, "went on records as opposing the return of the Japanese to the Pacific Coast during the present emergency."

"The Return of Those of Japanese Ancestry to California - A talk given by Dr. Monroe E. Deutsch, Vice-President and Provost of the University of California, before the County Superintendents of Schools of this State, in the Courthouse, Oakland, California, on Wednesday, January 10, 1945". (2). 81/2"-by-11". 13 pages.

"Keep the issue clear!", "Why this organized campaign of hatred of Americans", and "A personal word". Author unknown. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 2 pages.
This document collects brief excerpts of articles concerning attitudes towards Japanese Americans and their resettlement.

"America is raising questions about some Californians". Author unknown. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 1 pages.
This document collects brief excerpts of articles concerning attitudes towards Japanese Americans and their resettlement.

"Protecting newspapers?" and "District attorney disavows promptly, completely and emphatically!". Author unknown. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 1 pages.
This document collects brief excerpts of articles concerning attitudes towards Japanese Americans and their resettlement.

Folder 7D: Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, Friends of the American Way

The Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play was organized in January, 1943 with the express purpose of advocating and insuring the rights of Japanese Americans who had been forced into internment camps. The Committee disseminated educational materials, held conferences, investigated conditions at the camps, and overall acted as an unofficial public relations representative of the War Department, the Justice Department, the State Department, and the War Relocation Authority. Leading members included Robert Gordon Sproul and Galen M. Fisher. The Committee dissolved itself in December, 1945. (Online Archive of California at http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1f59n56g/bioghist/521563285)

This folder contains 15 documents issued by the Committee, mostly letters to members regarding issues such as housing for the tens of thousands of returnees. Most documents measure 21 1/2 cm-by-28 cm, varying in length from 1 to 14 pages.

Of note is a personal letter to Remsen Bird which included an October 9, 1944 Los Angeles Times article. The paper reports on a sermon delivered by a Reverend Bell in support of 19-year-old Esther Takei's enrollment at the Pasadena Junior College.

Folder 7E: American Friends Service Committee

The American Friends Service Committee was founded in 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. The organizations provided young Quakers and other conscientious objectors an opportunity to serve those in need instead of fighting during the war. (AFSC History at http://afsc.org/project/archives) In 1947, the American Friends Service Committee, along with the British Friends Service Council, received the Nobel Prize for Peace for their work in promoting peace and human rights world wide.

In May of 1942, Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy asked Clarence Pickett, executive secretary of the Committee, to undertake with other organizations the relocation of over 1,000 Japanese American students. The meeting to establish the National Student Relocation Council was held on May 29 in Chicago. In February 1943, the National Student Relocation Council was renamed the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council.

This folder contains 9 documents from the Committee, including news bulletin, correspondence, reports, and an "application for employment" (designed to help returnees secure employment). Most documents measure 21 1/2 cm-by-28 cm, varying in length from 1 to 4 pages.

Of note is a letter from Esther Rhodes to Remsen Bird, expressing the wish for Bird to act as the chairman of a yet-to-be-formed coordinating committee which would replace the Southern California Student Relocation Committee.

Folder 7G: Japanese American Citizens League

The nation's oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was founded in 1929 to combat discriminations against persons of Japanese ancestry in the United States. During World War II, the organization successfully lobbied for the right of Japanese Americans to serve in the military, resulting in the formation of all Japanese Americans combat units. In 1970, the JACL passed a resolution to seek redress from the United States government for the forced internment. Today the JACL has 112 chapters nationwide and eight regional districts with over 24,000 members found in twenty-three states. (About JACL at http://www.jacl.org/about/about.htm)

This folder contains 16 documents, including a three-part report called "The Dies Committee, the Hearst Press, and Their Japanese Nightmares", 7 "News Release", and an executive secretary's report. Two documents (a flier advertising a concert and a pamphlet called "Japanese People's Emancipation League") are from an organization called Japanese American Committee for Democracy; whether this organization is associated with the JACL is unclear.

Most documents measure 21 1/2 cm-by-28 cm, varying in length from 1 to 30 pages. Dates range from 1942 to 1944.

Folder 8B: Miscellaneous pamphlets and printed matter

This folder contains a miscellany of documents in various formats published by civilian organizations, including Post War World Council, Citizens Committee for Resettlement, and others. The following is a partial list.

“You Can Win the Peace Now.” N.Y: Post War World Council, 1943.

“What were fighting for.” Salt Lake City: Japanese American Citizen’s League, Date unknown.

Sproul, Robert Gordon. "The Test of A Free Country." Los Angeles: California Club, June 29, 1944.

“American Fighting Men Speak Out.” Berkeley: Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, circa 1944.rca 1944.

“Town Meeting: Should All Japanese Continue to be Excluded from the West Coast for the Duration?” Bulletin of America’s Town Meeting of the Air. Vol. 9, no. 11. Broadcast by Stations of the Blue Network, July 15, 1943.

“You Can Do something About It! 70,000 American Refugees.” St. Louis: Citizens Committee for Resettlement. Date unknown.

“Text of American Legion Protest on Racial Discrimination.” American Legion. Circa 1943.

Foote, Caleb. “The Third Evacuation?” Reprinted from Fellowship, June, 1945.

“Aliens in our Midst: A radio discussion by Ernest Colwell, Carey McWilliams, Louis Wirth.” The University of Chicago: Round Table. May 10, 1942.

McWilliams, Carey. “What about our Japanese Americans?” NY: Public Affairs Committee. American Council, Institute of Pacific Relations, 1944.

The International Quarterly. NY: International House. Vol. 6, no. 4. Autumn 1942.

Provinse, John H. “Relocation of Japanese American College Students: Acceptance of a Challenge.” Higher Education. Vol. 1, no. 8. April 16, 1945.

Pacific Pathfinder. Los Angeles. Vol. I, No I, June, 1944.

Foote, Caleb. “Outcasts! The Story of America’s Treatment of Her Japanese American Minority.” NY: Fellowship of Reconciliation. Date unknown.

Phinney, Milton C. “The Story of the Nittas: A Touching Human Document.” Reprinted from NOW, through co-operation with the Congregational Committee on Christian Democracy from original manuscript supplied by the Reports Division of the War Relocation Authority, Los Angeles, July, 1945.

“The Japanese are Tough.” By the Honorable Joseph C. Grew, Former United States Ambassador to Japan. A radio Address on August 30, 1942. Printed by the U.S. Government.

Fisher, Galen M. “Resettling the Evacuees.” Far Eastern Survey. Vol. XIV no. 19, September 26, 1945.

Van Patten, Louise Merrick. “Japan: An American Problem.” Far Eastern Survey. Vol. XIV No.9, May 9, 1945.

Bisson, T.A. “Japan Prepares for offensive.” Far Eastern Survey. Vol. XIII No. 16, August 9, 1944.

Fisher, Galen M. “Japanese Evacuation from the Pacific Coast.” Far Eastern Survey. Vol. XI No.13, June 29, 1942.

“A Victorious New Year to You—America.!” Manzanar Free Press. January 1, 1944.

“United we stand.” Pasadena: Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, 1943.

Shivers, Robert L. “Cooperation of Racial Groups in Hawaii During the War.” Honolulu: Territorial Emergency Service Committees, 1946.

"American Refugees.” Berkeley: Fellowship of Reconciliation. Date unknown.

“Emergency Service Committee.” Honolulu: YMCA, Date unknown.

“Out of the Many – One: A plan for Intercultural Education.” NY: Service Bureau for Intercultural Education. Date unknown.

Midpacifican. The Armed Forces Newspaper in the Pacific Ocean. Vol. III, no. 17. August 19, 1944.

“Evacuation! A selected Bibliography on the Japanese Evacuation.” Berkeley: Fellowship of Reconciliation. January 22, 1943.

“Relocating a People.” Printed by the U.S. Government, date unknown.

Folder 8C: Churches and religious organizations

This folder contains a miscellany of 24 documents in various formats published by church organizations, including Church Federation of Los Angeles, The First Methodist Church of Santa Maria, and others.

Folder 8D: Churches and religious organizations II

This folder contains 13 pamphlets published by church organizations, including Colorado Council of Churches, Council for Social Action of the Congregational Christian Churches, and others. The following is a partial list.

“A touchstone of Democracy: The Japanese in America.” NY: Council for social action of the Congregational Christian Churches. 1943.

Douglass, Truman B. “70,000 American Refugees: Made in USA.” St. Louis: Citizens Committee for Resettlement. Circa 1944.

“The Japanese in our Midst.” Denver: Colorado Council of Churches, 1943.

“The Churches and the Japanese in America.” NY: Commission on Aliens and Prisoners of War, March 30, 1942.

“How can Christians Help? Our Japanese-American Number. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Envelope Series, Vol. XLV, no. 4. Oct, 1942.

Carlson, Kenneth A. “So I went to Manzanar.” Sermon at Central Methodist Church in Glendale, CA in May, 1944.

“The Japanese on the Pacific Coast: A factual Study of Events Dec. 7, 1941 – September 1, 1942 with Suggestions for the Future.” Statement for the Los Angeles County Committee for Church and Community Cooperation. Prepared by the Executive Secretary, Dr. George Gleason. September, 1942.

“Planning Resettlement of Japanese Americans.” NY: The Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. July, 1943.

“Resettlement Handbook.” NY: The Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. December, 1942.

“The Concern of the Church for Christian and Democratic Treatment of Japanese Americans.” NY: The Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. April, 1944.

“Democracy Demands Fair Play for America’s Japanese.” NY: The American Baptist Home Mission Society. Circa 1944.

Oversized Items:

Periodicals and publications are boxed individually. Title is linked to Occidental College catalog record.

Japanese-American Committee for Democracy Newsletter

Pacific Citizen

Information Bulletin, Japanese-American Relations Committee

Series III: Assembly and Relocation Center Publications [Box 6, Box 6B, Folder 7F]

In The Relocation Program: A Guidebook for the Residents of Relocation Centers (contained in Box 5, Folder [5C]: War Relocation Authority pamphlets), it is stated that "At all centers, the WRA encourages the evacuee residents to assume the fullest possible responsibility for publishing a newspaper that meets the community needs..." Indeed, residents of relocation centers produced numerous publications, describing and documenting their experience.

Box 6: Relocation Center Publications I

This box contains 20 publications from seven relocation centers (Gila River, Tule Lake, Poston, Rohwer, Jerome, Granada, and Manzanar) as well as the Santa Anita Assembly Center. They include high school yearbooks, newsletters, magazines, and others. Relocation center residents contributed personal essays, poems, editorials, and short stories.

The following is a list of items in the box, with physical descriptions.

Gila Rivers, Arizona 1943 Calendar
This calendar appears to have been folded, and at present, the bottom half of each page is missing. Pages are stapled together, with drawings or sketches of scenery at Gila Rivers. It is in very fragile condition. 8 1/2"-by-10".

A Tule Lake Interlude: First Anniversary. May 27, 1942-1943.
This is published to commemorate the first anniversary at the Tule Lake relocation center. Contents include poems, essays, a diary, and so on. The two copies in the collection are identical in contents, though different in the colors of their covers. 7"-by-8 1/4". 109 pages.

The First Year: Story of the Red Cross in Poston. September 1, 1943.
Published by the Red Cross, this publication has several black-and-white photographs of the relocation center, an article on the organization's activities, and a listing of Red Cross members arranged alphabetically by resident block numbers. It also contains a section written in Japanese. 8 1/2"-by-11". 46 pages.

The Service Division: Santa Anita Assembly Center. November, 1942.
This document is prepared by the Service Division of the Santa Anita Assembly Center. The table of contents include "Health", "Recreation", "Welfare", and so on. It is in fragile condition. 8 1/2"-by-11". 92 pages.

'Lil Dan'l: One year in a Relocation Center. A Rohwer Outpost Publication. 1943.
The texts of this booklet are accompanies by cartoon-like sketches, dealing with the arrival at Rohwer, evacuees' first impressions, activities at the center, and so on. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2 ". 28 pages.

Denson Magnet: Jerome Relocation Center. Vol. 1, no. 1. April, 1943.
This magazine contains stories, personal essays, poems, and cartoons. The cover indicates each copy costs 10 cents. 9"-by-12". 31 pages.

Pulse. Granada Relocation Center. Date unknown, circa 1943.
This is a companion magazine to the Granada Pioneer, containing short stories, feature articles, and poems. It is in fragile condition. 8"-by-101/2". 18 pages.

Amache. Granada Relocation Center. Date unknown, circa 1943.
This publication contains fairly detailed descriptions of the various components of center life at Granada, including "Community Government", "Silk Screen Shop", "Fire Department", "WRA Farm", to name just a few.

Inserted is a May 2, 1944 letter from the Reports Officer at Granada, announcing the arrival of the circular. It is in fragile condition. 8"-by-10 1/2". 33 pages.

The Pen. Rohwer Relocation Center. November 6, 1943.
This magazine is divided into three sections: "Administrative", "Literary", and "Highlights". It is in fragile condition. 8"-by-10 1/2". 82 pages.

"Graduation Exercises." Denson High School. Class of 1943.
This is a program for the graduation ceremony at Denson High School at Jerome Relocation Center. Included is a list of the names of students. It is in fragile condition. 5 1/2"-by-81/2". 8 pages.

Baseball: Tule Lake Center. Published by Newell Star Sports Department. December 31, 1944.
This is the only publication in the collection which is devoted entirely to a single sport at a relocation center. It has official pitching records, batting averages, profiles of various teams, and all topics related to baseball at the center. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 74 pages.

Manzanar Adult Education with Special Emphasis on Vocational Training: Spring Semester, 1943.
This publication is similar to a short course catalog, with listings of faculty members and class schedules. Classes offered include "Human physiology", "Business English", and "Tailor drafting". It is in very fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 16 pages.

Tulean Dispatch Magazine. Vol. 1 no. 5. December, 1942.
This magazine contains editorial, stories, and poems. Drawings and sketches can be found throughout the pages. It is in very fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 24 pages.

Tulean Dispatch Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 7. February 1943.
This magazine contains editorial, stories, and poems. Drawings and sketches can be found throughout the pages. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 32 pages.

Tulean Dispatch Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 11. July, 1943.
This magazine contains editorial, stories, and poems. Drawings and sketches can be found throughout the pages. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 30 pages.

Second Year at Gila. Rivers, Arizona. July 20, 1944
This magazine contains editorial, stories, and poems. Drawings and sketches can be found throughout the pages. The last few pages are devoted to "The Year At A Glance", a chronology of significant events at Gila Rivers from July 1943 until July 1944. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 46 pages.

Santa Anita Pacemaker. 1942
For a few months starting in April 1942, Santa Anita served as a holding place for almost 12,000 Japanese Americans as they awaited trasnfer to evacuation centers. ("Relocation: Racetrack to Metropolis to Ghost Town in Six Months" is the title of one article.) This newsletter contains articles on the history, administration, and other aspects of Santa Anita Assembly Center. It is in very fragile condition. 7"-by-81/2". 24 pages.

Condensor. Denison High School class of 1943.
This magazine is devoted to the first graduating class of Denson High School at Jerome Relocation Center. It is in fragile condition. 7"-by-8 1/2". 20 pages.

A Newspaper without a Name. Santa Anita [Assembly Center]. Vol. I, No. A. April 18, 1942.
This is the inaugural issue of the newspaper at the Santa Anita Assembly Center which, at the time of publication, was without a name. The paper aims to cover every activity from "administration to vital statistics to who celebrated what birthday when". It is in fragile condition. 8"-by-12 1/2". 2 pages.

Box 6B: Relocation Center Publications II

This box contains the following:

Year's Flight. Butte High School. Gila Rivers Relocation Center. 1943.
This is a high school yearbook containing black-and-white photographs of student life at Gila Rivers. It is similar to any other yearbook in layout and design. Hardbound cover. 8 1/2"-by-11". 121 pages.

Year's Flight. Butte High School. Gila Rivers Relocation Center. 1944.
This is a high school yearbook containing black-and-white photographs of student life at Gila Rivers. It is similar to any other yearbook in layout and design. Hardbound cover. 8 1/2"-by-11". 154 pages.

Year's Flight. Butte High School. Gila Rivers Relocation Center. 1945.
This is a high school yearbook containing black-and-white photographs of student life at Gila Rivers. It is similar to any other yearbook in layout and design. Hardbound cover. 8 1/2"-by-11". 126 pages.

1944 Calendar. Compiled and drawn by Noborw Yamakoshi. Poston Chronicle. 211/2 cm-by-36 cm.

Folder 7F: Relocation Centers

This folder contains 7 documents, including "By-laws of Gila River Cooperative Enterprises, Inc.", "Constitution" (Butte Community, Gila River Relocation Center), "Leadership Training: to the officers of the clubs and organizations and Nisei block leaders", a memorandum on the use of the terms "Japanese", "camps", and "internment", and a "Dear Friends" letter from a couple named Earl and Hazel describing their visit to the Poston camp.

Most documents measure 21 1/2 cm-by-28 cm, varying in length from 2 to 19 pages.

Of note is an 83 cm-by-58 cm "Segregation" diagram illustrating the three possible outcomes for an evacuee: "Japan", "A Relocation Center", and "Relocation Into American Communities". Where an evacuee would end up is contingent upon, amongst other factors, his or her answer to the so-called loyalty question. The date and author or provenance of this diagram is unknown.

Oversized Items:

Periodicals and publications are boxed individually. Title is linked to Occidental College catalog record.

Amache Hi It [Senior High newspaper]

Denson Communique

Denson Tribune

Gila News Courier

Bulletin [Granada Relocation Center]

Granada Pioneer

Heart Mountain Sentinel

Heart Mountain, Wyoming: General Information Bulletin

Manzanar Free Press

Minidoka Irrigator

Newell Star

Pomona Center News

Poston Chronicle

Rohwer Outpost

Santa Anita Pacemaker

Topaz Times

Tulean Dispatch

Series IV: War Relocation Authority and Other U.S. Government Publications [Folder 3A, Box 4, Folder 5A, Folder 5B, Folder 5C, Folder 5D, Folder 5E, Folder 7C, Folder 8A]

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) is a civilian agency created by Franklin Roosevelt on March 18, 1942 with the signing of Executive Order 9102. The agency is responsible for the relocation and internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Milton Eisenhower served as WRA's Director for the first three months; after his resignation, Roosevelt appointed Dillon Myer to the post on June 17, 1942.

From beginning to end, about 3,000 people worked in the evacuation centers, regional offices, and the headquarters in Washington. The War Relocation Authority received appropriations of over $190 million, of which it spent $160 million. In February, 1944, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9423 which transferred WRA to the Department of the Interior. The War Relocation Authority was officially terminated on June 30, 1946. In all, the agency was in charge of 10 relocation centers in 7 states.

Throughout its relatively brief existence, the War Relocation Authority authored studies, issued statements, and sponsored reprints of articles. Taken together, these publications aim to dispel misconceptions about Japanese Americans, raise public awareness of the bravery of Nisei soldiers, address issues concerning returnees to the West Coast, and state as well as explain the agency's policies in relocation centers.

Folder 3A: Reprints of periodical articles

The War Relocation Authority, in addition to authoring studies and surveys of conditions at relocation centers (see Box 4), appears to have also assembled, reprinted, and published articles from various journals, magazines, as well as newspapers. This folder contains the reprints of such articles.

Taken together, they constitute a positive or favorable portrayal of Japanese Americans in a time of war. Some can be described as "human interest" stories, such as "Japanese-American Soldier Visits Sister on Furlough", "Sino-Japanese Peace in Omaha" and "These Are Our Parents". Others are accounts of Nisei soldiers fighting overseas. This folder also contains editorials and letters to editors.

In terms of newspaper reprints, this folder contains publications from every region of the country, including San Francisco Chronicle, Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Banner (Nashville, Tennessee), Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Salt Lake Tribune, Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, New York), and many more.

A group of newspaper reprints are devoted to the Hood River incident. In December 1942, the Hood River (Oregon) post of the American Legion removed the names of 16 Nisei soldiers from the post's roll of honor. The move sparked protests across the country; the resulting newspaper articles as well as editorials are part of this collection.

In all, this folder contains approximately 240 reprints of newspaper articles. They are mimeographed on 8 1/2"-by-11" papers; some of the brief articles are fitted on the same page whereas the lengthier ones take up a few pages. Most reprints are dated between 1943 and 1944. The reprints are divided into 13 groups and stapled; the stapled groups average 12 pages each. It is unclear who was responsible for the grouping and/or stapling, or whether it was done at the time of publication or at a later date.

In terms of journal and magazine reprints, this folder contains 27 articles; the formats include pamphlets and newsletters, varying in lengths from 8 to 20 pages. The following is a list of the articles.

Japanese Americans in Hawaii: The Story Behind the Nisei Combat Teams. Reprinted by special permission of Harper's Magazine. 1943.

Morimitsu, George. "These Are Our Parents." Reprinted by permission from the October, 1943, issue of "Asia and the Americas."

"A voice that must be heard." Subtext: "Extracts from statements, regarding Americans of Japanese Ancestry, by: President Roosevelt, Hon. Henry L. Stimson, Hon. Joseph C. Grew, J. Edgar Hoover, Paul V. McNutt and others."

Malcolm, Roy. "Evacuation of the Japanese." Reprinted from The World Affairs Interpreter, January, 1943.

-----. "The Japanese Problem in California." Reprinted from The World Affairs Interpreter, April, 1942.

Fisher, Galen M. "A Balance Sheet on Japanese Evacuation." Subtext: "Untruths about Japanese-Americans; Our two Japanese-American Policies; Are the Evacuees being Coddled?; What Race-Baiting Costs America." Reprinted from The Christian Century of August 18 and 25, and September 1 and 8, 1943.

"The Displaced Japanese-Americans." Published by the American Council on Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. The text of this pamphlet originally appeared in Fortune Magazine, April 1944, under the title of "Issei, Nisei, and Kibei." (

"Issei, Nisei, Kibei." Subtext: "Fortune Magazine reviews the program of the War Relocation Authority and the problems Created by the Evacuation from the west coast of 110,000 people of Japanese descent." Fortune, 1944; copyright Time, Inc.. Revised by Fortune Magazine, October, 1944.

Myer, Dillon S. "Democracy in Relocation." Reprinted from Common Ground, Winter, 1943.

Davis, Maxine. "The Truth about Jap Camps." Reprinted from Liberty, August 7, 1943.

Wada, Yori. "Beyond the Horizon." Reprinted from California Monthly, December 1943. (University of California Alumni Association.)

Yank: The Army Weekly. August 25, 1944. Vol. 3, no. 10.

Casey, Gene. "G.I. Japyank." Reprinted by the War Relocation Authority by permission of Collier's from the issue of August 5, 1944.

"Ku-Kluxism on the West Coast." Colliers. July 14, 1945.

"Nisei Soldiers." Collier's. March 20, 1943.

O'Brien, Eileen. "Making Democracy Work: Hawaii's Handling of its Japanese Problem Sets and Example for the Entire World." Reprinted by the War Relocation Authority with permission of the Editors of Paradise of The Pacific. Article appeared in the Holiday issue.

Douglas, Henry H. "American Finances Japan's 'New Order.'" Reprinted from Amerasia, July 1940.

McWilliams, Carey. "Japanese Evacuation: Policy and Perspectives." Reprinted from Common Ground, Summer 1942.

McEvoy, J.P. "Our 110,000 New Boarders." Condensed for The Readers Digest from The Baltimore Sunday Sun. The Readers Digest, March 1943. Vol. 43, no. 251.

Clark, Blake and Oland D. Russell. "Hail Our Japanese-American GIs!" Condensed for The Readers Digest from The American Mercury." The Readers Digest, July 1945.

Clark, Blake. "The Japanese in Hawaii." Reprinted from The New Republic, September 14, 1942.

Rowell, Chester. "Much Hysteria About Japanese-Americans." Reprinted by permission of the San Francisco Chronicle, date unknown.

Hall, Anton L. Letter to the editor re: Japanese Americans. Reprint from Santa Ana Register May 17, 1943.

Rundquist, George E. "Unfinished Business." New York: Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans. Reprinted from Christian World Facts. No date available.

Foote, Caleb. "Have We Forgotten Justice?" Reprinted from Fellowship, May 1942.

Fisher, Galen M. "Japanese Colony: Success Story." Reprinted from Survey Graphic, February, 1943.

Anderson, Margaret M. "Get the Evacuees Out!" Reprinted from Common Ground, Summer 1943.

Box 4: War Relocation Authority, Community Analysis Section, Project Analysis Series

Largely as a result of protests at the Poston and Manzanar centers in late 1942, Director Dillon Myer appointed "community analysts" to study and compile data on the social structure of relocation centers. These analysts were for the most part social anthropologists who had no direct responsibilities for the administrative aspects of relocation centers. The War Relocation Authority hoped that their studies would point to the "most important trends of evacuee thinking" and "probable evacuee reactions to proposed policies" (WRA: a story of human conservation, p. 187), thereby assisting the agency in formulating policies.

The resulting documents --- Community Analysis Report, Project Analysis Series, and Community Analysis Notes --- would "provide a wealth of highly valuable material for social scientists and others interested in studying the social patterns of a displaced minority in government-operated camps." (WRA: a story of human conservation, p. 187)

The documents in the collection deal with a wide range of topics: the condition of evacuees (for example, "Stresses and Strains of Center Life", Project Analysis Series No. 24); the thinking and attitudes of the Nisei population ("Nisei Report on Their Adjustment to Tule Lake", Community Analysis Notes No. 7 and "From a Nisei Who Said 'No'", Community Analysis Notes No. 1); as well as other aspects of life inside the camps ("A Lexicon of Center Terms", Community Analysis Notes No. 15 and "Notes on Evacuee Family Patterns", Project Analysis Series No. 11).

The collection also includes Parts I through VI of the "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section". In addition, in April, 1945, a Community Analysis Report titled "Exploratory Survey of California Attitudes Toward the Return of the Japanese" was released, perhaps in response to discriminatory attitudes and (sometimes) acts of violence faced by some returnees.

This box contains 45 documents prepared by the Community Analysis Section of the War Relocation Authority, including 17 Community Analysis Report, 19 Project Analysis Series, 8 Community Analysis Notes, and 1 unidentified report. All documents are photocopies. They vary in length from 2 to 81 pages. The dates of documents range from 1943 to 1946, with the bulk being 1943 and 1944.

The following is a list of the documents. "CAR" denotes Community Analysis Report. "PAS" denotes Project Analysis Series. "CAN" denotes Community Analysis Notes.

CAR No. 2. Embree, John F. "Causes of Unrest at Relocation Centers." Date Unknown.

CAR No. 3. "Japanese Groups and Associations in the United States." March, 1943.

CAR No. 4. "Notes on Japanese Holidays." April 2, 1943.

CAR No. 5. "Evacuee Resistances to Relocation." June 1943.

CAR No. 6. "Nisei Assimilation." July 21, 1943.
"Although life in relocation centers is impeding the further assimilation of many Nisei, and is even driving some back toward the culture of their parents, most of them today are as thoroughly American as the average immigrant's child."

CAR No. 7. "An Analysis of the Segregation Program." October 16, 1943.

CAR No. 9. "Buddhism in the United States." May 15, 1944.

CAR No. 10. "Labor Relations in Relocation Centers." October 28, 1944.

CAR No. 11. "Exploratory Survey of California Attitudes Toward the Return of the Japanese." April 4, 1945.

CAR No. 12. "Effect of the Housing Shortage on Central Valley, California: Attitudes Toward the Return of the Evacuees." May 14, 1945.

CAR No. 13. "Prejudice in Hood River Valley: A Case Study in Race Relations." June 6, 1945.
Included in Box 2 (Miscellaneous folder) is a brief Jan. 17, 1945 Oakland Tribune article related to the Hood River Valley incident of November 1944. The article reports some store owners in the Hood River Valley area have put up "No Jap trade" signs in their storefront windows.

CAR No. 14. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part I: Community Analysis Trend Reports From the Relocation Centers." November 19, 1945.

CAR No. 15. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part II: Community Analysis Mimeographed Series." February 28, 1946.

CAR NO. 16. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part III: Community Analysis Reports from the Central Utah, Jerome, Rohwer, Gila River, and Heart Mountain Relocation Centers." February 7, 1946.

CAR No. 17. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part IV: Community Analysis Reports from Granada, Minidoka, and Manzanar Relocation Centers. April 23, 1946.

CAR No. 18. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part V: Community Analysis Reports from Colorado River and Tule Lake Centers." Date Unknown.

CAR No. 19. "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section. Part VI: Washington Community Analysis Section Reports." June 30, 1946.

PAS No. 1. Embree, John F. "Registration at Central Utah: 14-17, February, 1943." February 1943.

PAS No. 3. "Registration at Manzanar." April 3, 1943.
Written from the first-person perspective of the community analyst, the author attempts to examine and analyze the large number of "no" answers returned by both aliens and citizens to the "loyalty" questions (numbers 27 and 28) in February, 1943. The author concludes that using the term "loyalty" is inadequate and the problems at Manzanar are too complex to be handled by this "adding machine" approach.

PAS No. 5. "Preliminary Evaluation of the Resettlement Program at Jerome Relocation Center." May, 1943.

PAS No. 6. "Report on an Unorganized Relocation Center." June, 1943.

PAS No. 7. "Notes on Some Religious Cults at Topaz." June 15, 1943.

PAS No. 8. "Factors Influencing Low Enrollment in Certain Adult Education Courses." July, 1943.

PAS No. 9. "Preliminary Survey of Resistances to Resettlement at the Tule Lake Relocation Center." June 23, 1943.

PAS No. 10. "English Words in Current Use at Minidoka Center That Have Been Given a "Japanized-English" Pronunciation or Have Been Translated Into a Japanese Equivalent." July, 1943.

PAS No. 11. "Notes on Evacuee Family Patterns." November 24, 1943.

PAS No. 12. "Studies of Segregants at Manzanar." February 3, 1944.

PAS No. 13. "A Preliminary Survey of the Boilermen's Dispute at Minidoka." March 3, 1944.

PAS no. 15. "The Reaction of Heart Mountain to the Opening of Selective Service to Nisei." April 1, 1944.
This 13-page document examines the various phases of Heart Mountain's reaction to the military draft. Section headings include: "Early Reaction", "The Growth of Opposition", "Community Feeling", "The Council Takes the Moderate Position", and "The Fair Play Committee Gathers Strength". The author takes an unfavorable view of the Fair Play Committee's efforts in issues related to relocation.
The document may be of special interest because Galen Fisher and other members of the Committee had correspondences with Remsen Bird.

PAS No. 16. "The Significant Factors in Requests for Repatriation and Expatriation." April 19, 1944.

PAS No. 17. "Relocation at Rohwer Center. Part I: The Relocated Population." July 24, 1944.

PAS No. 18. "Relocation at Rohwer Center. Part II: Issei Relocation Problems." September 2, 1944.

PAS No. 19. "Community government in the Relocation Centers. Part I: One Year of Community Government at the Gila River Relocation Center." November 6, 1944.

PAS No. 20. Lantis, Margaret. "Relocation at Rohwer Center. Part III: Background for the Resettlement of Rohwer Farmers." February 7, 1945.

PAS No. 23. Brown, G. Gordon. "Final Report on the Gila River Relocation Center as of May 20, 1945." September 24, 1945.
According to the Introduction of this 78-page document, the aims are twofold: One, to outline the relationship between the Community Analysis Section with other branches of the Administration; to estimate the value of Community Analysis to the WRA; to make a few suggestions; and two, to present a view of the social organization of the Gila River Relocation Center.

McFarling, Ralph. PAS No. 24. "Stresses and Strains of Center Life." February 20, 1946.

CAN No. 1. "From a Nisei Who said 'No.'" January 15, 1944.

CAN No. 2. "Engagement and Marriage Customs in a Relocation Center." February 29, 1944.

CAN No. 3. "Traditional Japanese Therapeutics Practiced at Minidoka." April 7, 1944.

CAN No. 5. "A Nisei Requests Expatriation." November 10, 1944.

CAN No. 6. "Biography of a Nisei Celery Farmer from Venice, California." December 11, 1944.

CAN No. 7. "Nisei Report on their Adjustment to Tule Lake." December 20, 1944.
From the Introduction of this document: "The two reports ... were prepared by Nisei on the Community Analysis staff at Tule Lake Segregation Center and tell of Nisei life there. ... Both tell of unfulfilled expectations of life at Tule Lake, the disillusioning impact of the Tule Lake incident of November, 1943, the barrier of language ..., the emotional hazards of loneliness and lack of wholesome community activities, and the tormenting factional conflicts among the residents. Nisei agree that only the weather is ideal at Tule Lake."

CAN No. 14. "West Coast Localities: San Joaquin County." April 16, 1945.

CAN No. 15. "A Lexicon of Center Terms." July 18, 1945.

Unidentifiable report about labor relations in the relocation centers.

Folder 5A: War Relocation Authority

This folder includes several reprints from periodicals which have previously published accounts of Nisei soldiers. An excerpt of a story from the C.B.I. Roundup (Army newspaper of the China-Burma-India theater) is in this folder, quoting soldiers on their ordeals in battles. Another reprint is from an editorial in the New York Herald Tribune, asking, "What more conclusive test of patriotism is there?" Also in this folder is the text of "Presidential Citation to 100th Infantry Battalion", a unit comprised entirely of Japanese Americans who fought in Italy.

This folder contains "A Statement of Guiding Principles of the War Relocation Authority" and "Segregation of Evacuees", which sets out to explain the decision to designate Tule Lake as a "place of residence" for those suspected of disloyalty.

Some policy statements seek to dispel misconceptions or misunderstanding the public might have had about operations at relocation centers. This folder contains a two-page document called "A Statement of Policy of the War Relocation Authority in Providing Food for Relocation Centers". This was apparently created in response to "a widespread public interest in the subject of food provided by the government to evacuees in relocation centers."

Also in the collection is a copy of the statement issued by Major General H. C. Pratt on December 17, 1944, announcing the lift of blanket exclusion order for Japanese Americans on the West Coast. In response on December 18, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes issued a statement outlining War Relocation Authority's roles to help the massive resettlement efforts. Ickes' statement is also in the folder.

For those interested in Occidental College Library's collection (see Bibliography), this folder contains two documents of note: "Prospectus of Published Final Reports" and "Additional Information on WRA Final Reports". After the last of the relocation centers closed at the end of 1945, the War Relocation Authority shifted its focus to the preparation of a series of special reports dealing with the various phases and functions of the agency. In all, 10 such reports were published. The two documents at hand discuss issues such as choice of repositories and distribution of reports. The Prospectus has an annotated list of all ten reports.

This folder contains 35 81/2"-by-11" documents prepared, assembled, reprinted, and/or released by the War Relocation Authority. They vary in length from 1 to 10 pages; most are mimeographs. The dates of most documents are unknown.

Folder 5B: War Relocation Authority 2

Materials in this folder are very similar in nature to those in folder 5A: statements, press releases, and reprints. Subject matters covered include Nisei soldiers and policy statements.

In addition, this folder contains the mimeograph of a 4-page War Relocation Authority form titled "Request for Transportation of Property". This is an example of an official War Relocation Authority form in the collection.

A mimeographed copy of Executive Order 9102, which establishes the War Relocation Authority, is also in this folder.

This folder contains 34 81/2"-by-11" documents prepared, assembled, reprinted, and/or released by the War Relocation Authority. They vary in length from 1 to 21 pages; most are mimeographs. The dates of most documents are unknown.

Folder 5C: War Relocation Authority pamphlets

Throughout the war, the War Relocation Authority issued numerous publications aimed at educating the public about Japanese Americans. The contents of this folder collectively can be viewed as War Relocation Authority's efforts to portray the displaced people in a favorable light. Publications include statements from servicemen who fought alongside Nisei soldiers ("What We're Fighting For"), a 24-page document dealing with some of the myths about Japanese Americans ("Myths and Facts About the Japanese Americans"), and a 10-page pamphlet describing various phases of relocation center development.

This folder contains 15 documents, mostly pamphlets published by the War Relocation Authority. They vary in lengths from a postcard to a 57-page document. Many are in fragile condition. The following is a list of the documents.

"Questions and Answers for Evacuees." Circa 1942, exact date unknown.
Issued by WRA's regional office in San Francisco, this is a 3 1/2"-by-6", pocket-sized pamphlet designed to answer questions from evacuees. Topics include "Preparing for relocation", "What facilities at relocation centers", "Work", "Health and medicine", and others.

Pertinent Facts About Relocation Centers and Japanese-Americans." Date unknown.
This 4"-by-8 3/4" pamphlet contains 13 short statements concerning Japanese Americans and relocation centers, such as "The relocation centers are NOT concentration camps. Residents of the centers are NOT internees." And "Relocation center residents are subject to the same rationing restrictions which apply to other civilians. Meatless days are observed twice a week."

"What We're Fighting For: Statements by United States Servicemen about Americans of Japanese Descent." Circa 1944, exact date unknown.
At 21 pages, this 51/2"-by-8 1/2" document is more like a small booklet than a pamphlet. It contains excerpts of letters sent to newspapers and magazines by servicemen who have either served with Nisei soldiers or come into contact with Japanese Americans under other circumstances. Usually 3 to 4 paragraphs, these statements attest to the "loyalty and integrity" of Japanese Americans.

"Relocation of Japanese Americans." May 1943.
This 6"-by-9" 11-page pamphlet provides information on various aspects of the relocation of Japanese Americans, including "Background", "The relocation program", "The evacuated people", "The relocation centers" and so on. It also has 8 black-and-white photographs depicting life at relocation centers.
NOTE: Three of the 8 copies have a one-page document titled "Segregation of Evacuees" inserted.

"The Relocation Program: A guidebook for the Residents of Relocation Centers." May, 1943.
This 6"-by-9" 16-page booklet begins with a message from Dillon Myer, Director of War Relocation Authority, who claims that programs of seasonal farm employment and issuance of indefinite leave were all part of "an effort which the United States Government has been making since the early days of evacuation to restore the evacuated people ... to their rightful place in American life." The booklet proceeds to outline policies in the areas of "travel and subsistence", " clothing allowances", "voting rights", "income tax liability", and others.

Relocating Japanese Americans." May, 1945.
This 81/2"-by-51/2" 10-page pamphlet is divided into these sections: "Background", "Early period", "Segregation", "Middle period", and "Final period". It also has 7 black-and-white photographs.

Relocation Communities for Wartime Evacuees." September, 1942.

The agency describes its job "to reestablish the evacuated people as a productive segment of the American population; to provide... an equitable substitute for the lives and homes given up; and to facilitate the reassimilation of the evacuees into the normal currents of the American life." Report headings include "selecting the sites," work opportunities for evacuees," "community life," and a profile of each relocation location. The report includes a map showing the evacuated area, war relocation centers and their evacuee capacities. [Reproduced from type-written copy. Probably a mimeographic process.]

Challenge to Democracy." (An advertisement for a film produced by the WRA on the subject of the Japanese Relocation, circa 1943.)

"Nisei in Uniform." Circa 1944.
This 81/2"-by-11" 25-page document is a collection of articles about the all Japanese American 442nd combat team and the 100th battalion. Many black-and-white photographs accompany the articles.

"Nisei in the War against Japan." April, 1945.
This 81/2"-by-11" 14-page document is a mimeographed collection of newspaper articles from across the country. All articles are related to Japanese American troops in Italy and other theaters.

"Myths and Facts about the Japanese Americans: Answering Common Misconceptions Regarding Americans of Japanese Ancestry." April, 1945.
This is a 24-page 81/2"-by-11" mimeograph and all six copies are in fragile condition. It lists 21 "myths" which in turn are answered by corresponding "facts". Some of the myths are: "The Japanese race is fundamentally dishonest, secretive, and generally untrustworthy."; "The evacuees in the relocation centers have been pampered and coddled, while Americans imprisoned by Japan have received inhuman treatment."; "The birth rate of Japanese in America is much higher that that of other Americans. They multiply at an alarming rate."; and so on.

Postcard. "I desire to serve as a member of the Eagle Rock Chapter [of Friends of the American Way] and pledge the sum of ____"

"Pertinent facts about relocation centers and Americans of Japanese ancestry." Also in folder 5A.
This is an 81/2"-by-11" 8-page mimeographed document. It is different from the pamphlet of similar title in this folder.

"Issei, Nisei, Kibei: Fortune Magazine reviews the program of the WRA and the problems created by ...." Pamphlet. Also in Box 3.

Ringle, K. D. "The Japanese Question in the United States: A Compilation of Memoranda". Date unknown.
This is an 81/2"-by-11" 57-page mimeographed document. The Table of Contents include: "Forward"; "General opinions"; "Backgrounds"; "Protection of the loyal evacuees"; "Recommendations for relocation centers"; "Suggestions for work program"; "Suggestions for community life"; and "Conclusion". On the bottom of the cover page it is stated, "Reproduced for Circulation Exclusively among Employees of the War Relocation Authority".

Folder 5D: House Un-American Activities Committee

In May of 1943, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (popularly known as the Dies Committee) appointed a three-member sub-committee to conduct a special investigation of the War Relocation Authority and its programs at the relocation centers. The Sub-Committee held hearings in Los Angeles and visited relocation centers; and subsequently the Committee heard testimony of top officials of the War Relocation Authority in Washington D.C.

Throughout the investigation, the War Relocation Authority believed that a large volume of false and misleading statements about the agency were regularly making rounds at the nation's press. In order to counter these charges, the agency prepared a series of informational materials for use at the Washington hearings.

This folder contains all of the 11 items that constitute the series. A partial list includes: "Letter to Hon. Martin Dies from Mr. D. S. Myer, June 2, 1943"; "Evidences of Americanism among Japanese-Americans"; "Comments by the War Relocation Authority on newspaper statements attributed to Representatives of the House Committee on Un-American Activities"; and "Constitutional principles involved in relocation program".

In addition to the 11 items, this folder has "Statement by J. Edgar Hoover on the loyalty of Japanese Americans", a short excerpt of Hoover's testimony before the House Appropriations Committee.

"Minority Report of the Honorable Herman P. Eberharter" is also part of this folder. Representative Eberharter, one of the three members serving on the above-mentioned sub-committee, finds (in disagreement with his majority colleagues) that allegations of and accusations against the War Relocation Authority were false. He concludes in this 12-page report, " ... considering the magnitude of its job, the difficulty of the legal issues involved, and the complexity and delicacy of the problem of resettling a large group of people in the midst of a war, the War Relocation Authority has acted, by and large, efficiently and capably ..."

This folder contains 18 81/2"-by-11" mimeographed documents, varying in length from 1 to 24 pages. All items are in fragile condition.

Folder 5E: Dillon S. Meyer

Dillon S. Myer succeeded his friend Milton Eisenhower as the Director of the War Relocation Authority on June 17, 1942. He would serve as the Director until the agency's termination in June, 1946.

The Director of the War Relocation Authority headed an agency that was in charge of every aspect of evacuees' lives in the relocation centers: food, health care, education, recreation, and so on. Eisenhower did not relish this job and resigned after only three months (to become the Deputy Director of Office of War Information).

How Myer's four-year tenure as the Director is or should be appraised depends on which point of view one comes to agree with. Some see Myer as a "keeper of concentration camps" who willingly went along with the gross violation of the constitutional rights of a minority group; others judge him more kindly, as a benevolent bureaucrat who did his best under difficult circumstances.

The documents in this folder are records of speeches and statements made by Myer throughout his tenure. Through written and spoken words, Myer set out to clarify his agency's missions and policies ("Facts about the War Relocation Authority"), promote public awareness of Japanese Americans ("Evidences of Americanism"), defend actions of WRA ("Myer statement before Costello Committee"), and explain his views on the resettlement back to the West Coast ("Problems of evacuee resettlement in California").

This folder contains 16 81/2"-by-11" mimeographed documents, varying in length from 1 to 13 pages. All items are in fragile condition.

Folder 7C: Miscellaneous letters, addresses, etc.

Contents in this folder can be divided into two major categories: statements and letters made or written by government officials (mostly from the Department of War), and letters and statements from individuals. A few documents are authored by non-government organizations.

The government statements deal mostly with issues related to the creation of Japanese American combat teams, internees' return to the West Coast, and the question of loyalty. Individual statements are concerned with more personal matters, such as an internee's first impression of an assembly center and a Nisei soldier's letter to his father.

This folder contains 45 documents, the majority of which are mimeographed. They measure 81/2"-by-11" (with the exception of two documents), varying in length from 1 to 16 pages. Some are in fragile condition and are hard to read.

The following is a list of noteworthy items:

Hirabayashi, Gordon. "Why I Refused Evacuation". Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 1 page.
At the time of his refusal to follow curfew and evacuation orders and the subsequent arrest, Seattle native Hirabayashi was a senior at the University of Washington. His deeply held belief that all American citizens are entitled to equal rights under the Constitution is apparent in this statement. He writes, "If I were to register and cooperate in these circumstances, I would be giving helpless consent to the denial of practically all of the things which give me incentive to live. I must maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives. Therefore, I must refuse this order for evacuation."

Hosokawa, Robert. "A Nisei Speaks". Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 2 page.
This article, written after Hosokawa and his wife were released from the Minidoka relocation center, describes conditions at Minidoka: the barbed wires, lack of privacy, crowded mess halls, shortage of textbooks in schools, and so on. However, Hosokawa makes a point of mentioning the students who managed to leave the relocation centers, writing that "Some students are finding their way to schools in the Middle West and East, through efforts of the National Student Relocation Council and its supporting groups."

"Evidences that Japanese-Americans in Relocation Centers Are Continuing In the American Way". Author unknown. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 1 page.
This documents collects excerpts of local newspaper articles. The Arkansas Gazette on December 13, 1943 reports, for example, that the National Honor Society members at Rohwer High School served as sponsors for a three-week war bond drive which netted over $3,000, "the cost of three jeeps".

[Pinn?, Katharine]. [Copy of personal letter]. Date unknown. 81/2"-by-11". 3 page.
The author is a "Relocation Interviewer" and this letter describes her first impressions after arriving at the center. A hand-written note on top of the first page ("Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Japanese Relocation camp") indicates the author was employed at the Heart Mountain relocation center in Wyoming.

The Northfield Post No. 84, American Legion. "Text of American Legion Protest on Racial Discrimination". 1943. 6"-by-10". 1 page.
A clause in this resolution protests the inclusion of Frederick Murray's article "Japs In Our Yard" in the June 1943 issue of the American Legion Magazine. (This article is collected in Box 3). Murray advocates the "relocation" of all Japanese American citizens to islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Folder 8A: Government publications

This folder contains a miscellany of 21 government publications from the Western Defense Command, the Senate of the State of California, the United States Senate, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and others.

An item of note is a 51cm-by-71cm poster issued by the War Information Office. With the image of an eagle on top, the poster features the text of a statement made by President Roosevelt on February 3, 1943. It includes this famous line, "Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry."

Additional Resources

About the Online Project

Other Online Exhibits

Page last edited by on 03/16/2013.
Occidental College Library Special Collections

This project is made possible by a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.
© 2005 Occidental College