2025 Grant Project Summaries

California

Recipient: University of California (Los Angeles, CA)

Project Title: Moab Citizen Isolation Center Archaeology Project
Grant Award: $149,276
Site(s): Moab Citizen Isolation Center, Grand County, UT

Description: The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in partnership with other institutions, will undertake archaeological, archival, and oral historical research to aid in documentation, interpretation, and education of the Moab Citizen Isolation Center (MCIC) in Utah. UCLA will lead archaeological investigations at MCIC which will include remote sensing and systematic excavation. Research will contribute to new interpretive waysides that will be incorporated into the Utahraptor State Park Site, museum exhibits, and academic publications. A small traveling exhibit will be produced and public talks will be held to share project findings.

Recipient: Visual Communications Media (Los Angeles, CA)

Project Title: Archaeological Survey of the Tule Lake Stockade Area
Grant Award: $41,527
Site(s): Tule Lake Incarceration Site, Modoc County, CA

Description: Visual Communications Media will partner with archaeologists to document the origin, location, and history of the stockade at Tule Lake Incarceration Site in California. In addition to carrying out archival research, the project will employ non-destructive archaeological methods to locate the stockade such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing and possibly a pedestrian survey. A video recording and written report sharing findings will be prepared and shared with scholars, archaeologists, archivists, members of the Tule Lake Committee, Tule Lake descendants, camp descendants, and other interested parties.

North Dakota

Recipient: United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck, ND)

Project Title: Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial
Grant Award: $379,816
Site(s): Fort Lincoln Internment Camp (Department of Justice), Burleigh County, ND

Description: The United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) will complete the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial to preserve the memory of nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans interned at the Fort Lincoln (Department of Justice) camp in Bismarck, North Dakota. Located on UTTC’s campus, the memorial was thematically designed around the concept of Kintsugi (the Japanese art of repair) to promote healing. Fostering connections between Japanese American and Native American communities, the memorial at UTTC will be a space for reflection that honors descendants and survivors.

Texas

Recipient: Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee (Crystal City, TX)

Project Title: Building and Growing the Crystal City Museum Collection
Grant Award: $197,200
Site(s): Crystal City Internment Site (Department of Justice) Zavala County, TX

Description: The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee will work with consultants to create a touring exhibition on Texas’s Crystal City Department of Justice Internment Site. The exhibit will be hosted at locations where Crystal City survivors and descendants reside, providing the opportunity to document additional stories and artifacts for the My Story Museum. During the touring exhibitions, project coordinators will work with Densho’s “Memory Lab” to record oral histories with survivors, scan letters and photos, and catalog physical artifacts brought by event participants. The Committee also plans to partner with local colleges and Japanese American organizations to host educational forums at each exhibit site.

Utah

Recipient: The Topaz Museum (Delta, UT)

Project Title: Planning for Topaz Museum Exhibit Growth
Grant Award: $148,000
Site(s): Topaz Incarceration Site, Millard County, UT

Description: The Topaz Museum will plan for the exhibition and interpretation of newly discovered and acquired artifacts, including the James Hatsuaki Wakasa Memorial Stone, and the possible expansion of the museum. The museum’s current exhibits and artifacts will be assessed with input from community stakeholders and museum professionals. Concept designs and a list of prioritized projects will inform development of future exhibits. A key objective of this project will be planning for the respectful exhibition of the Wakasa Memorial Stone.

Recipient: Utah State University (Logan, UT)

Project Title: Kooskia Internment Camp: Planning and Design for Interpretation
Grant Award: $392,362
Site(s): Kooskia Internment Site (Department of Justice), Idaho County, ID

Description: Utah State University will engage the public in a planning and design process to produce alternative design proposals for interpretation of Idaho’s Kooskia Internment Site and the contribution of interned individuals in construction of the sites adjacent Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. Design alternatives will be considered for an interpretive pathway, signage, and associated on-site visitor amenities for installation by the US Forest Service, which owns and manages the site. Kooskia will be mapped using aerial-based LiDAR to provide accurate topographic data for use in production of design alternatives as well as a Cultural Landscape Study and to create an interactive digital model of the site.

Washington

Recipient: Densho (Seattle, WA)

Project Title: Resettlement Legacies: Preserving Stories of Japanese American Communities Outside the West Coast
Grant Award: $336,166
Site(s): Multiple Sites

Description: Densho will preserve and share stories from Japanese American resettlement communities in the Midwest and East Coast. In partnership with groups in four key resettlement regions (Seabrook, NJ; Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN; Chicago, IL; and New England), Densho will conduct oral histories, publish new encyclopedia articles, digitize up to 20,000 historical items, and host local scanning days to document stories of aging survivors and their descendants. Newly digitized materials will be added to the Densho Digital Repository and other accessible platforms.

Wyoming

Recipient: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (Powell, WY)

Project Title: Heart Mountain Root Cellar Exhibit
Grant Award: $342,850
Site(s): Heart Mountain Incarceration Site, Park County, WY

Description: The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will plan, fabricate, and install an exhibit inside Heart Mountain’s restored historic root cellar. The exhibit will focus on the agricultural project at the Heart Mountain camp and its continuing impact on the Bighorn Basin area, drawing particular attention to the intersection of resilience and coercion in the use of Japanese American labor at the War Relocation Authority camps. Content for the exhibit will come from primary sources such as historic photos, films, records, oral histories, memoirs, and consultation with former incarcerees.