Densho

Densho documents the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. Densho offers these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images, historical documents, and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all.

Densho's collections contain oral histories and primary sources that document the Japanese American experience from immigration starting in the late 1800s through redress in the 1980s, with a strong focus on World War II incarceration. The archives are growing as Densho continues to record oral histories and digitize historical materials.

393 Collections

Collection Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection (ddr-densho-1002)

The Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection consists of interviews conducted for filmmaker Emiko Omori's documentary Rabbit in the Moon, which aired on PBS in 1999. The film explores the conflict surrounding the resisters of conscience movement in the World War II concentration camps, as well as the divisiveness of the postwar Japanese American communities. The interviews …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1002/

Collection Friends of Manzanar Collection (ddr-densho-1003)

This collection consists of interviews conducted in partnership with Friends of Manzanar. The group's mission is to work with the National Park Service and other interested groups to preserve and restore the Manzanar site, and to interpret its stories, resources and lessons, for this and future generations.

For more information about Friends of Manzanar, please visit …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1003/

Collection gayle k. yamada Collection (ddr-densho-1004)

The gayle k. yamada Collection consists of interviews conducted by filmmaker gayle k. yamada for her 2003 documentary, Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties. The interviews are typically not life histories, instead primarily focusing on the interviewees' World War II experiences in the Military Intelligence Service.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1004/

Collection Japanese American Film Preservation Project Collection (ddr-densho-1005)

This collection contains interviews conducted by journalist Wendy Hanamura, producer of the Emmy-winning documentary "Honor Bound: A Personal Journey." Two of the interviews in this collection feature 8 mm home movie footage shot by incarcerees in Heart Mountain and Topaz concentration camps. In 2005, the interviewees provided voiceover narration of their orginal film footage.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1005/

Collection Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Collection (ddr-densho-1006)

The interviews in this collection were conducted by the JC Legacy Project, a project of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Cultural Centre is a community-based, not-for-profit, charitable organization that provides programs, events and facilities to promote an understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture and Japanese Canadian heritage for Canadians of all …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1006/

Collection Loni Ding Collection (ddr-densho-1007)

The Loni Ding Collection consists of raw interviews conducted by filmmaker Loni Ding for her two documentaries, Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People (1983) and The Color of Honor: The Japanese American soldier in WWII (1987). The two films were among the first and most influential on the subject of the Japanese American soldiers …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007/

Collection National Japanese American Historical Society Collection (ddr-densho-1008)

This collection consists of interviews conducted by the National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the collection, preservation, authentic interpretation, and sharing of historical information of the Japanese American experience for the diverse broader national community. The interviews in this collection focus primarily on Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1008/

Collection New Mexico JACL Collection (ddr-densho-1009)

This collection consists of interviews conducted by the New Mexico chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.

For more information about the chapter, please visit www.nmjacl.org.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1009/

Collection Preserving California's Japantowns Collection (ddr-densho-1010)

This collection consists of interviews conducted in partnership with Preserving California's Japantowns, a project of California Japanese American Community Leadership Council (CJACLC), dedicated to documenting historic resources from pre-World War II Japantowns.

For more information about the project, please visit www.californiajapantowns.org.

Funding for these interviews was provided by a grant from the California State Library through …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1010/

Collection Raechel Donahue and Garrett Lindemann Collection (ddr-densho-1011)

This collection contains interviews conducted for the 2011 Documentary Heart Mountain: An All American Town, produced by Raechel Donahue and Garrett Lindemann.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1011/

Collection Steven Okazaki Collection (ddr-densho-1012)

The Steven Okazaki Collection consists of interviews conducted by filmmaker Steven Okazaki for his 1984 Oscar-nominated documentary, Unfinished Business. The film profiles Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru Yasui and their legal fight to have their World War II convictions overturned. The interviews are audio-only, and are typically not life histories, instead primarily focusing on issues …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1012/

Collection Topaz Museum Collection (ddr-densho-1013)

This collection consists of interviews conducted in partnership with the Topaz Museum, a volunteer, non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve the original site of the World War II Internment Camp near Delta, Utah, to interpret its impact on the internees, their families, and the citizens of Utah and to educate the public in order to …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1013/

Collection Twin Cities JACL Collection (ddr-densho-1014)

This collection contains interviews conducted in partnership with the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), an organization whose mission is to secure and maintain the human and civil rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry and others victimized by injustice.

For more information about the Twin Cities chapter of the JACL, please visit …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1014/

Collection Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL Collection (ddr-densho-1015)

This collection consists of interviews was conducted in partnership with the Watsonville - Santa Cruz chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.

For more information about the chapter, please visit www.watsonvillesantacruzjacl.org.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1015/

Collection Whitworth College-North by Northwest Collection (ddr-densho-1016)

This collection contains interviews conducted by Whitworth College and North by Northwest Entertainment. The interviews were used in the making of the 2004 documentary In Time of War: The Japanese American experience of WWII, produced by Andrea Dilley and David Tanner.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1016/

Collection Emi Kuboyama, Office of Redress Administration (ORA) Oral History Project (ddr-densho-1020)

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans with Executive Order 9066. Forty-six years later, Congress sought to belatedly address this injustice with the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which established a process of redress for those harmed by 9066. Housed within the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1020/

Collection Naoko Wake Collection of Oral Histories of US Survivors of the Atomic Bombs (ddr-densho-1021)

This collection consists of ten interviews that historian Naoko Wake conducted in 2011-15 for her book American Survivors: Trans-Pacific Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Five of the interviews are with US survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, while the other five are with medical and legal professionals and community activists who …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1021/

Collection Katsugo Miho Collection (ddr-densho-1022)

This collection consists of seven interviews conducted by Michiko Kodama Nishimoto and Warren Nishimoto with The Center for Oral History in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1022/