Envelope and letters to Dr. Keizaburo "Kei" Koyama from Teru Koyama and Miriam Kiyo Koyama
PARTNER
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
Visit partner
OBJECT ID
ddr-one-5-30 (2015.1)
PARENT COLLECTION
Dr. Keizaburo Koyama Family Collection
DESCRIPTION
Envelope addressed to Dr. Keizaburo Koyama at Camp Livingston from his wife, Teru Koyama, and daughter, Miriam Kiyo Koyama. Postmarked Sep 16, 1942. In red pencil “9/20-42” is written to the left of the postmark. In the lower left corner is a purple "Censored" stamp from Camp Livingston. Inside the envelope are two letters, one from Miriam Kiyo Koyama dated September 12, 1942, and one from Teru Koyama dated Sept 14, 1942. Kiyo writes about how her sister, Eva, was upset at having been called fat in his last letter, and that Eva's lost weight since coming to Minidoka, in part because the walk to the canteen is far. She also writes that she's seen a dead snake outside the barracks, and that her mom now works in the camp kitchens. On the back side of the letter is part of the poem “For I'm Grown Up” by Sydell Merl. Teru writes to Kei about the hardship of raising children in camp since there is little family structure and her worries about their education. She writes of meeting the Kakekashis again in camp and that William is befriending Hiro Kakekashi. She wishes Kei could be here, but is certain he would not like Minidoka, and that there are too many dentists anyway, and that they even sent some Portlanders to Wyoming because they had a full medical team at Minidoka.
DATE
09/12/1942
LOCATION
OBJECT GENRE
Correspondence
OBJECT FORMAT
Document
TOPICS
- Religion and churches -- Christianity
- Identity and values -- Issei
- Identity and values -- Nisei
- Industry and employment -- Dentistry
- World War II -- Pearl Harbor and aftermath -- Arrest, searches, and seizures
- World War II -- Concentration camps
- World War II -- U.S. Army internment camps
- World War II -- Concentration camps -- Food
- World War II -- Concentration camps -- Impact of incarceration
- Community activities -- Associations and organizations -- Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America
- World War II -- Concentration camps -- Religion
FACILITY
CREATORS
- Koyama, Teru (author)
- Miriam Kiyo Koyama (author)
PERSONS/ORGANIZATIONS
CONTRIBUTOR
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
PREFERRED CITATION
Courtesy of the Koyama Family Collection, Japanese American Museum of Oregon
RIGHTS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
