This is the nameplate of Eddie Shimomura, father of Roger Shimomura, noting he was a registered pharmacist. Eddie was a registered pharmacist and as such was able to work in the hospital while incarcerated at Minidoka Incarceration Camp after he and his family was forcibly removed. They were originally removed to the Puyallup Assembly Center before they were finally temporarily relocated to Minidoka in Idaho.
This photograph is similar to another ( 2016.0184.28), showing Japanese Americans being loaded onto a train in the incarceration camp in Rowher, Arkansas. This photo is dated 1944, and shows a mass of people getting ready to get on the train, as was often done during the war. Japanese American prisoners were moved from camp to camp quite frequently.
This photograph is a portrait of Shig Mori. He is one of the sons of the Mori family, pictured before at the fruit stand with the rest of his family (2016.0184.23). The eldest son of the Mori family, he is pictured in camp in 1944.
This is the final form of the mallard that is seen in its previous forms. The paint is complete, the legs are attached, and the details are exact. Sadao Oka painted an immense number of birds, and gave many away as gifts, but he kept one of each of the 62 species in his Audubon bird identification cards. This bird is an exact image of the mallard on page 27 and the cover of "The Red Book of Birds of America". This final product of Mr. Oka's shows the reward of the painstaking detail that he put into every single bird that he carved. Bird carving allowed Mr. Oka to pass his spare time in imprisonment.
This finished bald eagle is a swooping, majestic bird pin. It really shows how much the birds change from the first step to its final form, the eagle's first carved outline (accession number 2016.0117.061) is drastically different from the powerful final product that Sadao Oka is able to produce. He painstakingly carved in the details of the feathers with just a normal pocket knife found in his tool box (accession number 2016.0117.096), and the level of realism he was able to achieve is fantastic. There was not much else he could do during his imprisonment but find perseverance and resolve in his creativity and art.
Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII often turned to art and crafts to take their minds off of the imprisonment, and express themselves creatively. Many art schools, clubs, and classes started popping up throughout many of the camps to accommodate and provide for this want. It was a great way for many Japanese Americans to pass much of the large amounts of spare time they had while imprisoned, and many prisoners developed extraordinary artistic skills. This small wooden carving has a wooden brooch reading "Santa Anita" which was an assembly center for Japanese Americans. Attached by blue yarn is a small carving of geta (Japanese sandals). These are representative of Toshi Ito's experience in camp. The prisoners had to shower in the same place where prior to their imprisonment horses were hosed down and cleaned. The men in her camp carved geta out of old wood so other prisoners could wear them in the shower and not get their feet filthy. Many of the crafts done were like this, small, and representative of where or when the artist was imprisoned. This small trinket was carved by a boy in camp as a gift of love to Toshi Ito. Although it didn't work out between them, many gifts like this were made and given as tokens of love throughout all the camps.
This completed ruby-throated hummingbird is an exact copy of the Audubon identification card in the summer box (accession number 2016.0117.056). It is delicately posed on a twig, and the body is small and delicate, with a thin beak. The colors are vibrant and realistic, and there is a bright red streak that is identifiable under the beak. When Mr. Oka was carving birds like this, one of the most challenging parts was making the 2D outline into a 3D form. The curves that Mr. Oka is able to capture is amazingly realistic.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, a presidential executive order that authorized the deportation of Japanese-Americans and Italian-Americans to prison camps. Shortly following this, orders were issued to Japanese Americans for their forced relocation.
This is Civilian Exclusion Order No. 69, issued by the Headquarters of the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army to all persons of Japanese ancestry. It is dated May 12, 1942, and Lieutenant General J.L. DeWitt signed off on the order. This Order contains instructions for the "evacuation" and relocation of people of Japanese ancestry.
This Order was pursuant to the provisions of Public Proclamations dated March 2, 1942, and March 16, 1942, which established Miltitary Areas No. 1 and No. 2, which encompassed parts of Washington, Oregon, and California, along with some parts of Arizona. It stated that any residents of Japanese ancestry were to be excluded from the areas for the purposes of national security, and included lists of areas where Japanese residents were not allowed to go.
This Order contained instructions to citizens on how to proceed with their "evacuation". The Order stated that from and after 12 o'clock noon, P.W.T. of Monday, May 18th, 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry (alien and non-alien) were to be excluded from Military No. 1, which affected the County of Colusa and the Counties of Yuba and Sutter in the state of California. Anyone found in the area after the stated date or anyone who refused to comply with government instructions were liable to criminal penalties.
In this Order, individuals and familes was advised to arrive at the Civil Control Station in Yuba County between the hours of 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. on Wednesday, May 13, 1942, and Thursday, May 14, 1942. From there, the individuals and families were given instructions and provided transportation to a temporary living center.
The Order instructed that "evacuees" bring a list of items to the Civil Control Center, which contained bedding and linens (but no mattresses) for every member of the family, toilet articles for every member, extra clothing for each member, and essential personal effects for every member of the family.
The Civil Control Station was equipped to assist in the "evacuation" by giving advice and instructions, providing services with respect to management, leasing, sale, storage, or other disposition of most kinds of property (real estate, business and professional equipment, household goods, boats, automobiles, livestock, etc), provide temporary residence elsewhere for all Japanese in family groupos, and transport persons and a limited amount of clothing and equipment to their new residences.
This is the Imperial Japanese Government paper Passport of Satoshi Yoshizato. It's numbered No. 137274, and dated 1909. This paper allowed Yoshizato to travel to the United States of America, and start a new life there. Yoshizato is the step-brother-in-law of Sam Mori, pictured in other photos of the family (accession numbers 2016.0184.23 and 2016.0184.21 and 2016.0184.22).
This small note is from the donor, Janice Faden, and describes the photos that she gathered from her relatives from their time imprisoned during WWII. She also writes, "As you notice there are none taken in Tule lake, where no one we knew had any cameras. They were all confiscated”.
This small pick was used to add tiny details to the wooden carvings such as lines for feathers and different patterns. This tiny tool was crucial to Mr. Oka's success in making his carvings as realistic and detailed as possible. This is one of the few tools he was actually able to use, he and his carving class was very limited on tools and materials due to their incarceration.
This finished carving of an Acadian flycatcher is another example of the beauty and detail that Sadao Oka was able to create in his artful bird carvings. This bird in particular has a lot of curves and bulges, meaning Mr. Oka would have had to do a lot of work with his pocket knife to carve it into its shape with the amount of detail that it has. He would give these pins as gifts and brooches, but he made sure to keep one of each species he carved.
This photograph is of a man holding a baby in camp. Most likely the camp is Rowher because "Arkansas" is on the back of the photo. The baby is holding a small stuffed animal, and they are posing in front of the bare barracks of Rowher. Many children were born and grew up in these prison camps, and their innocence is a sharp contrast to the camps they were born in.
This small note is a graduation announcement from Topaz High School for the class of 1944. Topaz High School was located in the Topaz War Relocation Center, a Japanese American prison camp in Utah that was active between September 1942 and October 1945. Topaz held a total of over 11,000 Japanese American prisoners during WWII. The interior says, "The Senior Class of Topaz High School announces its Commencement Exercises Friday evening, June second at eight o'clock High School Auditorium".
A black and white sumi-e painting of a horse in motion. The image depicts a horse leaping through the air, tossing its head to the right to look behind. The horse’s mane and tail are raised in motion, and its right foreleg reaches out to point towards the bottom left corner of the page. Chiura Obata (1885-1975) created this while in a Japanese American prison camp during World War II and his signature and red gagō-in (artist seal) stamp appear in the lower right corner. Small Japanese characters written in pen run vertically in the bottom left hand corner.
Born Zoroku Obata in Okayama-ken, Japan in 1885, Obata moved to California in 1903 and was one of the earliest Japanese artists to live and work in the United States. Obata was the first artist of Japanese descent to be a faculty member at UC Berkeley, where he started teaching in 1932. In 1942 he and his family were removed from Berkeley and imprisoned at the Tanforan temporary detention center and Topaz Japanese American incarceration camp under Executive Order 9066. At Tanforan, Obata started an art school with George Matsusaburo Hibi which he continued upon transfer to Topaz, teaching hundreds of students and creating a large body of artwork depicting everyday life in the camps and surrounding landscapes. Obata became a naturalized citizen in 1954, a year after retiring as Professor Emeritus from UC Berkeley. He spent the rest of his life traveling widely, lecturing and demonstrating Japanese brush painting. Obata is most well-known for his signature style of painting which blends Japanese and Western techniques and his large-scale landscapes. He also created an award-winning series of color woodblock prints at the Takamizawa Print Works in Japan inspired by his 1927 trip to Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada. Chiura Obata died on October 6, 1975 at age 89.
This is a letter from President George H. W. Bush to Japanese Americans who were imprisoned due to Executive Order 9066. Written on parchment, it was an attempt to apologize for wrongs done to the Japanese Americans. The President's signature is in autopen on the bottom.
This small wooden box was one of Sadao Oka's most prized possessions during his time in Poston concentration camp. Within this box he kept the small amount of tools and materials he was allowed, old paints, and wooden birds that he was carving. Now some of the many birds he carved are on display on the top layer of the box, but many others were given as gifts or were kept somewhere else. Mr. Oka adopted the art of woodcarving when he was forcibly put into an incarceration camp. He joined a carving class and quickly picked up the art form. He spent much of his free time focused on making the most lifelike wooden birds he could, and he soon perfected his skills and mastered carving and painting small details into the already small birds. He used this art to stay determined and persevere through all the trials of segregation, as did many others, and by doing this, the energy and emotion that is shown through these painstakingly detailed birds is evident.
Another one of Sadao Oka's few carving tools. This is a large wedge that he used to carve in details and lines into the three dimensional birds. Tools like this were important for his art because with these he was able to add in details that make them look much more realistic than they would have otherwise. The supply of materials and tools that he and his carving class had was extremely limited due to their incarceration so whatever tools they did have became very important.
Contact sheet of negatives by George Wakiji documenting the United States Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Hearings in Washington, D.C. Name stamp of George Wakiji on back; an address label (George M. Wakiji/5820 Iron Willow Court/ Alexandra, VA 22310) affixed to back covering another, perhaps previous address. Photo label of those depicted affixed on reverse.
The CWRIC was a bipartisan commission formed by President Jimmy Carter to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 (EO 9066) and the incarceration of American citizens, as well as the mistreatment of the Alaskan natives of the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands. The following contact sheet documents the hearing held on July 14th and 16th, 1981. . It features members of commission and captures the testimonies from Gordon Hirabayashi, Min Yasui, and Mari Michener. Mari Michener (née Sabusawa) was Michener’s third wife and a second-generation Japanese American who was incarcerated with her family, first at the Santa Anita Assembly Center in California, then at Grenada in Colorado, before being released to attend Antioch College in Ohio. Both Yasui and Hirabayashi were plaintiffs in Supreme Court challenges to Japanese incarceration.
The people in the highlighted cells are as follows:
13 Chiye Tomihiro (Chicago), Mari Sabusawa Michener (St. Michaels, MD)
Another one of Sadao Oka's few carving tools. This is a small wedge that he used to carve in details and lines into the three dimensional birds. Tools like this were important for his art because with these he was able to add in details that make them look much more realistic than they would have otherwise. The supply of materials and tools that he and his carving class had was extremely limited due to their incarceration so whatever tools they did have became very important.