This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By Trevor Sandgathe
Title: United States War Relocation Authority Reports, 1942-1946
ID: MSS WRA
Primary Creator: United States. War Relocation Authority
Extent: 0.5 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: The United States War Relocation Authority Reports are arranged into four series: Series 1: Community Analysis Reports, 1942-1946; Series 2: Community Analysis Notes, 1944-1945; Series 3: Project Analysis Series, 1943-1946; and Series 4: Quarterly and Semi-Annual Reports, 1942-1946.
Date Acquired: 00/00/2016
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The United States War Relocation Authority Reports are comprised of four sets of mimeographed reports: Community Analysis Reports, Community Analysis Notes, a Project Analysis Series, and Quarterly and Semi-Annual Reports. Series 1 through 3 were produced by the War Relocation Authority's (WRA) Community Analysis Section (CAS). CAS was predominately staffed by sociologists and anthropologists who studied the Japanese internment camps and their internees. These reports reflect the interests of CAS and include topics such as Japanese culture in the United States (organizations, holidays, healing practices, and religion); internee behavior including participation in WRA programs, assimilation, and unrest; resettlement; and white American attitudes toward internees. Also included are detailed reports on the operations and challenges faced by individual camps.
Series 4 is comprised of bound reports created by the WRA to document its activities at a high level. These reports include budgetary data, information about camp organization and operation, reports on internee behavior, and population data, among other topics. Many of these reports are supplemented with maps, organizational charts, and other data visualizations.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States Western Defense Command created two "exclusion zones," encompassing all of California and large portions of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. Because of the perceived security threat posed by individuals of Japanese ancestry within these zones, Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from these zones and relocated to internment camps.
In March 1942, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) was created by executive order to oversee the internment of Japanese Americans removed from the exclusion zone. That spring, more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to ten WRA-operated internment camps located on public lands in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. These camps were typically crude and lacking in many basic amenities. Work opportunities were available for many internees, but compensation was minimal. Education programs were offered in the camps, often with the intent to foster pro-American sentiments among the interned population.
The Community Analysis Section (CAS) of the WRA was established in 1943. It was composed of social scientists assigned to study the functioning of the internees within the camps. The CAS staff took a broad approach to the analysis of the camps and produced reports on a wide variety of topics including customs within the camps, self-government, education, language learning, labor, religion, and conflict, among others.
The exclusion zone was eliminated in January 1945 and the WRA began closing camps in October of that year. The WRA was officially eliminated on June 26, 1946.
More Extent Information: 2 boxes
Statement on Access: This collection is open for use.
Physical Access Note: Many of the items in this collection are printed on brittle paper susceptible to damage. Handling and scanning access may be limited accordingly.
Acquisition Note: The United States War Relocation Authority Reports were transferred from the OSU Libraries general holdings to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in December 2016.
Related Materials:
Materials related to Japanese American internment during World War II can be found in the Japanese-American Association of Lane County, Oregon, Oral History Collection (OH 015). The OSU Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection (OH 026) includes an interview with Aya Fujii in which she describes her experience as an internee and an interview with Andy Landforce during which he describes the impact of internment on Japanese American students at Oregon State College. Additional materials documenting the operation of the War Relocation Authority can be found in the general OSU Libraries holdings. The Mildred and Frank Miles Scrapbook of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp (MSS Miles) documents the experience of Americans interned at a Japanese camp in the Philippines.
Other collections with materials related to World War II include the Wesley Ross Memoir of World War II (MSS RossW), the Oregon State College History of World War II Project Records (MSS OSCWW2), the Oregon State Yank Collection (MSS Yank), and the Oregon State University Military Photographs Collection (P 002).
Preferred Citation: United States War Relocation Authority Reports (MSS WRA), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
United States. War Relocation Authority
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
United States. War Relocation Authority
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese.
Series 1 is comprised of 19 Community Analysis Reports generated by the WRA's Community Analysis Section (CAS) between 1942 and 1946. The series is comprised of reports on a broad set of issues facing the internees and camp administrators. Topics include cultural activities, religion, education, labor, assimilation, unrest in the centers, and reintegration (including analysis of community attitudes in California and Hood River, Oregon). The authors of the reports are largely anonymous, though the first two reports are attributed to anthropologist John F. Embree.The series also includes a six-part annotated bibliography of CAS reports.
Reports 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 12 include cover letters authored by Dillon S. Myer, Director of the WRA. Report 7 includes a cover letter from Leland Barrows, Acting Director. A stamp on Report 11 indicates it was circulated to the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center.
Series 3 is comprised of 23 Project Analysis Series reports produced by the Community Analysis section. Topics include registration processes, security, resettlement, social structures, linguistics, and incidents of unrest in the camps. Report 21 is attributed to Margaret L. Latnis. Reports 23 and 24 are attributed to G. Gordon Brown and J. Ralph McFaring, respectively. Report 7 was circulated to the Poston War Relocation Center and Report 21 was received by the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center.
This series also includes a memorandum to the head project director concerning the Project Analysis Series.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.