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 December 18, 1943.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending October 9, 1943.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending November 1, 1943.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending October 25, 1943.
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General Comment by Project Director
General comment by project director for the week ending October 16, 1943.
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Incomplete Block managers' meeting minutes
This document includes incomplete a block managers' meeting Minute on April 5, 1943 at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Leave clearance hearing emergency instructions
Document giving emergency instructions for leave clearance hearings held at Rohwer Relocation Center.
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Letter, C. Luguet to Governor Homer M. Adkins
C. Luguet is inquiring about the possibility of allowing a Japanese American family to work in his place of business in Mountain View.
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Letter, Dillon S. Meyer to Ray D. Johnston
Correspondence from Dillon S. Meyer to Ray D. Johnston concerning leave clearance hearings.
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Letter, E.B. Whitaker to Governor Homer M. Adkins
E.B. Whitaker, regional director of the War Location Authority, is thanking Governor Adkins for informing him about the complaint by McGehee citizens concerning Japanese Americans trading with local merchants. He says this has been an issue for a while but that local merchants would like to be able to sell to the interned Japanese Americans.
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Letter, E.B. Whitaker to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Letter from E.B. Whitaker, field assistant director for the War Relocation Authority, informing Governor Adkins that the gentleman, Mr. Venner, was misinformed about the War Relocation Department hiring outside labor to "cut right-of-ways" within camp grounds and that interned Japanese Americans were working within camp boundaries.
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Letter, Edith Rodgers to Hazel Retherford
Typed letter from Edith Rogers to Hazel Retherford informing her that she has been selected as an elementary school teacher for Jerome Relocation Center.
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Letter, Edward J. Meeman to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Edward Meeman, editor for the Memphis Press-Scimitar, writes to Governor Adkins asking if the Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) could hire a young woman from the Japanese interment camp by the name of June Yamagachi because the Y.W.C.A. was having a hard time finding a teacher for their camp in Hardy, Arkansas, for their arts and crafts department.
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Letter, E.W. Moffatt to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Letter to Arkansas Governor Homer M. Adkins in Little Rock from E.W. Moffatt in in Hamburg, Ashley County. Moffatt is a farmer in Hamburg and he is asking Governor Adkins if it would be possible for him employ a few Japanese-American families at his farm. Moffatt is explaining to the Governor that there is a shortage of laborers in Hamburg and they could use the help.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to C. Luguet
Governor Adkins is writing to acknowledge the letter Mr. Luguet sent to his office requesting permission to hire Japanese Americans. Adkins informs him that the state director of the War Relocation Center, Mr. E.B. Whitaker, is in charge of the interned Japanese Americans in Arkansas. However, it is the position of the Governor's office that all internees remain in the camps at all times.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to E.W. Moffatt
Governor Adkins explains to Mr. Moffatt, that the federal authorities control the relocation centers and the individuals within them. However, Adkins' position has always been that the interned Japanese Americans remain within the guarded gates.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to F.J. Venner, Winters Handle Company
Governor Adkins is writing to acknowledge a letter written by F.J. Venner of the Winters Handle Company. Adkins informs Venner that the State Director of the War Relocation Center, E.B. Whitaker, is in charge of the interned Japanese Americans in Arkansas. He states that the position of the Governor's Office is that all internees remain in the camps at all times and that he has no knowledge of any Japanese Americans working outside the camps in Arkansas.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to I.C. Oxner, Distributor for Gulf Oil Products
Governor Adkins informs I.C. Oxner that, as Governor, he has taken a firm stand against allowing interned Japanese Americans to leave the camps for any reason. He expresses disappointment that they are speaking Japanese and not English when visiting McGehee and is not happy that they had been allowed to leave the camp.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to I.C. Oxner, Distributor for Gulf Oil Products
Governor Adkins is informing I.C. Oxner in McGehee that the amount of time the interned Japanese Americans could spend in the town of McGehee will be limited in the future.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to Mr. Edward J. Meeman
This letter, written by Governor Homer Adkins, was in response to a letter from Edward Meeman, editor for the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Meeman had previously written to Governor Adkins asking if the Y.W.C.A. could hire a young interned Japanese-American woman as an arts and craft teacher for their camp in Hardy, Arkansas. Governor Adkins' response explains that the rules do not allow internees to leave the internment camps, which is for everyone's protection. He says he has refused all requests for employment of Japanese Americans outside the camps.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to Roberta Clay, Legislative Chairman of the American Association of University Women
Governor Homer Adkins is writing to Roberta Clay of the American Association of University Women to acknowledge receipt of her letter and defends the recent legislation passed barring Japanese Americans from owning land in Arkansas.
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Letter, Governor Homer Adkins to U.S. Senator Albert Benjamin Chandler
Governor Adkins is explaining to Senator Chandler, that Adkins has an agreement with the military regarding the interned Japanese Americans who have been placed in Arkansas. This agreement states that they would be under military guard at all times, would not be placed in competition with local labor, would not be allowed to purchase land, and that none would remain in Arkansas after the war ended.
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Letter, Governor Homer M. Adkins to George W. Malone, senate investigator special consultant
George Malone, special consultant to the Senate, is writing to Governor Adkins reminding him of the conditions the War Department originally agreed to, in order to house Japanese Americans in Arkansas.
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Letter, I.C. Oxner, Distributor for Gulf Oil Products, to Governor Homer M. Adkins
Letter from I.C. Oxner, in McGehee, Desha County, to Governor Homer Adkins. Oxner is angry that Japanese Americans are being allowed out of the camps to shop in McGehee and he is offended that they are speaking Japanese. He states he would like more controls put in place over the interned Japanese Americans.
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Letter, Joe N. Martin, executive secretary for the Governor of Arkansas, to John L. Byers
John Byers, resident of Huntington Beach, California, had written to Governor Adkins to inform him that Japanese immigrants, or Issei, had discovered a way to own land in California, despite California's laws against non-citizen ownership. In this letter, Governor Adkins' secretary Joe Martin writes back to Mr. Byers thanking him for the interest he showed in the Alien Land Act passed by Arkansas's State Legislature and saying that the act prohibits any Japanese, citizen or alien, from purchasing or owning land in Arkansas.