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MN: Now, let's talk about your father a little bit. Your father worked in the visual museum in Manzanar, is that correct?

AM: Yes.

MN: What was the visual museum? What did he do there?

AM: Before he started in his photography in Manzanar, he worked under Mr. Tsuchiya, who was the head of the museum, and he was, his thinking was very close with what Mr. Tsuchiya was trying to accomplish and he was trying to work so that people will be interested in a museum, so he would try to do things where people would come to the museum. So Mr. Namatsue, who was my father's very close friend, he was very much in the same way of thinking, too, so those three really got along well and so the museum was set up and it was coming along real good.

MN: Did they have exhibits, or what, what was in the museum?

AM: Well, I was wondering what they could do, so what, what the museum was trying to do was trying to get things together that were available in Manzanar desert itself, to get the people interested in what's possible there, so they would set up the museum with idea of creative interest of what kind of things are, are there available in Manzanar. So they worked on the history of Manzanar. It was like a apple orchard and then there were people living there, and why apple orchard was started, and things like that, so they approached a lot of the things like that. It was quite interesting how they created the museum. So my father was very interested in that, that sort of thing, too.

MN: And was this museum in a certain barrack?

AM: Yes. It was one barrack that, each block had one barrack that can be used for things like that or any kind of activity that people wanted to do in that block, so I forgot what block it was, but they had the museum there and then my father worked there until he decided to open the studio.

MN: Now, before he decided to open the studio, when did your father first tell you and show you that he smuggled these camera lens and the film slides?

AM: Okay, it was about three or four months after we, we were put into Manzanar and I was playing with some friends outside, and then all of a sudden my father told me to go inside the apartment, so I thought I did something wrong, he was gonna bawl me out. So I went in the apartment and he told me to sit down. He says, "I got to show you something." So he went to his suitcase and took out some lenses and some film holders and put it on the table. I was wondering what he was gonna do with that. Then he says, "As a photographer, I have a responsibility." I didn't know what he was talking about. And he says, "Well, you know, I have to take all the pictures in Manzanar so to keep a record of what's going on here, so this kind of thing will never happen again." That was his responsibility, to record the camp life. So he says, "I'm going to have a camera made with this, for this lens and I have this film holder so I could get some film and put it in there." And so he proceeded to have a camera made.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.