In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued on February 19th, 1942, Executive Order 9066--which designated military zones along the United States coast and directed the army to remove all residents of Japanese ancestry from these areas. The president then created the War Relocation Authority (WRA), a federal agency tasked with caring for the approximately 110,000 Japanese-Americans uprooted by Executive Order 9066. The WRA saw to the planning and construction of long-term internment camps located in the interior of the country where the displaced population would be held for the duration of World War II. Two of the selected sites were located in the Arkansas Delta, one at Rohwer in Desha County--which operated from September 18, 1942-November 30, 1945--and the other at Jerome in sections of Chicot and Drew counties--which operated from October 6, 1942-June 30, 1944. The internment camps at Rohwer and Jerome would incarcerate over 16,000 Japanese-Americans between October 1942 and November 1945.
This collection exhibits materials from school administrators and superintendents, pastors, teachers, social welfare workers, and WRA administrators associated with the internment camps. Materials also source from the Homer Adkins’ gubernatorial papers, articles from the McGehee Times and Dermott News, and the official closing roster of the Rohwer Relocation Center.
All materials within this online exhibit are available for research at the Arkansas State Archives. These items were digitized by the Arkansas State Archives as part of a joint project entitled “Rohwer Reconstructed,” overseen by the University of Arkansas’ Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies and funded in part by a grant from the National Park Service through the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending January 28, 1944.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending February 5, 1944.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending April 8, 1944.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending March 11, 1944.
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Greeting card, Tooru Ochial to Hazel Retherford
Easter greeting card from Tooru Ochial in Crystal City, Texas, to Hazel Retherford at the Jerome Relocation Camp.
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Jerome Community Christian Church program
Program from Jerome Community Christian Church at Jerome Japanese Relocation Center.
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Jerome Community Christian Church program, Palm Sunday
Program from the Jerome Community Christian Church.
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Leave clearance hearing correspondence and transcript of Fumie Narasaki
WRA correspondence regarding leave clearance hearings and the transcript of the leave clearance hearing of Miss Fumie Narasaki, age 20.
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Letter, Edna Uyeno to five women of dormitory 7, Jerome Relocation Camp
Letter from Edna Uyeno at Rohwer Relocation Center to five women at Jerome Relocation Center: Era R.; C. Morris; M. Smith; Florrie W.; and Hazel Retherford.
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Letter, Natsuni Tomita to Hazel Retherford
Letter to Hazel Retherford at Rohwer Relocation Center from Natsuni Tomita, who had recently moved from Rohwer Relocation Center to Jerome Relocation Center.
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Letter, Susie Uyedo to Vanette
Letter from Susie Uyedo at the Granada Relocation Center in Colorado (also known as Camp Amache) to Vanette.
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Letter to Hazel Retherford
This is a letter to Hazel Retherford from an unknown sender from Arizona that appears to have been transferred to a relocation center there.
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Letter to Rohwer Relocation Center teachers
Letter to Rohwer Relocation Center teachers asking them to make sure that parents participate in the Christmas program. The letter states that thousands of gifts have been sent to the children from citizens outside the Relocation Center.
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Letter, Yasuko Yirayama to Hazel Retherford and class
Letter from Yasuko Yirayama at the Tule Lake Relocation Center in California to Hazel Retherford at the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas.
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Memorandum, A.G. Thompson to Rohwer Relocation Center School faculty
Memorandum from A.G. Thompson, superintendent of education at Jerome Relocation Center to faculty arriving at Rohwer Relocation Center about the type and size of living quarters needed.
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Memorandum, Harold L. Ickes to War Relocation Authority staff
Memorandum from Harold L. Ickes, secretary of the interior, to War Relocation Authority staff. The memorandum addresses the work that will be required to relocate internees now that the war has ended.
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Memorandum, Ray D. Johnston to all War Relocation Authority division chiefs
Memorandum from Ray D. Johnston to all War Relocation Authority division chiefs.
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Memorandum, War Relocation Authority to Hazel Retherford and other Rohwer personnel
Correspondence from the War Location Authority to Hazel Retherford and other personnel transferring to Rohwer, informing them that they will have to file formally in writing a request to move personal property during their transfer to Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "110 Re-Classified by Local Board Report of May 27: 32 Japanese Are Among Those Re-Classified Last Meeting in May"
Newspaper article discussing community members that were reclassified for the United States military.
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Newspaper article, "21 War Casualties from Rohwer Center Reported in 3 Weeks"
Newspaper article listing casualties of soldiers from Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "27 War Casualties Reported to Jap-American Families"
Newspaper article about war casualties from the Japanese-American Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "2 Rohwer Football Teams to Play Here Tomorrow Afternoon"
This is a brief newspaper article about a football game between two teams at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Newspaper article, "34 Desha Men Called to Service in September"
Newspaper article about 19 Japanese Americans inducted into the United States military in September 1944.
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Newspaper article, "420 Japanese From Rohwer Center in Armed Service: 42 More to Little Rock for Induction Yesterday"
Newspaper article discussing the addition of 410 Japanese from the Rohwer Relocation Center into the United States military.