United States War Relocation Authority Reports, 1942-1946
The United States War Relocation Authority Reports are comprised of more than fifty mimeographed reports detailing the operation of War Relocation Authority (WRA) concentration camps used to house Japanese American incarcerees during World War II.
The contents of Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, and Series 4 have been digitized and are available upon request.
We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.
Please be aware that content within this collection may be disturbing or activating, and racist, derogatory language is used toward Japanese Americans and other groups. We acknowledge the racism represented by this language and the harm it may cause our users. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein.
[Date of acknowledgement: July 2023]
Container List
- Series 1: Community Analysis Reports, 1942-1946 Add to Shelf
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 incarcerees and concentration 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.
This series has been digitized and is available upon request.
- Box-Folder 1.1: Report No. 1: "Dealing with Japanese Americans", October 1942 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.2: Report No. 2: "Causes of Unrest at Relocation Centers", 1942 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.3: Report No. 3: "Japanese Groups and Associations in the United States", March 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.4: Report No. 4: "Notes on Japanese Holidays", April 2, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.5: Report No. 5: "Evacuee Resistance to Relocation", June 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.6: Report No. 6: "Nisei Assimilation", July 21, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.7: Report No. 7: "An Analysis of the Segregation Program", October 16, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.8: Report No. 8: "Japanese Americans Educated in Japan", January 28, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.9: Report No. 9: "Buddhism in the United States", May 15, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.10: Report No. 10: "Labor Relations in Relocation Centers", October 28, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.11: Report No. 11: "Exploratory Survey of California Attitudes Toward the Return of the Japanese", April 4, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.12: Report No. 12: "Effect of the Housing Shortage on Central Valley, California", May 14, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.13: Report No. 13: "Prejudice in Hood River Valley: A Case Study in Race Relations", June 6, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.14: Report No. 14: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part I: Community Analysis Trend Reports from the Relocation Centers", November 19, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.15: Report No. 15: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part II: Community Analysis Mimeographed Series", February 28, 1946 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.16: Report No. 16: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part III: Community Analysis Reports from the Central Utah, Jerome, Rohwer, Gila River, and Heart Mountain Relocation Centers", February 7, 1946 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.17: Report No. 17: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part IV: Community Analysis Reports from Granada, Minidoka, and Manzanar Relocation Centers", April 23, 1946 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.18: Report No. 18: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part V: Community Analysis Reports from Colorado River and Tule Lake Centers", 1946 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.19: Report No. 19: "Annotated Bibliography of the Community Analysis Section, Part VI: Washington Community Analysis Section Reports", June 30, 1946 Add to Shelf
- Series 2: Community Analysis Notes, 1944-1945 Add to Shelf
Series 2 is composed of 14 "notes" published by the Community Analysis Section (CAS) between 1944 and 1945. The notes are short reports on subjects including marriage customs, healing practices, and “block” self-governance within the concentration camps. The notes series includes several reports documenting interviews with incarcerees. It also includes a series of reports on areas within the exclusion zone including Fresno County, Imperial Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Joaquin County.
This series has been digitized and is available upon request.
- Box-Folder 1.20: Note No. 1: "From a Nisei Who Said 'No'", January 15, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.21: Note No. 2: "Engagement and Marriage Customs in a Relocation Center", February 29, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.22: Note No. 3: "Traditional Japanese Therapeutics Practiced at Minidoka", April 7, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.23: Note No. 4: "Social and Political Organization of the Block at Manzanar", March 7, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.24: Note No. 5: "A Nisei Requests Expatriation", November 10, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.25: Note No. 6: "Biography of a Nisei Celery Farmer from Venice, California", December 11, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.26: Note No. 7: "Nisei Report on Their Adjustment to Tule Lake", December 20, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.27: Note No. 8: "West Coast Localities: Sacramento County and City", March 1, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.28: Note No. 10: "Boys' Day", March 13, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.29: Note No. 11: "West Coast Localities: Fresno County", April 2, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.30: Note No. 12: "West Coast Localities: Imperial Valley", April 9, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.31: Note No. 13: "West coast Localities: San Francisco Bay Area", April 9, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.32: Note No. 14: "West Coast Localities: San Joaquin County", April 16, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.33: Note No. 15: "A Lexicon of Center Terms", July 18, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Series 3: Project Analysis Series Reports, 1943-1946 Add to Shelf
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 resistance in the concentration 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.
The materials in this series have been digitized and are available upon request.
- Box-Folder 1.34: Report No. 1: "Registration at Central Utah: 14-17, February, 1943", February 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.35: Report No. 2: "Army Registration at Granada", March 19, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.36: Report No. 3: "Registration at Manzanar", April 3, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.37: Report No. 4: "The Fence at Minidoka", April 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.38: Report No. 5: "Preliminary Evaluation of the Resettlement Program at Jerome Relocation Center", May 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.39: Report No. 6: "Report on an Unorganized Relocation Center", June 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.40: Report No. 7: "Notes on Some Religious Cults at Topaz", June 15, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.41: Report No. 8: "Factors Influencing Low Enrollment in Certain Adult Education Courses", July 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.42: Report No. 9: "Preliminary Survey of Resistances to Resettlement at Tule Lake Relocation Center", June 23, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.43: Report No. 10: "English Words in Current Use at Minidoka Center That Have Been Given a 'Japanized-English' Pronunciation or Have Been Translated into a Japanese Equivalent", July 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.44: Report No. 11: "Notes on Evacuee Family Patterns", November 24, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.45: Report No. 12: "Studies of Segregants at Manzanar", February 3, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.46: Report No. 13: "A Preliminary Survey of the Boilermen's Dispute at Minidoka", March 3, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.47: Report No. 14: "The Tule Lake Incident", March 27, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.48: Report No. 15: "The Reaction of Heart Mountain to the Opening of Selective Service to Nisei", April 1, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.49: Report No. 16: "The Significant Factors in Requests for Repatriation and Expatriation", April 19, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.50: Report No. 17: "Relocation at Rohwer Center, Part I: The Relocated Population", July 24, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.51: Report No. 18: "Relocation at Rohwer Center, Part II: Issei Relocation Problems", September 2, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.52: Report No. 19: "Community Government in the Relocation Centers, Part I: One Year of Community Government at the Gila River Relocation Center", November 6, 1944 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.53: Report No. 21: "Relocation at Rohwer Center, Part IV: Prospects for Resettlement of Rohwer Farmers", February 22, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.54: Report No. 22: "A Typical Block at Tule Lake Center", April 17, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.55: Report No. 23: "Final Report on the Gila River Relocation Center as of May 20, 1945", September 24, 1945 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.56: Report No. 24: "Stresses and Strains of Center Life", February 20, 1946 Add to Shelf
- Box-Folder 1.57: Memoranda to Wade Head, Project Director, re: Project Analysis Series, May 11, 1943 Add to Shelf
- Series 4: Quarterly and Semi-Annual Reports, 1942-1946 Add to Shelf
Series 4 is comprised of 10 bound quarterly and semi-annual reports documenting the activities of the War Relocation Authority from its genesis in 1942 to its dissolution in 1946. The reports include information on the WRA's work and educational programs, camp organization and operation, activities and behavior of incarcerees, population data, property issues, unrest, and camp management, among other topics. The reports also include organizational charts, timelines, maps, graphs, and data tables detailing the work of the WRA. The first two reports in this series also include manuscript annotations.
The materials in this series have been digitized and are available upon request.
- Box 2 Add to Shelf
- Item 1: "First Quarterly Report: March 18 to June 30, 1942", 1942 Add to Shelf
- Item 2: "Second Quarterly Report: July 1 to September 30, 1942", 1942 Add to Shelf
- Item 3: "Quarterly Report: October 1 to December 31, 1942", 1943 Add to Shelf
- Item 4: "Semi-Annual Report: January 1 to June 30, 1946", 1946 Add to Shelf
- Item 5: "Semi-Annual Report: January 1 to June 30, 1943", 1943 Add to Shelf
- Item 6: "Semi-Annual Report: July 1 to December 31, 1943", 1944 Add to Shelf
- Item 7: "Semi-Annual Report: January 1 to June 30, 1944", 1944 Add to Shelf
- Item 8: "Semi-Annual Report: July 1 to December 31, 1944", 1945 Add to Shelf
- Item 9: "Semi-Annual Report: January 1 to June 30, 1945", 1945 Add to Shelf
- Item 10: "Semi-Annual Report: July 1 to December 31, 1945", 1946 Add to Shelf