Yearbook; 1943 Rohwer Center High School Yearbook which belonged to Mitsuye Ito. Ito and her family were among the many Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes and business on the west coast and incarcerated in relocation camps during World War II. The yearbook was made by the staff and the foreword states that the faculty hopes the students have pleasant memories of school and to remember their theme, the Mississippi River, as a symbol of life and perpetual forward motion. They remind the students that they are important to the Nation. Yearbook is signed by numerous students and teachers. The high school was at the Rohwer Relocation Center which was located in Desha County, Arkansas. This camp was one of the two incarceration camps built in Arkansas to house Japanese Americans from the West Coast. The camp was active from September 18, 1942, to November 30, 1945. Yearbook is in fragile condition and no longer has its cover.
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.