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TI: So Richard, we, during the interview, we talked about your father's family going to Topaz. And your family, your father's family donated an artifact to the museum. Can you talk a little bit about what that is and who did it?

RK: Yeah, so this was built by my Uncle George when he was in Topaz. And I believe he just used scrap wood that he collected and built this cabinet. And they kept it through the years, and when my aunt was moving, she didn't have any more space. So somebody suggested that we donate it to the museum so that's what we did.

TI: Growing up, did you ever see this being used in a house or anything?

RK: Yeah, so this was just used for daily use. I had no idea really what it was, other than it was this cabinet that was at my aunt's house. And then, again, when she was gonna move, it kind of came out that, "Oh, yeah, this was built by Uncle George when he was in Topaz."

TI: And what does it mean to you that's in the museum now?

RK: It's kind of nice that it's here as part of history. I mean, it's part of... I mean, many different things were built by folks that were in the concentration camps, and this is just one example of it. So there's a lot of other stuff that is similar, but it just stood the -- it was useful, it was used, it was used during World War II, and it was used, you know, through the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, and I think my aunt must have moved in the '80s and that's when it... oh, maybe later than that. It might have been in the '90s, I forget exactly.

TI: And it looks just like a dresser for clothes? Is that what it was used for?

RK: Right, yeah. It was just used for storing clothing and other things.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.