Title

Manzanar Collection

Description

Materials relating to the forced relocation to Manzanar, California, of Miriko Nagahama and Honey Mitsuye Toda, including correspondence, photographs, and newspapers from Manzanar during the period of Ms. Nagahama and Ms. Toda's internment by the War Relocation Authority. Donated in 1981 and 1995. Collection dates between 1941 and 1995. More information available at https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt700027b0/

Collection

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Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-02-04
Date Created
1943-01-20
Description

Personal letter discusses mutuel friends and acquaintances; the climate at Manzanar; her coursework in psychology, shorthand, and wood carving; and her work teaching a kindergarten class. Nagahama remarks on the contradictions faced in classroom discussions in which teachers are supposed to emphasize the home, given their living conditions in Manzanar, and muses that she may use a doll house as a model in order to give students a glimpse "of what a home is supposed to look like." She also mentions learning to play the saxophone, and that she may play for a PTA party.

3 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-01-07
Date Created
1942-10-29
Description

Personal correspondence describes living conditions in the camp, including eating in the mess hall and the lack of variety of food. Toda also describes her preparation for work in the Education department and the possibility that a friend [Wilda Johnson] may come to Manzanar to teach. Toda also asks about Salzman's work at Lockheed, saying that she has heard it described as a "women's Paradise"; says that she misses school and WAA [?]; and describes attending meetings almost every night for an acapella choir class.

2 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-01-10
Date Created
1942-12-25
Description

Personal letter describes Christmas Day in the internment camp, mentioning the wind, dust, and cold conditions along with the beauty of the Sierras and her first view of snow. Toda also describes a Christmas party that drew people of all ages, and asks about Salzman's work and if Salzman is affected by gas rationing or other shortages, noting that they have felt effects of rationing at Manzanar.

5 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-07-04
Date Created
1994-12
Description

Christmas letter addressed to Wilda [Johnson], describing a family reunion at Mammoth Lakes and providing news of family and friends. Mentioned also are several of Murakami's writings, including the booklet, entitled "A Probable Jesus"; an open letter to Niseis that was printed in the November, [1994?] issue of the Tozai Times, published in Los Angeles; and a future project that Murakami describes as "my Las Vegas project to Niseis residing there."

2 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-01-09
Date Created
1942-11-16
Description

Personal letter discusses work in doctor's office; teaching; and taking classes as well as club meetings featuring games and refreshments. Toda also asks how Salzman, "our defense worker" is doing.

5 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-01-06
Date Created
1942-07-16
Description

Personal letter thanking Salzman for sending an encyclopedia and noting that "daily work is about the same" and that "everything is on the boresome side." Also mentions visit by church friends; a move by Miriko [Nagahama], her mother and sister to a new place within the camp, undertaken because of a new regulation seeking to reduce the number of inhabitants per apartment; and that Honey [Toda] is well.

3 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-01-08
Date Created
1942-09-13
Description

Personal correspondence mentions a mutual friend's employment "at an aircraft co." and asks about Salzman's work [at Lockheed]; mentions that she is getting ready for school to open and that she is very busy in the Education Department; and states that, because there are "no beds or mattresses for teachers to sleep on" they have been told to stay home pending arrival of furniture. She also states that about 28 teachers who have already arrived are sleeping in barracks on cots, and that some of them are UCLA graduates. She mentions a recent dust storm and that she would like to go home, even if Manzanar "isn't too bad."

2 items in Collection
Local Identifier
026-1-a-01-02-07
Date Created
1943-06-05
Description

Personal letter discusses how much Nagahama misses their circle of friends and Glendale [California], despite her knowledge that "the sentiment toward us is not very favorable" and mentions that Honey [Toda] "has left the barbed-wire confines of Manzanar" for work taking care of children for a family in Washington, DC. Notes that Nisei teachers have been given a raise and a promotion to professional rating and describes her work schedule and life as a kindergarten teacher, including the difficulties of teaching "16 children at one time in one little 2 x 4." Also briefly describes Bainbridge Island and the Nisei from there; expresses her appreciation to Salzman for doing some shopping for her; and describes the weather, including dust and wind.

4 items in Collection