Please note: projects are listed by the states of the grant recipients.
Arkansas
Grant Recipient: Arkansas State University (Jonesboro, AR)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Rohwer Relocation Camp Interpretive Project
Amount of Grant Award: $100,502
Confinement Site(s): Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR
Description: Under the direction of Arkansas State University’s Heritage Studies Ph.D Program and the Arkansas Heritage SITES (System Initiatives for Teaching & Economic Support) program, a grant of $100,502 will help these groups conduct research to identify major themes and events associated with the history of the Rohwer Relocation Center. Once major interpretive themes are identified, the grantees will conduct public stakeholder sessions to review and evaluate scholarly research. Arkansas State University will use the selected historical themes to develop and install interpretive materials such as informational panels, kiosks, and brochures at the Rohwer Relocation Center.
Grant Recipient: McGehee Industrial Foundation (McGehee, AR)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Jerome-Rohwer Visitor & Interpretation Facility
Amount of Grant Award: $434,967
Confinement Site(s): Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR
Description: The McGehee Industrial Foundation plans to create a permanent exhibit space for the “Against Our Will: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas” exhibit by restoring the south building of the historic Missouri Pacific railroad depot in McGehee, Arkansas. The exhibit, created by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with major funding from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, focuses on the internment history of the Jerome and Rohwer Relocation Centers. The goal of this project is to provide a central interpretive hub for people to visit as they explore the nearby camp sites. This project addresses the growing need to enhance local site interpretation, educational awareness, and visitation to these confinement sites.
California
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Citizens League, Livingston-Merced Chapter (Merced, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Merced Assembly Center Commemorative Memorial
Amount of Grant Award: $25,000 Confinement Site(s): Merced Assembly Center, Merced County, CA
Description: Striving to educate the community of Merced, the Japanese American Citizens League plans to construct a memorial that commemorates the city’s history of Japanese American internment at the Merced Assembly Center. During the summer of 1942, the Merced Assembly Center housed 4,660 Japanese American internees. However, the local community of Merced remains almost unaware of this site’s historical significance. In remembrance of the past and to stir public awareness, JACL will construct the memorial at the Merced County Fairgrounds, the former site of the Merced Assembly Center. The memorial will include five interpretive storyboards. Each storyboard will trace the Japanese American experience of internment through the incorporation of images into a narrative. With many of the local Nisei nearing their 80s and 90s, the JACL recognizes the urgency in documenting their experiences. That is why the JACL will develop a documentary based on the internment of Japanese Americans at the Merced Assembly Center in conjunction with the memorial. The documentary will blend interviews from Nisei internees and local community members in an effort to preserve their memories. This documentary will be made available to teachers through DVDs and the website for the County Office of Education. To aid in the design, fabrication and installation of the five storyboards, and the development of the documentary, this project was awarded $25,000.
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Citizens League, Marysville Chapter (Marysville, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Arboga Assembly Center Project
Amount of Grant Award: $5,000
Confinement Site(s): Arboga Assembly Center, Yuba County, CA
Description: To raise public awareness of the Arboga Assembly Center’s history, the Marysville Japanese American Citizens League will commemorate the site with a bronze plaque and dedication ceremony. Following the ceremony, JACL plans to organize a community educational presentation for the project as well as continue their educational efforts within the area. Every year the JACL holds a week-long exhibit on the Japanese American internment followed by a Day of Remembrance at Yuba College. The week-long exhibit presents photographs and artifacts on the experiences of Arboga’s former internees and features a speaker and reception at its conclusion. The objective for this project is to provide a tangible site of remembrance for residents to commemorate while they participate in the educational events led by JACL. The dedication site will act as a point of interest for visitors who want to explore internment sites across the country. Although the JACL plans to complete a more 3 permanent dedication site in the future, the initial plaque stand will serve the need to immediately recognize the importance of Arboga’s past. The project funding of $5000 will function as an essential element in the interpretation of the Arboga site and enhance JACL’s ability to explain the internment experience to residents and visitors. By recognizing the site, the JACL hopes to place the experiences of Japanese Americans detained at Arboga permanently in history for the continual education of future generations.
Grant Recipient: Manzanar Committee (Los Angeles, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: From Barbed Wire to Barbed Hooks
Amount of Grant Award: $49,400
Confinement Site(s): Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA assistance Description: The story of Manzanar internees who crawled under barbed wire fences to fish nearby alpine lakes will be produced into a full-length documentary film by the Manzanar Committee. Granted $49,400, the project will enrich the history of Manzanar by capturing the untold story of freedom outside the confines of guarded surveillance. Hoping to revive the history of Manzanar, the project will integrate thirty stories of Issei fishermen. These stories will include personal interviews from former internees and their descendents. By keeping this story alive and preventing it from fading away, the Manzanar Committee intends to use fishing as a way to humanize the history of Japanese American internment. By personalizing the internees’ stories, the documentary will develop an emotional link that will create an understanding of what life was like in these camps. The documentary expects to capture the attention of unaddressed audiences, such as recreationalists, by uncovering stories of outdoor freedom in a time of great strife. Along with the documentary film, the project will continue educational efforts with an annual lecture, walking tour, podcast, outreach program, and a traveling exhibit complete with artifacts and photographs. All of these interpretive elements will broadcast the personal stories of the Issei fishermen to a larger American audience. To assure the preservation of these individual accounts, the Manzanar committee will donate the DVD interview videos to the California State Library and the Manzanar National Historic Site.
Grant Recipient: National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Mapping and Building Sites of Japanese Americans during World War II
Amount of Grant Award: $18,568
Confinement Site(s): Multiples sites, counties and states
Description: The National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc. (NJAHS) plans to create an annotated and indexed database of confinement site plans, architectural drawings, and artifacts for Amache, Gila River, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Rohwer, Topaz, Tule Lake, and other confinement sites via a website. NJAHS will share this website with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific American Program in order to provide a virtual interpretive exhibit and electronic finding aids of digitized materials. Accessibility to archival resources on this website will reduce the amount of time and resources typically spent 4 on this type of research for scholars. The project will develop and interpret Japanese American Confinement Sites by mapping original confinement camp structures and features. These site plans will assist researchers by providing information on the inventory and interpretation of sites, buildings, and infrastructure. The virtual exhibit will link these site plans to NJAHS collections which includes artwork, objects, documents, cultural material artifacts, and photographs that document Japanese American incarceration. Online accessibility to these documents and plans will identify historical cultural material at confinement camps as well as assist in meticulously surveying the property sites. These documentation and research efforts are crucial to planning and environmental review processes of confinement sites. The grant award for this project is $18,568.
Grant Recipient: Poston Community Alliance (Lafayette, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Saving the Stories: Oral Histories and Digitization of Former Poston Detainees and Staff
Amount of Grant Award: $25,994
Confinement Site(s): Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ
Description: Understanding the value and power of oral histories, the Poston Community Alliance has undertaken an effort to collect and digitize over ninety-one potential oral histories of former detainees from the Poston Internment Camp on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation. Adding to their present collection of forty digitized oral histories, the Alliance will interview former detainees who are currently in their 60s to 90s. Awarded funds of $25,994 will assist in the preservation of these stories for future research and interpretation. Using the latest recording technology, this project will digitize video footage onto DVDs, transcribe the interviews, and archive the audio and video material at the San Diego Japanese American Historical Society and the Alliance. After completing the interviews, the Alliance will identify emergent themes and patterns within the oral histories through a comprehensive data analysis. Also, the Alliance will archive, interpret, and manage a collection of photographs, memorabilia, artwork and other surviving documents donated by former detainees of the Poston Internment Camp. Working in collaboration with the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Alliance hopes to one day build a museum and archive to house the physical recordings and artifacts. In anticipation of this future museum, the Alliance will use excerpts from the oral histories on its website (www.postonalliance.org) to gain public awareness and interest in the preservation of these important cultural resources. These oral histories will be made accessible to the public for future research, interpretation, and the development of documentaries.
Grant Recipient: Tule Lake Committee, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Preserving the Tule Lake Stockade & Jail
Amount of Grant Award: $40,000
Confinement Site(s): Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA 5
Description: Tule Lake Segregation Center is infamous for its stockade used during World War II to imprison internees who protested the injustices of Japanese American incarceration. Built in 1944 by Japanese American inmates, the jail is a reinforced concrete structure surrounded by barbed wire security fences. Over the years the site has suffered structural damage and experienced vandalism, causing noticeable deterioration. The deterioration of the stockade jail shows the urgency needed in preserving the site’s physical integrity. Funding of $40,000 will enable a Historic Structures Report to be conducted in order to evaluate the condition and preservation needs of the jail and the surrounding barbed wire, chain link fences, and gates. The Report will document and estimate costs to repair, stabilize, and restore the jail and stockade area. It will also comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation and the National Historic Preservation Act. This analysis is the first step needed to restore the site’s historic integrity. The Report will help identify the necessary preservation and restoration remedies to implement in the forthcoming years. Without conducting this important Report, the site will continue to deteriorate to the point of preventing public access and valuable interpretation.
Grant Recipient: Friends of Manzanar (Long Beach, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Oral History and Research for Enhanced Interpretation and Education at Manzanar Demonstration Block 14
Amount of Grant Award: $58,833
Confinement Site(s): Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA
Description: Manzanar National Historic Site’s Block 14—which is composed of two barracks, a restored mess hall, foundations, rock gardens, paths, and a wading pool – serves as a demonstration block to interpret camp life of the 11,070 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at the camp. Through this project, the Friends of Manzanar will survey state and federal repositories and collections to locate, gather, and synthesize resources available on Manzanar, which will be used to expand Manzanar’s reference files and aid in the development of interpretive exhibits, media, and programs for Block 14. As a second aspect of this project, the Friends of Manzanar also will collaborate with Densho to conduct and preserve fifteen new oral histories on the living conditions experienced by internees at Manzanar from 1942-1945. The interviews will be hosted on Densho’s website (www.densho.org). The combination of research and oral histories produced through this project will support a multimedia approach to interpreting Block 14, including the potential production of video clips, podcasts, virtual tours, and interactive exhibits.
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Citizens League (Los Angeles, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretation of Confinement Sites in the Western United States
Amount of Grant Award: $151,790
Confinement Site(s): Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA 6 Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Passing on the legacy of internment is a vital initiative of the Japanese American Citizens League. To make sure that the legacy of internment in the United States is never forgotten, the Japanese American Citizens League will educate Japanese American youth and non-traditional audiences on the history of World War II internment. This project will engage youth audiences with the past so they may gain a sense of passion through civic participation to preserve and interpret confinement sites. Taking a multi-pronged approach, the Japanese American Citizens League will lead four localized programs in the western United States to educate and inspire dialogue and individual interpretation among youth about internment. Highlights of these programs include seven months of educational workshops and forums, and in-service learning activities at confinement sites, which would include environmental conservation and historic preservation projects. The final aspect of this program will be a leadership project through which participants will create presentations about confinement sites to share with the general public at pilgrimages and other confinement site events.
Grant Recipient: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Project Title: Nisei Oral History Project
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Amount of Grant Award: $42,573
Confinement Site(s): Multiple site, counties and states
Description: The Japanese American National Museum employs several Nisei docents to share their internment stories during the guided tours of their School Visits Program. These interactive tours serve more than 25,000 students annually from southern California. To ensure these memories are permanently recorded and shared with future generations, this project will create video and audio recordings of 25 of the museum’s Nisei docents. All recordings will be digitally processed by the museum’s Media Arts & Web staff and posted on the museum’s website (www.janm.org and www.discovernikkei.org). The recordings also will be showcased in the museum’s School Visits Program for years to come. The museum also will include the oral history interviews within their public program series, which reaches out to the Los Angeles public and the surrounding areas to provide educational activities related to Japanese American history.
Grant Recipient: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Project Title: Toward Justice For All (Exhibit Planning)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Amount of Grant Award: $75,713
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states
Description: This award will support the Japanese American National Museum’s first planning phase for a new exhibit titled, “Toward Justice for All: Learning from the Japanese American World War II Experience,” which is scheduled to open in January 2013. To prepare for the 7 exhibit, the museum will convene with a national scholarly advisory group and facilitate community collaboration meetings to develop a framework and walk-through for the exhibit. The long-term exhibit will feature artifacts, oral histories, and media installations. The museum also will assess collections and media resources to identify featured individuals for the exhibit. The project proposes to integrate video documentation of former Japanese American internees and 500 artifacts from the museum’s collection into the exhibit. The museum will focus on a diverse group of individuals affected by internment, ranging from former internees to soldiers and renunciants. The project will organize website access, public programs, and curriculum development to extend the exhibition’s educational efforts with public engagement.
Grant Recipient: Poston Community Alliance (Lafayette, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Poston Preservation Project – Barrack Relocation and Rehabilitation
Amount of Grant Award: $31,000
Confinement Site(s): Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ
Description: Poston, which was built on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation, was one of the ten War Relocation Authority camps during World War II. Today, the majority of the camp’s structures have either been moved, razed, or dismantled. Through this project, the Poston Community Alliance will relocate and restore a Poston barrack that is currently located at a plant nursery in the nearby community of Parker, Arizona. This project is part of the Poston Community Alliance’s long-term initiative to develop a “living museum” and interpretive center at Poston. The “living museum” and interpretive center will provide insight into the stories of Japanese American and Native American experiences during World War II.
Colorado
Grant Recipient: Colorado Preservation, Inc. (Denver, CO)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Building Stock Research and Inventory Related to the Granada Relocation Center (Amache)
Amount of Grant Award: $20,093
Confinement Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
Description: The Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program funded a total of three projects for the Granada Relocation Center (Amache) in 2010, with Colorado Preservation, Inc., receiving two grant awards. With a grant of $20,093, this project will survey, identify and inventory the remaining historic buildings from Amache that are located in a 110-mile radius outside of the camp. In an effort to assess the integrity of the remaining building stock, Colorado Preservation, Inc. will document the locations and conditions of the identified structures as well as provide preservation recommendations in a final project report. An 8 assessment of this kind will assist preservation specialists in gathering the survey data needed to create a prioritization list for the possible relocation of historic buildings back to Amache.
Grant Recipient: Colorado Preservation, Inc. (Denver, CO)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Water Tower Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan at Granada Relocation Center (Amache)
Amount of Grant Award: $37,327
Confinement Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
Description: Using a grant of $37,327, Colorado Preservation, Inc., working in cooperation with the Friends of Amache, will relocate a historic water tower tank in Amache, and develop plans to rehabilitate and reconstruct the water tower structure at its original location. Presently the water tank is located off-site on a local farm, as a result of the sale of camp structures in 1945. The water tower tank will be stored at a temporary location at Amache until Colorado Preservation, Inc., is able to complete an archaeological survey of the water tower’s original site at the camp. Also as part of the project, Colorado Preservation, Inc. will produce detailed specifications for the rehabilitation of the extant parts of the tank, as well as for the reconstruction of the water tower legs. The project also includes the design and fabrication of an interpretive wayside panel to provide additional information to visitors.
Grant Recipient: National Trust for Historic Preservation (Denver, CO)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Guard Tower Reconstruction Plan
Amount of Grant Award: $34,980
Confinement Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO
Description: Through a $34,980 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, the National Trust for Historic Preservation will formulate plans to reconstruct a guard tower at Amache. The project includes researching original guard tower design and construction plans, with a focus on the unique features of the Amache guard towers, which were octagonal in design. The reconstruction plan will include architectural drawings, specifications for construction, and costs estimates. The project also includes the design of an interpretive wayside panel.
Distric of Columbia
Grant Recipient: National Japanese American Memorial Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Recruitment and Training of Volunteer Docents for the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation
Amount of Grant Award: $38,909
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states 9
Description: The four docents who are responsible for leading the guided tours at the National Japanese American Memorial are overwhelmed with approximately 200 requests for tours each year. The docents, who are either former internees or members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, are only able to accommodate approximately eight to ten such requests. To accommodate more visitors, the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation will recruit and train ten new volunteer docents, who will then participate in five, two-hour training workshops. The workshops will include training on the interpretive and abstract elements of the memorial, as well as the historical contexts for all of the internment camps, assembly centers, and the Department of Justice camps. Once the new volunteers have completed their training, they will join the core group of veteran docents.
Hawaii
Grant Recipient: Hawaii Heritage Center (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Administration Building and Fire House Existing Condition Analysis Report
Amount of Grant Award: $58, 600
Confinement Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI
Description: The Administration Building and Fire House at the Honouliuli Internment Camp are considered threatened cultural resources by the Hawaii Heritage Center and must undergo an immediate structural evaluation. These two buildings, the last remaining internment structures at the camp, are in poor condition due to decades of neglect, pest infestation, and weathering. The $58,600 grant award will go towards an Existing Condition Analysis Report, which will provide guidance on the restoration of these two historic buildings. The report will include the history of the buildings (oral histories included), a landscape and site analysis, and evaluations on the architecture, and mechanical and electrical systems. In addition, the analysis of the site will provide cost estimates for restoration along with Historic American Buildings Survey-level documentation and photography of the buildings. Since both buildings have been modified, it is necessary to evaluate and describe the original building configurations to determine the best way to restore the structures to their historic condition. The Report will provide a foundation for future restoration efforts, which will enhance the visitor experience at these historic sites in the future. The Report will serve as a guide on how to rehabilitate these buildings in a manner that adds significance to the collections located within the outdoor history museum at Honouliuli. By restoring these structures and outfitting the interior with furnishings appropriate to the original setting, visitors can gain a tangible glimpse into the experiences of life within the internment camp during World War II.
Grant Recipient: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Hawaii Confinement Sites Project Traveling Exhibit
Amount of Grant Award: $43,187
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites and counties in Hawaii.
Description: The internment of nearly 1,400 individuals in Hawaii during World War II marks a significant yet little-known historic event in the Hawaiian community. Educating and engaging the Hawaiian public about this issue is the primary purpose of the project organized by the Japanese Culture Center of Hawaii (JCCH). To achieve this goal, the JCCH was granted $43,187 to create a traveling exhibit. The proposed exhibit will consist of eight weather-resistant graphic panels, with both text and images placed on easily configurable metal stands. Through its use in community events, the traveling exhibit will relate the history of Hawaii's World War II confinement sites to Hawaii residents and visitors. These events include a multitude of outdoor venues that attract large patronages, such as festivals and annual pilgrimages to confinement sites in Hawaii. Between events, the traveling exhibit will be transformed into a semi-permanent installation at the JCCH. The creation of this traveling exhibit addresses the issue of public support for the recognition and preservation of Hawaii's World War II confinement sites by increasing public awareness, understanding, and appreciation for Hawaii's history. The JCCH hopes that promoting awareness on the history of Hawaiian internment and identifying former internees will expand scholarly research on the topic as the project travels from each event.
Grant Recipient: University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Multidisciplinary Research and Education at Honouliuli Internment Camp
Amount of Grant Award: $26,148
Confinement Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI
Description: Under the guidance of faculty from the University of Hawaii-West O’ahu, this project will encompass a year of multidisciplinary research and education at the Honouliuli Internment Camp. The $26,148 awarded, supports faculty and student projects in oral history and archival research on the internment experience. The interviews collected for this project will incorporate the memories of former internees, their families, and individuals who interacted with the Honouliuli camp or lived in the area. Compiled oral histories will be recorded and transcribed for the benefit of interpretive analysis and research. Coupled with this investigation, the project will hold one season of an archaeological field school at the camp to investigate and record the physical traces of internment. The field school will offer valuable training in mapping, excavation methodology, artifact analysis, and historic building evaluation and recording. The intention of this training is to provide college students with the necessary professional and technical skills to produce preservation and interpretive plans for the Honouliuli internment camp. Final products of the field school will address preservation and public safety issues since overgrown vegetation impedes on the recognition and interpretation of the camp’s cultural resources. The internment site remains as a cultural treasure and a vital aspect to the social and political history of Hawaii. These archival and preservation efforts are designed to increase an understanding of internment during World War II as well as increase public knowledge and tourism to the site.
Grant Recipient: University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Captive on the U.S. Mainland: Oral Histories of Hawaii-Born Nisei
Amount of Grant Award: $14,955
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states.
Description: By organizing a series of ten interviews, the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawaii will document the experiences and observations of Hawaii-born Nisei displaced on the West Coast during the mass incarceration of 1941. The heart of this proposal seeks to record and preserve the recollections of internees by tapping into a demographic that is rarely examined; individuals who were removed from their places of work, training, and study prior to being placed in assembly centers. Interview topics range from observances in their childhood and youth in Hawaii, prewar experiences on the West Coast, incarceration and release, and postwar lives. All topics focus on the effects of mass incarceration on personal and family aspirations. Using a grant award of $14,955, the Center will record the oral histories on digital audio tape, transcribe each session, and edit the audio for accuracy and clarity within a timeframe of one year. Final draft transcripts included in this project will contain supplementary artifacts such as images. Following editing, the Center will transfer the digital audio to CDs and distribute the final product to the University of Hawaii System Libraries, the Hawaii State Library system, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, and the National Park Service. This project aims to describe wartime incarceration of Hawaii Japanese and enlighten the public about these stories by accumulating and assembling valuable personal accounts.
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Cultural Center of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Hawaii Confinement Sites Educational Documentary
Amount of Grant Award: $117,626
Confinement Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI Sand Island Detention Camp, Honolulu County, HI Kilauea Military Camp, Hawaii County, HI Kalaheo Stockade, Kauai County, HI Haiku Camp, Maui County, HI
Description: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii will produce a one-hour documentary film on the stories of Hawaii internees, including the effects of the selective arrest and incarceration of civilians, and the personal accounts of former Japanese American internees and their children. The film will include personal interviews and reenactment scenes that describe Japanese American and European American internment in Hawaii. Once completed, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii will broadcast the film on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Hawaii, at Day of Remembrance events, and distribute the documentary to communities and institutions. As a second facet of this project, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii will release a 45-minute classroom version of the documentary to supplement lesson plans on Hawaii’s history. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii will send the classroom version to every public and private high school in the state of Hawaii.
Grant Recipient: University of Hawaii (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Multidisciplinary Research and Education at Honouliuli Internment Camp, Phase 2
Amount of Grant Award: $98,544
Confinement Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI
Description: Following up on its 2009 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant award, the University of Hawaii-West O’ahu will continue its multidisciplinary research and education project on the internment experience in Hawaii, including archaeological field schools at Honouliuli during the summers of 2011 and 2012. The University will expand its current research staff to create a multidisciplinary group with backgrounds in anthropology, AsianAmerican studies, early childhood education, economics, English, history, psychology, and sociology. University faculty will complete research with local collection and interviewees, travel to other collections in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, and record oral histories of former internees, their families, and individuals who interacted with the Honouliuli Internment Camp. The University will share its research findings through public outreach and a project website. University faculty also will develop and deliver university courses that feature comparative analyses of internment in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, while utilizing local fieldtrips, writings from former internees, films, and guest speakers to enhance class sessions.
Grant Recipient: University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History (Honolulu, HI)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas
Amount of Grant Award: $29,080
Confinement Site(s): Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR
Description: The University of Hawaii’s Center for Oral History will conduct interviews with fifteen individuals who left their homes in Hawaii to be with their detained fathers in the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas. Each interview will cover topics such as pre-internment life, the forced removal of fathers from their families, the stresses and effects of separation on Japanese American families, and the decisions made by families to move to Jerome. The oral histories will be recorded in digital audio format, transcribed, edited, and transferred onto CDs. To make sure that the public has access to these important memories, the Center will deposit the oral history CDs in the University of Hawaii, Hawaii State, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, NPS, and University of Arkansas libraries. Additional information about the project’s efforts to share wartime experiences of families at Jerome will also be accessible via the Center’s website (www.oralhistory.hawaii.edu).
Idaho
Grant Recipient: University of Idaho (Moscow, ID)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Kooskia Internment Camp Archaeological Project
Amount of Grant Award: $16,456 13
Confinement Site(s): Kooskia Internment Camp, Idaho County, ID
Description: Kooskia Internment Camp once held 256 internees during World War II and represented the U.S. government’s first attempt to utilize Japanese American internees as a labor force for construction projects. Over the years, weather and isolation have contributed to severely deteriorating the site and leaving minimal remnants of the original structures. To uncover extant structures and landscape features associated with this camp, the University of Idaho will use their $16,456 award to administer preliminary archaeological testing, GIS work, and a public outreach program. The first phase of the archaeological surveying will be completed by the University’s students, historians, and archaeologists as part of a field school. The objectives of the field school include a surface survey, shovel testing, auger probing, and GIS mapping of the Kooskia site. All archaeological survey data will be inputted into GIS software to generate a detailed map of the Kooskia historic structures. Visitors to the site, as well as U.S. Forest Service personnel, will use this map to explore the camp’s landscape. To further promote the historic significance of this site, the proposal will organize outreach initiatives to share archaeological findings. The University plans on developing a website to advertise the archival resources and will invite stakeholders to a public archaeological day in the summer of 2010. Moreover, the proposed project will share their fieldwork findings to interested individuals, the Society for Historical Archaeology’s annual conference in 2011, and to scholars at the University’s campus. The goals of the archaeological research and the public outreach programs aspire to enlighten the public on the history of confinement at Kooskia by uncovering artifacts that explain how camp internees managed survival in such a remote environment.
Grant Recipient: Friends of Minidoka (Twin Falls, ID)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Minidoka Honor Roll
Amount of Grant Award: $17,295
Confinement Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Honoring over 1,000 Minidoka internees who served in the United States military, the Friends of Minidoka will reestablish the historic Minidoka Honor Roll through this project. Originally installed at the camp’s entrance, the Honor Roll honored the bravery of Japanese Americans from Minidoka who were serving in the US Army, and reflected the ingenuity of the Minidoka internees who created it. To reconstruct the Honor Roll on the site, the Friends of Minidoka will design, fabricate, and install the structure at the camp’s historic entrance. The Honor Roll will be a three-sided structure with the hand-painted names of each soldier, crowned with a carved bald eagle. The Honor Roll will be part of a network of visitor trails, complete with a wayside panel. The final installation of the Honor Roll will be highlighted at the annual Civil Liberties Symposium and Pilgrimage hosted by the Friends of Minidoka, Minidoka National Historic Site, and the College of Southern Idaho.
Illinois
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Service Committee (Chicago, IL)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Winning the Peace: An Exhibit on the U.S. Military Intelligence Service
Amount of Grant Award: $74,620
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states.
Description: The saga of Japanese American soldiers who participated in a secret operation in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service (MIS) will be collected and shared as a multi-media exhibit by the Japanese American Service Committee of Chicago (JASC). Supported by an award of $74,620 the “Winning the Peace” exhibit will tell the story of how MIS soldiers worked as translators, spies, and fighters during World War II while their families were confined in War Relocation Authority camps. Hoping to keep their memories alive, and preserve the importance of the MIS legacy in aiding U.S. victory over Japan, the engaging exhibit will feature oral histories, papers, photographs, and other artifacts for the viewing pleasure of a broad and diverse audience. Exhibit material contains 20 oral histories from MIS soldiers and projects recording an additional 25 oral histories. The purpose of this project strives to document, preserve, and share this endangered part of history. The JASC Legacy Center arranged to house the exhibit for eight weeks, and then transport it to a secondary public location. The Legacy Center is Chicago’s largest publicly accessible library and archive of Japanese American history and provides an exceptional record of confinement experiences to the community. The traveling exhibit will also feature a spot at the Japanese American Citizens League’s national convention in 2010. Coupled with the “Winning the Peace” exhibit, an auxiliary program will host a panel discussion and a website to provide online access to exhibit materials and discussion boards.
Massachusetts
Grant Recipient: University of Massachusetts, Boston (Boston, MA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: From Confinement to College: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Students in World War II
Amount of Grant Award: $68,852
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states
Description: The stories of young Japanese Americans who left confinement sites for educational opportunities at mainland colleges due to the initiatives of the National Student Relocation Council are rarely heard. To uncover this history, a team from the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston will document the experiences of former student internees. The team will identify and recruit interviewees, conduct oral history interviews, process and edit videos of the sessions, and compile text transcriptions. Overall, the project will produce fifteen video oral histories of Japanese Americans who traveled from 15 internment sites to college campuses. The videos will explore their lives before internment, camp experiences, dealings with the National Student Relocation Council, adjustment to new campus locales, and the feelings of acceptance or disapproval they encountered in campus communities. The Institute will make the video oral histories accessible to the public via its website and through partner websites.
Minnesota
Grant Recipient: Japanese American Citizens League, Twin Cities Chapter (Minneapolis, MN)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Minnesota Japanese American Oral History Project
Amount of Grant Award: $16,000
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states.
Description: The history and experiences of former internees residing in Minnesota will come alive in the video recordings documented by the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). The video recordings will consist of eight interviews of Nisei Japanese Americans who were interned at Gila River, Minidoka, Tule Lake, and Topaz and who now reside in Minnesota. Experienced JACL interviewers will formulate a two-hour interview process with former Nisei internees to gather information on their incarceration and relocation to Minnesota. Grant funding of $16,000 will allow for the professional recording and development of this oral history project, under the film expertise of Bill Kubota. Working in collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society, the JACL will produce digital versions of the interviews to be shared with the community and educational institutions. Acting as a valuable resource to educators who teach World War II history within Minnesota, the project will publicize and provide presentations to local schools and the chapter’s Speakers Bureau. Final interview videos will be transcribed and archived at the Minnesota Historical Society library for the benefit of educational and research purposes. Additional efforts to communicate internee experiences will occur at the Twin Cities JACL annual banquet in 2010, with a presentation of the recorded interviews. Oral history material produced by this project will deeply influence awareness of internment and the violation of civil rights during World War II.
Montana
Grant Recipient: Historical Museum at Fort Missoula (Missoula, MT)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Restoration of Enemy Alien Hearing Courtroom in Post Headquarters at the Department of Justice Fort Missoula Alien Detention Camp
Amount of Grant Award: $50,000
Confinement Site(s): Department of Justice Fort Missoula Alien Detention Camp, Missoula County, MT 16
Description: During World War II, the Fort Missoula Alien Detention Camp acted as a prominent detention camp to hold and interrogate Japanese (primarily Issei) men. Today, no other camp has as many original buildings as those within Fort Missoula. As the primary goal of this project, the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula will use $50,000 in grant funding to restore the courtroom in the Post Headquarters where the Enemy Alien Hearing Board operated. Planned renovations include the removal of two temporary walls within the courtroom, and recarpeting and painting to restore the courtroom to its original integrity. Completion of the project will provide for the preservation, restoration, and interpretation of this historic site. Renovations will also include updating courtroom access to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To accomplish this, the Historical Museum will construct a lift between the first and second floors, thus providing direct public access for the disabled and the elderly. These updates will allow the Museum the opportunity to use the courtroom as an interpretive site for visitors and researchers. Ultimately, the Museum is determined to restore the site in time for the arrival of Japanese American internees and their families during the 2011 conference sponsored by the Historical Museum and the University of Montana. The conference marks the 70th anniversary of World War II and the establishment of the Fort Missoula Alien Detention Camp.
North Dakota
Grant Recipient: United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, ND)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: United Tribes/Fort Lincoln Planning Conference
Amount of Grant Award: $18,919
Confinement Site(s): Fort Lincoln Internment Camp, Burleigh County, ND
Description: With its remaining brick barracks and administrative buildings, Fort Lincoln is a substantial reminder of the historical significance of Japanese American confinement within North Dakota under the Alien Enemy Control Program. Since the United Tribes Technical College campus rests on the Fort Lincoln site today, the college is dedicated to remembering the history of the camp as a reminder to securing diversity and justice for all people. Hoping to commemorate this site, the College will hold a two-day conference in the fall of 2009 at the Fort Lincoln confinement site with the aid of the $18,919 grant from the National Park Service. An assemblage of stakeholder organizations, individuals, and former internees will meet during the conference to plan potential commemorative and interpretive projects for Fort Lincoln. Under guided facilitation, the proposed conference will divide participants into small break-out groups to formulate creative project ideas for a memorial installation. Conference organizers will obtain feedback from participants on how a preserved metal archway from Fort Lincoln and a United Tribes’ student sculpture can be designed as centerpieces for the memorial and its interpretive panels. Concluding conference sessions will include Bismarck community members, who will be invited to respond and comment on the proposed ideas. Overall plans delineate that the memorial site will serve as a convenient and accessible location for interested parties, due to its close proximity to the Bismarck airport and town.
Oregon
Grant Recipient: Klamath County Friends of the Library (Klamath Falls, OR)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering
Amount of Grant Award: $55,000
Confinement Site(s): Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA
Description: This project will focus on the history of the implementation of the loyalty questionnaire by the War Department and the War Relocation Authority. Individuals who answered “NO-NO” or refused to answer this questionnaire were labeled as “disloyal” and were sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. As part of this project, the Klamath County Friends of the Library will conduct a series of twenty oral history interviews that document protests over loyalty questions, inmate attempts at self-governance, labor organizing, and repatriation and renunciation stories from the Tule Lake Segregation Center. The oral histories will be recorded both in audio and video footage, photographed, and transferred into digital format, transcribed, archived, and made accessible to the public. In addition to the interviews, the project will collect and preserve photographs and documents to supplement the personal testimonies. As a vital oral history source, the videos will provide evidence of protest to counter myths of Japanese American passivity during wartime internment.
Texas
Grant Recipient: Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc. (Austin, TX)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: An Untold Story from World War II: Japanese Confinement at Crystal City, Texas
Amount of Grant Award $34,400
Confinement Site(s): Crystal City Family Internment Center, Zavala County, TX
Description: In partnership with Crystal City, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) will lead an inaugural project to enhance recognition for the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service confinement site known as the Crystal City Family Internment Center. By instituting a three-pronged approach, the THC will interpret the state’s role in the historic context of Japanese confinement sites, educate the public about the Crystal City site, and encourage the preservation of the historic internment center. The THC will utilize $34,400 in grants to organize public planning and community outreach events to collect input on the impact of the camp within the local community of Crystal City. Also, the THC will develop a virtual tour of the camp online for easy, nationwide access. One virtual tour will consist of a “Texas in World War II” oral history workshop that documents stories from former Japanese American detainees and the camp’s community. Funding will also provide for the development and printing of 25,000 special tour guides to encourage heritage tourism at the Crystal City Family Internment Center. THC will carefully monitor the use and distribution of these guides 18 to properly assess public interest in this proposed project. Since the site lacks on-site historical interpretation and accurate representation, the THC will install cantilevered interpretive panels and kiosks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. These improvements and interpretive plans will promote public access to the site and allow visitors to explore the grounds and extant resources.
Grant Recipient: Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc. (Austin, TX)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Japanese Confinement Sites in Texas: An Untold Cultural Legacy of World War II
Amount of Grant Award: $20,167
Confinement Site(s): Kenedy Internment Camp, Karnes County, TX Seagoville Internment Camp, Dallas County, TX Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Bexar County, TX Fort Bliss Internment Camp, El Paso County, TX
Description: Following up on an interpretive pilot project at the former Crystal City Department of Justice camp, the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will use this grant to interpret World War II confinement camps throughout Texas. The Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will focus attention on the confinement sites at Kenedy, Seagoville, Fort Sam Houston and Fort Bliss, due to their lack of recorded documentation and deteriorating physical remains. The group will organize public outreach meetings; conduct research, documentation, and oral histories; and develop online virtual tours to promote public awareness and heritage tourism of the camps. In addition, the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will create 20,000 travel guides for the confinement sites in Texas, and distribute them to local, state and regional visitor information centers. Also through this project, the Friends group will install official Texas Historical Markers at the four sites.
Utah
Grant Recipient: Topaz Museum Board (Delta, UT)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Topaz Museum Interpretive Display Project
Amount of Grant Award: $48,000
Confinement Site(s): Topaz Internment Camp, Millard County, UT
Description: As an effort to create an interactive and emotive experience for visitors, the Topaz Museum Board will build a museum that preserves the history of the Topaz Camp Site. Funding of $48,000 from this grant will support the first phase of interpretive design plans for a museum exhibit. The project will focus on creating pre-concept and concept designs for the museum complex in Delta, Utah. Design plans for the exhibit will be prepared by professional designers at West Office Exhibition Design from Oakland, California. Accordingly, West Office will issue preliminary cost estimates for the final design, prepare exhibit sketches, circulation patterns, and construct a scale model of the exhibit. After finalizing the first phase of designs, West 19 Office will host an event at their California office to unveil the design schematics. The intended museum exhibit will engage visitors in internment history and a discussion of civil liberties by revealing personal emotions of internment at Topaz. The project proposes a museum exhibit that properly exposes visitors to internment artifacts and oral history videos of former Topaz internees. All of these cultural resources will be utilized with the construction of interactive stations throughout the exhibit. Final design development depends on these preliminary planning initiatives to create the most effective way of telling the story of Topaz and Japanese American internment.
Washington
Grant Recipient: Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project (Seattle, WA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Stories Less Told: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Incarceration
Amount of Grant Award: $112,500
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states
Description: Among the variety of oral histories documenting Japanese American internment, stories from women detainees, dissidents, non-Japanese-American supporters, and government workers are rarely collected. To address this issue, Densho will produce forty video oral histories to preserve under-documented stories from ten War Relocation Authority Camps and fifteen assembly centers. Using a grant award of $112,500, these interviews will expand Densho’s digital archive by diversifying primary source perspectives. Following a national search to determine potential interviewees, Densho will record interviews in high definition video format. Completed video interviews will undergo thorough transcriptions, indexing, and digital conversions to DVDs. The project proposes to archive all material into a database and process the videos for accessibility on Densho’s website. The goal of this project is to have at least twelve interviews describing each WRA camp in the nation. Approximately 10,000 contextual photographs, documents, and newspapers will support the oral histories. Densho’s oral history collection will provide valuable material to researchers and educators, promote heritage tourism, and ensure the historic preservation of these former camps. As a means to actively disseminate the interviews across the country, Densho will donate interview excerpts to organizations such as the Japanese American National Museum, Japanese American Citizens League, and the Jewish Heritage Museum. This multi-organization cooperative will help ensure the accessibility and preservation of these oral histories.
Grant Recipient: Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial (Bainbridge Island, WA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
Amount of Grant Award: $182,725
Confinement Site(s): Bainbridge Island/Eagledale Ferry Dock, Kitsap County, WA
Description: Constructed at the site of the Eagledale Ferry Dock, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial project marks the historic site where the first community of Japanese Americans were removed from their homes during World War II and put on a ferry to Seattle, beginning their forced removal to confinement sites. This grant award supports the completion of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Wall, which is an integral component of the memorial site. The 276-foot-long memorial wall is made of granite, basalt and cedar, and is built upon Taylor Road, where Bainbridge Islanders were escorted by Army soldiers to the ferry landing. The wall’s length also is symbolic, as each foot mars the number of Japanese Americans who were removed from their homes. With the 2010 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial will fabricate and install the interpretive displays on the wall, which will include images, art, and historical information.
Grant Recipient: Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project (Seattle, WA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Stories Less Told Part II: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Incarceration
Amount of Grant Award: $210,000
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states
Description: This oral history project conducted by Densho will produce and digitize 140 littleknown stories of internment from World War II. Building on a previous 2009 project (Stories Less Told Part I) funded by a Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, Densho will collect stories from WRA camps, assembly centers, Department of Justice camps, and camps in Hawaii. The stories range from experience of women internees, Japanese Americans educated in Japan (known as Kibei), and non-Japanese Americans who had roles in the administration of confinement camps or who witnessed Japanese American removal. Of the 140 oral histories, 80 newly recorded and 60 donated interviews will be digitally processed, archived, indexed and produced onto DVDs. The digital form of the oral histories will be made accessible on Densho’s website (www.densho.org). The digital database currently holds a collection of 400 interviews, 10,500 photographs and documents, and a social studies curriculum.
Grant Recipient: Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project (Seattle, WA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Japanese American Confinement: Reference and Resource Website
Amount of Grant Award: $166,145
Confinement Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states
Description: Through this project, Densho will collaborate with ten scholars of Japanese American history to develop a reference and resource website. Linked to the Densho database, the new encyclopedic website will provide access to scholarly articles, primary sources, and links that recommend resources and curricula on Japanese American history. The website will hold 250 short articles and 40 larger articles on World War II Japanese American removal and detention, and will cater to the basic research needs of young students, as well as to the in-depth needs of scholars. The materials will be organized in a user-friendly manner, and will 21 include biographies and testimonies of internees, contextual interpretations, key terminology, interactive maps, a timeline of World War II events, and resources on topics related to the early discrimination and wartime experiences of Japanese Americans and the redress era. To help disseminate the information on the website, the articles also will include links to social networking sites such as Facebook.
Grant Recipient: Wing Luke Memorial Foundation dba Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle, WA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten Cent Store
Amount of Grant Award: $100,000
Confinement Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID
Description: Stored within the Higo Ten Cent Store in Seattle’s Japantown are photographs, camp documents, souvenirs, memorabilia, and artifacts saved by the Murakami family who were incarcerated at the Minidoka Relocation Center. This project will preserve these historic materials and share them with the public through a traveling display and book publication. Under the guidance of the Wing Luke Memorial Foundation, this project will present the traveling display at two Seattle festivals, distribute 1,500 copies of the publication, and conduct 10-12 oral history interviews with Murakami family members and close associates. The documents and letters saved by the Murakami family and presented by this project will educate the public on the effects of forced internment and Japanese American resettlement. Additional information on the project’s publication and display will be updated and found on the “Teachers Resource” page of the Wing Luke Memorial Foundation’s website (www.wingluke.org).
Wyoming
Grant Recipient: Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation (Sonoma, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2009
Project Title: Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center
Amount of Grant Award: $292, 253
Confinement Site(s): Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY
Description: After purchasing fifty acres of original relocation camp land in 2001, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation (HMWF) decided to invoke the “Power of Place” with the construction of an Interpretive Learning Center (ILC). Every year, HMWF administers over 2,500 guided tours of the site to educational groups and visitors. The site receives between 7-10,000 visitors every year and is projected to grow with the completion of the ILC. As part of this project, the ILC will provide education on Japanese American internment history by emphasizing constitutional issues, civil liberties, diversity, and ethnic understanding. With nearly Phase I of construction completed, the HMWF will receive $292,253 in funding to support Phase II of development. Phase I of the project included construction of 7,000 square 22 feet of the ILC complex, installation of the power line, and construction of the road base for the main parking lot. Phase II will expand the facility and address issues of limited exhibit space. The grant award will fund construction of the Phase II shell, the completion of the remaining civil construction and the exterior site infrastructure associated with the parking lot lighting and landscaping. Once finished, the ILC will span 11,000 square feet and serve as a powerful on-site location for educating visitors on the importance of never again denying civil liberties by connecting them to the experiences of Heart Mountain internees. The ILC project will be part of an entire complex that houses a Memorial Garden, a restored Military Honor Roll and flagpole, an eight-station interpretive walking trail, a KIA plaque dedicated to those killed in service, and four original camp buildings.
Grant Recipient: Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation (Sonoma, CA)
Fiscal Year of the Grant Award: 2010
Project Title: Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center (Phase 3: Interior Build-Out)
Amount of Grant Award: $832,879
Confinement Site(s): Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY
Description: In 2009, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation received a Japanese American Confinement Sites grant award of $292, 253 to help construct the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center. With the 2010 grant of $832,879, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation will complete the remaining construction of the facility. The entire project includes the completion of the interior construction, and the remaining exterior infrastructure (parking lot, lighting, landscaping, concrete, and the water treatment system).
Last updated: March 25, 2022