Living conditions

All of the camps were constructed according to the War Department's specifications, which included barbed-wire fences, guard towers, and armed guards around the perimeter. The camps were organized in "blocks" consisting of twelve to fourteen barracks, a mess hall, communal showers and toilets, laundry facilities, and a recreation hall. Each barracks was divided into four or six rooms with each room housing one family, no matter how large, and there was no running water. The furnishings that Japanese Americans found on their arrival were canvas cots, a potbellied stove, and a single bare light bulb. The thin walls offered little protection from the harsh weather, which ranged from 110 degrees in the summer to 25 degrees below zero on winter nights. The flimsy construction allowed no privacy and made normal family life difficult. Camp inmates improved their own living conditions by creating interior walls and partitions, constructing furniture from scrap lumber, and planting gardens.

World War II (283)
Concentration camps (2384)
Living conditions (1897)

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1897 items

img Man in front of camp barracks (ddr-csujad-37-9)

Photograph of a man wearing an overcoat and hat standing in front of camp barracks and a utility pole at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_009

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-37-9/

img Men posing out window (ddr-csujad-37-4)

Photograph of two men posing out the window of a camp barrack at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_004_01

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-37-4/

img Young child in front of Christmas tree (ddr-csujad-37-15)

Photograph of a young child in front of a Christmas tree inside of the barracks building at the Heart Mountain camp, Wyoming. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_015_01

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-37-15/

img Camp barracks at Heart Mountain (ddr-csujad-37-12)

Landscape photograph of camp barracks at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp in Wyoming. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_012

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-37-12/

img Woman standing in front of camp barrack (ddr-csujad-37-3)

Photograph of a women standing in front camp barracks at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp. A barracks building with a clothes line is seen in the behind. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mhf_003

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-37-3/

img Tule Lake scrapbook (ddr-csujad-26-53)

Scrapbook created in Tule Lake camp by Japanese American students. Contents include drawings, art, holiday greeting cards prints, poetry and signatures of student groups. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_03_20_001

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-53/

img Camp buildings with dust cloud (ddr-csujad-26-69)

Camp barracks buildings line a road with dust cloud. People can be seen in front of the buildings in distance. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_006

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-69/

doc Personality cards (ddr-csujad-26-44)

Journal entries written by high school students discussing their observations and perspectives on a variety of topics including social and cultural differences, personality conflicts, friendships, social interactions, school, dogs, memories, reflections on camp life, weather, a friend in the military visiting his parents in camp, hobbies, and opinions about other people and daily life. Each entry …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-44/

doc Fire department of Tule Lake (ddr-csujad-26-14)

Description of the establishment, structure and operations of the fire department at Tule Lake. The report includes accounts of fires, what firemen do while waiting for fires, schedules, issues with wardens and administration, and ethnographic observations of "social status" in the camps. Report compiled as a portion of the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS). …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-14/

img Group photo by car (ddr-csujad-26-111)

A group of five women and one man poses in front of a car with barracks in the background. Additional photos in sequence include: ucsb_mei_0109, ucsb_mei_0113, ucsb_mei_0114, ucsb_mei_0115. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_075

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-111/

img Young women (ddr-csujad-26-123)

A group of young Japanese American women poses with a Caucasian woman in front of a barracks building. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_092

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-123/

doc Chapter 8, 9, 10 personality cards (ddr-csujad-26-35)

Journal entries written by high school students discussing their observations and perspectives on a variety of topics including movies, dances, dissatisfaction with recreation, family dynamics, desire to leave camp, cultural and generational differences, and weather. Each entry includes the full date and student name. The entries were part of a class assignment and collected for the …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-35/

img Four women and two men (ddr-csujad-26-117)

Four women and two men pose together in front of barracks buildings. All but one person is Japanese American. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_086

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-117/

doc Outline of University of California study of evacuation and resettlement (ddr-csujad-26-2)

Outline for an academic social science study, the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS), led by the University of California of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Outline highlights area of administrative, social, political and personal areas to be studied by a team of researchers encamped with incarcerees. See this object in …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-2/

doc Personality cards (ddr-csujad-26-43)

Journal entries written by high school students discussing their observations and perspectives on a variety of topics including family interactions, memories, homesickness, friendships, social interactions, school, self-reflection, juvenile delinquency, peer behaviors, death, religion, opinions, and worldviews. Each entry includes the full date and student name. The entries were part of a class assignment and collected for …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-43/

img Group photo in front of barracks (ddr-csujad-26-136)

Three Japanese American women and one man pose together in front of a barracks building. An automobile and additional barracks can be seen in the background. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_106

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-136/

img Barracks row (ddr-csujad-26-86)

A man walks toward a row of barracks lining a dusty road. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_023

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-86/

img Group photo in front of barracks building (ddr-csujad-26-81)

Posed group photo in front of a barracks building of eighteen Japanese Americans and Caucasian adults, one baby, and one dog. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_018

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-81/

img Young man on tractor (ddr-csujad-26-131)

Photo of a young Japanese American man on a tractor. Barracks building are seen in the background. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_101

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-131/

img Large group photo (ddr-csujad-26-125)

Photo of a large group of Japanese Americans and Caucasian men and women pose in front of a barracks building with a baby and a dog. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_094

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-125/

img View from Castle Rock facing east (ddr-csujad-26-129)

Landscape photo featuring the Tule Lake incarceration camp and the roads around it as seen in the snow from a nearby hill top. Verso reads, "view from Castle Rock facing east." From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_099

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-129/

img Young Japanese couple (ddr-csujad-26-119)

Photo of a young Japanese American couple seated on a bench in front of barracks buildings. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_088

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-119/

img Tule Lake scrapbook illustrated page (ddr-csujad-26-64)

Scrapbook page features a pastel drawing of women showering and in various states of undress in camp barracks. Illustration is accompanied by a poem "Barrack room ballads" about the lack of both privacy and comfort of women using camp barracks showers and toilets. Tule Lake scrapbook (ucsb_mei_0053), page 31. See this object in the California State …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-64/

University of California evacuation and resettlement study: The Gila River WRA relocation center, Rivers, Pinal County, Arizona (ddr-csujad-26-27)

doc University of California evacuation and resettlement study: The Gila River WRA relocation center, Rivers, Pinal County, Arizona (ddr-csujad-26-27)

Description of the Gila River incarceration camp during the first month of occupation, including camp location, climate, landscape, barracks, issues with camp construction, poor conditions and lack of furnishings, incarcerees who were subjected to upon arrival. Camp administration, food and housing issues, camp employment, security, recreation, and social groups are described and analyzed. Report compiled as …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-27/

img Women pose in front of building (ddr-csujad-26-84)

A group of young women pose in front of what may be the side of a barracks building. From photo album of Robert Billigmeier. See this object in the California State Universities Japanese American Digitization project site: mei_05_021

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-26-84/