LibGuides: Japanese American Internment: Getting Started

Background Research

Keywords/themes to explore: history, Japanese Americans AND internment, incarceration, detention, Executive Order 9066, relocation, resettlement, redress, reparations, evacuation, relocation,

Becker, Peggy Daniels. "The Legacy of Japanese-American Internment." Japanese-American Internment during World War II, Omnigraphics, 2014, pp. 91-104. Defining Moments. Gale eBooks, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2768400017/GVRL?u=cuny_laguardia&sid=GVRL&xid=ee54d9f4. Accessed 6 May 2020.
Reference book chapter and timeline: Matsuuchi, Ann. "Japanese American Internment, 1942-1946" in 25 Events that Shaped Asian American History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic. Edited by Lan Dong. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC/CLIO, 2019. Pages 191-202. ISBN: 9781440860881. <https://academicworks.cuny.edu/lg_pubs/167/> Shorter overview available here: "Japanese American Internment." Originally published in Asian American Culture: From Anime to Tiger Moms, Edited by Lan Dong. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. March 2016, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/lg_pubs/132/
"Japanese American Internment." Encyclopedia of American Immigration, edited by Carl L. Bankston, III, vol. 2, Salem Press, 2010, pp. 601-606. Gale eBooks, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2503700306/GVRL?u=cuny_laguardia&sid=GVRL&xid=8c0ea250. Accessed 6 May 2020.

CQ Researcher
There are tons of excellent overviews and reports here on issues relating to social movements, immigrant groups and histories. Annotated bibliographies and links are provides so this is a good starting point and a way to familiarize yourself with a topic.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Online reference e-books that provide excellent brief overviews on issues (such as immigration law) and histories of different parts of the world, notable people, etc. Another good first place to start familiarizing yourself with the issues.
Opposing Viewpoints
Provides some great overviews on controversial issues (similar to CQ Researcher); lots of pro/con essays to help get a sense of these debates.
New York Times archive (1851-2009)
Full-text access to New York Times articles back the very beginning.

Reference Books

Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature by Seiwoong Oh
Call Number: Reference - PS153 .A84 O37 2007
ISBN: 9780816060863
Publication Date: 2007-08-01
"Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature traces American writers whose roots are in all parts of Asia, including China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East. Emphasis is on works that are important in the high school and college literary canon, as well as the historically significant and the contemporary."-publisher
Encyclopedia of Asian History by Ainslie T. Embree (Editor)
Call Number: Click on link to view EBOOK
ISBN: 0684186195
Publication Date: 1905-06-01
Japanese American Internment During World War II by Wendy L. Ng
Call Number: D769.8 .A6 N4 2002
ISBN: 031331375X
Publication Date: 2001-12-30
"Six interpretive essays examine key aspects of the event and provide new interpretations based on the most recent scholarship. Essays include:
- A short narrative history of the Japanese in America before World War II; The evacuation; Life within barbed wire-the assembly and relocation centers; The question of loyalty-Japanese Americans in the military and draft resisters; Legal challenges to the evacuation and internment; After the war-resettlement and redress.
A chronology of events, 26 biographical profiles of important figures, the text of 10 key primary documents--from Executive Order 9066, which authorized the internment camps, to first-person accounts of the internment experience--a glossary of terms, and an annotative bibliography of recommended print sources and web sites..."--Amazon

Online Archives and Reference Sources

Online resources are an excellent complement to print sources for information on a topic. Digital archives are a great way to search and browse for primary sources such as photos, video, audio, or past or present exhibits.

Densho
Densho's mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. The Densho Digital Archive contains more than 800 hours of interviews, visual histories of Japanese Americans and others affected by the World War II incarceration. Also included are over 10,700 historical images documenting Japanese American history.
The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project
The Japanese American Exhibit and Access Project was created in 1997 to provide access to UW Libraries projects related to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The Clara Breed Collection
The online collection of Clara Breed, or "Miss Breed" as she was known by her young library patrons, includes over 300 letters and cards received by Breed from Japanese American children and young adults during their World War II incarceration.
National Archives
NARA preserves and provides access to the records of the United States of America. NARA keeps only those Federal records that are judged to have continuing value—approximately 9 billion pages of textual records; 7.2 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings; more than 20 million still photographs; billions of machine-readable data sets; and more than 365,000 reels of film and 110,000 videotapes.
The Library of Congress American Memory
American Memory provides free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
HistoryLink.org
HistoryLink.org is an online encyclopedia of Washington state and local history. All of the more than 60,000 essays and features are original works -- vetted by professional staff -- prepared exclusively for HistoryLink.org by staff historians, contract writers, volunteers, and consulting experts.
OurStory
A project of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, OurStory is designed to help children and adults enjoy exploring history together through children’s literature, everyday objects, and hands-on activities.

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Encyclopedias

Reference: the go-to source to get started: basic information, overviews, brief history, summary, data and more.

Features:

Often a great place to begin your search
Great for getting an overview of your topic
Table of contents: what's covered and how it's organized
Articles, often written by subject experts
Lists of further reading or sources
Index to find specific terms or concepts

Identifying Primary Sources

Primary Source - A firsthand account of an historical event or time period. Primary sources include diaries, correspondence, interviews, drawings, newspapers, autobiographies, photographs, government documents, etc.

Keywords/subject words you can use in combination with other search terms to locate primary sources in the catalog:

speeches	correspondence
diaries	documents/documentary
interviews	letters
manuscripts	memoirs
narratives	sources
autobiographies

Library of Congress Subject Guides

Asian Americans--Encyclopedias

Asian Americans--History

Japanese Americans--Biography

Japanese Americans--Civil rights

Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945

World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--United States

World War, 1939-1945--Japanese Americans

World War, 1939-1945--Reparations

Library of Congress Call Numbers

All books in our libraries are organized according to Call Numbers in the Library of Congress (LC) Classification system.

Browse the shelves in these call number areas:

D731-838	History, General World War II (1939-1945)
DS1-937	History of Asia
DU620-629	History, General Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii
E184	History of the Americas, United States Elements in the population (includes Asian and Pacific Islander)
F850-900 F721-722	United States Local History Pacific States Rocky Mountains
LC3001-3501	Education of special classes of persons Asians