Japanese American National Museum

As the national repository of Japanese American history, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) creates groundbreaking historical and arts exhibitions, educational public programs, award-winning documentaries, and innovative curriculum that illuminate the stories and the rich cultural heritage of people of Japanese ancestry in the United States. JANM also speaks out when diversity, individual dignity and social justice are undermined, vigilantly sharing the hard-fought lessons accrued from this history. Its underlying purpose is to transform lives, create a more just America and, ultimately, a better world.

Densho and JANM have a long history of working together to preserve and tell the stories of the Japanese American incarceration. They have partnered on digital collections and oral history projects which can be found in the Densho Digital Repository. This work was generously funded by the National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites program.

6 Collections

Collection Mollie Wilson Murphy Collection (ddr-janm-1)

Mollie Wilson Murphy was an African-American woman who lived in Boyle Heights during World War II. She had many Japanese-American friends who were forced into concentration camps during the war. This collection comprises of the correspondences between Mollie and her friends in camp. The Mollie Wilson Papers include correspondence, school photographs, and miscellaneous photos in Boyle …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1/

Collection Fumio Nakamura Collection (ddr-janm-2)

One panoramic photograph of Corporal Edward Nakamura's military funeral. Taken in 1946 in Puʻunēnē, Maui, Hawai'I, when the remains of Corporal Edward Etsuzo Nakamura were finally returned to the family (KIA in November 1943). The photograph was taken in front of the family's home in a plantation village, McGerrow Camp, which no longer exists.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-2/

Collection Tsuyako Kitashima Collection (ddr-janm-4)

Various materials from Topaz, Redress, the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations (NCRR), and the Japanese American Citizens' League (JACL) by Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima. Kitashima was born in Hayward, California in 1918. Her and her family were among the 120,000 Japanese Americans forcefully interned in war relocation camps during World War Two. They were first taken …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-4/

Collection Santa Anita Pacemaker Newspapers Collection (ddr-janm-5)

The Santa Anita Pacemaker was a newspaper published for approximately 19,000 Japanese Americans who were relocated to the Santa Anita racetrack turned assembly center for the temporary internment of Japanese Americans. The newspaper ran for six months in 1942 and was the longest running newspaper out of all the Japanese American assembly centers. It was published …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-5/

Collection The Rohwer Outpost Newspapers Collection (ddr-janm-6)

Newspaper of the Rohwer Incarceration camp located in McGehee, Arkansas which had a peak population of 8,475 in November of 1943. The Rohwer Outpost ran from October 24, 1942 to July 21, 1945 and was published twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It was then renamed the Rohwer Relocator released by the WRA to provide …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-6/

Collection Japanese American National Museum Collection (ddr-janm-13)

This collection consists of interviews conducted in by the Japanese American National Museum of Los Angeles, California in partnership with Densho. For more information about the museum, please visit www.janm.org.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-13/