{"id":708,"date":"2016-10-10T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T20:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/?p=708"},"modified":"2016-10-10T13:45:13","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T20:45:13","slug":"week-2-blog-on-japanese-american-internment-finding-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/2016\/10\/10\/week-2-blog-on-japanese-american-internment-finding-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 2 Blog on “Japanese American Internment Finding Aid”"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this week’s blog, I select “Finding Aid for the Collection of Material about Japanese American Internment, 1929-1956 bulk 1942-1946<\/em><\/a>” to interpret and evaluate the collections of\u00a0Japanese American Internment during the WWII. As shown in the scope and content note, the collection includes\u00a0publications and press releases by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), as well as\u00a0yearbooks and pamphlets that focused\u00a0on the Manzanar and Minidoka internment camps, created by Japanese American internees and advocacy groups.\u00a0It also includes recordings and transcripts of speeches and\u00a0selections\u00a0of published articles\u00a0on subjects such as\u00a0segregation within camps, the loyalty of Japanese Americans, resettlement, and the internment process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Container List\u00a0introduces the contents within each of the\u00a03 series. First,\u00a0Series 1\u00a0consists of 2 boxes of\u00a0publications and speeches\u00a0sponsored by the WRA. The box and folder listing suggests narratives from an official perspective: reports for the\u00a0living condition in the camps, and pamphlets advocating Japanese Americans internment, resettlement, and enlistment in the armed forces.<\/p>\n

Series 2, on the other hand,\u00a0includes\u00a0a box\u00a0of\u00a0yearbooks and newsletters\u00a0written and produced by Japanese American internees from the camps. Thus, it can be inferred that in this section, \u00a0the internees produce narratives about their lives in the camps.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Series 3\u00a0contains\u00a0a\u00a0box\u00a0and\u00a0a\u00a0map folder\u00a0which include\u00a0printed materials and a recording of a radio broadcast. Since the creators vary from\u00a0the Japanese American Citizens League to\u00a0the American Council on Public Affairs, narratives of this section features external reflections on the\u00a0internment of Japanese Americans.<\/p>\n

Based on the records in this collection, I think it is still hard to get\u00a0a comprehensive understanding of\u00a0Japanese American Internment. One of the drawbacks in the collection is that except for box 1 of series 1,\u00a0\u00a0all \u00a0of the remaining files are organized in alphabetical order. Instead of grouping the archive according to a specific timeline or topic, the current approach make viewers difficult to compare and analyze historic details such as the change of people’s attitude and treatment inside the camp as the war progressed. Also, the lack of sources from the internees’ perspective (contrast to the 2 boxes of official documents) can lead to significant misrepresentation. \u00a0Moreover, since this collection features two of the\u00a0internment camps, it would be more subjective\u00a0if a broader view on the relationship between the two camps and the other camps is available: did\u00a0the two mentioned here offer superior resources for the\u00a0internees? Or were they among the worst camps in the country? To compensate for these shortcomings, I’ll suggest to upgrade\u00a0the collection by including more interviews and diaries of the internees, assort the documents in a chronological order, and evaluate the status of the featured camps in comparison to other camps in general.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this week’s blog, I select “Finding Aid for the Collection of Material about Japanese American Internment, 1929-1956 bulk 1942-1946” to interpret and evaluate the collections of\u00a0Japanese American Internment during … Continue reading “Week 2 Blog on “Japanese American Internment Finding Aid””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}