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RP: Joanne, you and your husband Frank embarked on this photographic odyssey to capture images of all ten camps.

TI: Right.

RP: Can you tell us a little bit about the motivation for that?

TI: Okay, all right. Most of it was in 1989. I had retired, I believe, that year. But we had started our trips before that. We went to Poston when we were on our trip to, going to Denver. And going up to Seattle to see his brother, we passed by Tule Lake. We'd go to the places along the way, actually. And we had a motor home, first we went in our large Maxi van, and then we got a motor home. And we went to... what was it? Topaz when my niece lived in Ely, Nevada. So just along the way, you just take a little side trip. And went to different places like that. And even to go into Rohwer and Jerome, we went to a Methodist conference, Asian conference, in Dallas, Texas. Oh, we might as well go over to Arkansas, that's just another couple of states over. And in a motor home, you can do that. And so we went over there. And after we went to all ten camps and had taken pictures and had taken our notes, we wrote little things about the monuments and such along the way. And then Frank said, "I think we should put this into a little booklet." [Laughs] And so we had plenty of pictures, me with my poor posture showing. But anyway, it came together in, like, a mimeographed thing first. It was very, very poorly done. But then it was followed up by some help in Bakersfield, the blueprint service, where they had good equipment and they knew how to make a good map. So it all came together. And my husband was selling the books, and have to report the tax to the Board of Equalization, I think it is. And we also, every place we went, if we were near a college, university, we dropped one off, one of the copies, and gave it to their library. So many, many libraries have one of the older versions of it. And then I said, "Let's give this thing away, so we don't have to worry about that, following up with the Board of Equalization." And so we decided on the Japanese American National Museum in L.A. And they have the rights to it, and that's why they could advertise it in their catalog. And I'm glad we did it like that. I don't need to write any more. But that was a labor of love that worked out. And people still talk about how they went someplace because they had our book. And I'm glad it's being used. And I don't think we ever made any money on it, you know. It's not that kind of effort.

RP: Also, can you tell us how you got involved, or the community got involved in this oral history project?

TI: The oral history? Oh, I'll tell you about coming to Sacramento. See, Ken, our son, lived here. And, of course, we were visiting all the time, and then, let's see, my husband must have retired in '86, three years before me. And I told him, "You retire the way you want to retire. I don't want to be a gofer or 'honey-do,' I should say. I don't want to be a honey-do." And so he did. He volunteered over at the Democratic Central Committee office, go there every day, answer the phone, and then was put onto a committee where they formed a Kern County Human Relations Council, or Committee. And he was happy to do things like that; that was right up his alley. And we also did some voter registration things there, and we, that was all his. And we got together with some other Asian group people, and he decided that we will right the KAPA News, Kern Asian Pacific American newsletter. And, of course, I don't know what happened to that after we left. But then we moved up here, my daughter says we moved in '92. I thought it was '91 of December, but doesn't matter, we're here. Because our son is here, we decided we might as well go where we can help them and they can help us, and that's exactly how it worked out. Our two daughters, Susanna lives in New Hampshire, she is a teacher of, she's a speech therapist, works in school. She's married to Rick Minard, and they have a boy named Alden who is twelve. And then Ken here in Sacramento, married to Lesley. They have Daniel at Santa Clara University, and Kevin at Jesuit High School, and Jacob, twelve, at Country Day School. And then our youngest, Bonita, Bonnie, she's called by family. And she's in North Carolina. Her husband is on the research faculty, Jon Hussey. And she works there for another researcher, and they have a sixteen year old daughter and a six year old son, Alex. Daughter is Marisa. And so the kids are wonderful, and came here and I did my share of babysitting. But it's not an everyday thing, it's as needed. And now the youngest is twelve here.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.