Tule Lake Relocation Center
Variant namesWorld War II and its subsequent effects on the American nation permeated every aspect of the lives of the country's people. Although virtually everyone was touched in some respect by the war, perhaps no people, as a group, were affected more than the Japanese-Americans living in the far western states. Both aliens and American citizens of Japanese ancestry became the victims of the distrust and fear generated by both civilians and military personnel along the Pacific Coast. Viewed as a threat to the security of the United States, all Japanese and Japanese-Americans were evacuated from the Western states. Forced to leave their homes and jobs, many losing all their possessions, the Japanese-Americans were established in what were to be known as relocation centers. Administered by an agency of the federal government, these centers became Japanese communities with the formation of local governments, school, jobs, and community activities.
The establishment of these centers was accomplished in a relatively short period of time. On March 18, just three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9103 which established the War Relocation Authority (WRA), a civilian agency which was to administer the relocation centers. By the end of March, evacuation procedures had begun, at first voluntary, with the Japanese-Americans being sent originally to assembly centers, and later to the relocation camps. The two relocation centers, with which this collection is primarily concerned, Tule Lake and Topaz, were established May 27, 1942 and September 11, 1942, respectively.
The collection is divided into three major sections: the WRA, the Tule Lake Relocation Center, and the Topaz Relocation Center. The WRA papers contain material issued by the agency such as policy statements, quarterly reports, newsletters, and pamphlets. The Tule Lake section, the largest of the three, contains correspondence, quarterly reports, special project reports, histories, and studies of relocation, copies of the Tulean Dispatch, the center's daily newspaper, and examples of artwork by evacuees. This material not only demonstrates the organization and administration of these camps, but also presents a good picture of the evacuee's daily lives and problems associated with existence in that type of environment.
The Topaz papers contain additional general material on relocation as well as a number of studies and papers on the Topaz center. Many of these studies deal with the education system that was established at Topaz.
As well as containing material relating to life in relocation camps, the collection also contains papers dealing with more specific problems and policies. Included is material from the U. S. Subcommittee on Un-American activities (The Dies Committee) investigating the WRA, the establishment of the WRA segregation policy of separating loyal from the suspected disloyal evacuees, and the problems and violence associated with the resistance to the Selective Service registration program.
The attempt in the organization of the material in this collection was to make the Topaz section as complete as possible. Consequently, general material on relocation and the WRA, including information on the Dies Committee and the Segregation Policy, can be found in both the Topaz and WRA boxes.
In addition to any books and magazine articles written about Topaz, the Western Americana section of the University of Utah library contains an additional copy of the Topaz literary magazine, Trek (December, 1942), and two theses dealing directly with Topaz: Caucasian Attitudes Toward the Japanese in Metropolitan Salt Lake City, (1946), by Douglas Hardy, and Desolate Keep: A Study of the Physical Environment of Topaz, Utah, (1963), by Colleen Elizabeth Cox.
The manuscripts library also contains two oral histories that are related to Japanese relocation. One interview by Ron Rainger was with Joy (Mrs. Edward J.) Hashimoto. She was in high school during World War II and her family was relocation to Granada, Colorado, She described evacuation procedures and life at the camp, and indicated that while it was not a pleasant experience, she did not harbor any resentment or bitterness.
The second interview was by John Pitts with Joyce Matsumo and was concerned primarily with the life of a Japanese-American living in Salt Lake City. Though born in Heart Mountain, Wyoming, she remembered nothing of relocation, but indicated some hostility on the part of her parents toward the experience.
The interviews may be found in Davis Bitton's Oral History class papers. (Ms 39) Bx 37 and 40.
Broadsides issued by the Western Defense command and Fourth Army pertaining to Japanese exclusion and evacuation from the west coast may be found in the map case. Included are Civilian Exclusion Orders for July 4 and 22, 1942 are specific instruction for the evacuation of all Japanese-Americans from these areas.
Additional material pertaining to Japanese Relocation, and specifically the role of the Federal Reserve Bank, may be found in the Marriner S. Eccles Collection. These papers contain suggested programs for the Federal Reserve Bank in dealing with the property of the evacuees. These materials include reports pertaining to the functions and operations of such a program and the Executive Order establishing the Office of Alien Property Custodian, as well as press releases, correspondence, and reports on the progress of evacuation. These papers may be found in Bx 38 Fds 17-19 of the Marriner S. Eccles Papers.
From the guide to the Japanese American relocation photograph collection, 1942-1943, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)
Role | Title | Holding Repository | |
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referencedIn | Japanese-American Relocation Center Newsletters, 1942-1943 | Western Oregon University Archives | |
referencedIn | [Tule Lake Relocation Center : newspaper clippings and correspondence.] | Michigan State University Libraries, Main Library | |
referencedIn | The Gripsholm Exchanges (Manuscript). Memoir by Atushi Archi Miyamoto, 1941- 2007 | California State University, Dominguez Hills Archives and Special Collections | |
creatorOf | Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Records | UC Berkeley Libraries | |
referencedIn | Tule Lake Relocation Center : autograph book and newsletter, 1943 and 1946. | Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives | |
referencedIn | Jerry Jiro Yasutome photographs | Oregon Historical Society Research Library | |
creatorOf | Japanese American relocation photograph collection, 1942-1943 | J. Willard Marriott Library. University of Utah Photograph Archives | |
referencedIn | Taku Frank Nimura typescript : Daruma : the indomitable spirit, 1973 | Hoover Institution Archives | |
referencedIn | Thomas W. Grubbs letters, 1945-1949 | Hoover Institution Archives | |
referencedIn | Amy Kasai pictorial works depicting life in Japanese American internment camps. | UC Berkeley Libraries | |
referencedIn | Dorothea Lange papers relating to the Japanese-American relocation, 1942-1974 (bulk 1942-1945). | UC Berkeley Libraries | |
referencedIn | Gerda Isenberg papers, 1931-1990. | UC Berkeley Libraries | |
referencedIn | Preservation of the Tule Lake Relocation and Segregation Center Collection, 1976-2009 | Oregon Institute of Technology Shaw Historical Library | |
referencedIn | Japanese Internment Camp photograph collection, circa 1942-1946 | University of Washington Libraries Special Collections | |
referencedIn | John Douglas Cook papers, 1942/1943 | Hoover Institution Archives | |
referencedIn | Dorothy and Hiroshi Kaneko Papers | Japanese American Service Committee, Legacy Center | |
referencedIn | Willard E. Schmidt Papers, 1942-1945, 1944 | San José State University. Library | |
referencedIn | Japanese American archival collection ImageBase, ca. 1880-2003, (bulk ca. 1910-1955) | Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives. California State University, Sacramento. | |
referencedIn | Wax, Rosalie Hankey. Papers, 1967-1998 | Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, | |
referencedIn | Jack Iwata collection, 1942-1945 | Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.) | |
referencedIn | [Tule Lake and Manzanar relocation center clippings.] 1973-1980. | Michigan State University Libraries, Main Library | |
referencedIn | Dr. George Kambara papers, 1942-1997 | Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives | |
referencedIn | Yvor Winters and Janet Lewis papers, | Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives | |
referencedIn | June letter : Tule Lake Relocation Center, to Satoka, 1943 Mar. 8. | UC Berkeley Libraries | |
referencedIn | Proposed Curriculum Procedures for Japanese Relocation Centers, 1942 | Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives | |
referencedIn | Japanese-American Internment Oral Histories, 2001. | University of the Pacific, William Knox Holt Memorial Library |
Role | Title | Holding Repository |
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Relation | Name | |
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associatedWith | Cook, John Douglas. | person |
associatedWith | Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives. Library. California State University, Sacramento. | corporateBody |
associatedWith | Grubbs, Thomas W. | person |
associatedWith | Isenberg, Gerda, 1901-1997. | person |
associatedWith | Iwata, Jack M. (Jack Masaki), 1912-1992. | person |
associatedWith | Kaneko, Dorothy Morita, 1920- | person |
associatedWith | Kasai, Amy. | person |
associatedWith | Lange, Dorothea. | person |
associatedWith | Miyamoto, Atushi Archi | person |
associatedWith | Miyamoto, Atushi Archi | person |
associatedWith | Nimura, Taku Frank. | person |
associatedWith | Schmidt, Willard | person |
associatedWith | Schmidt, Willard E. | person |
associatedWith | Shaw Historical Library | corporateBody |
associatedWith | Sparks, Edith | person |
associatedWith | United States. War Relocation Authority | person |
associatedWith | Wax, Rosalie H. | person |
associatedWith | Winters, Yvor, 1900-1968. | person |
associatedWith | Yasutome, James M. (James Mamoru), b. 1943, | person |
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Japanese Americans |
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Active 1930
Active 1974