Preliminary Inventory to the Alice Newman Hays Papers, 1940-1945

1 Letter to Alice N. Hays from Congressman John Z. Anderson, Eighth District, California, May 8, 1943. "Hearty accord with General De Witt."

2 Letter to Alice N. Hays from State Senator Byrl R. Salman, Eighteenth District, California, vice-chairman Committee on Financial Institutions, California Legislature, May 6, 1943. -"It is of surprise to me that more legislation on this subject was not enacted."

3 Letters from T. K. Kumano to Minna Stillman

From the Santa Anita Assembly Area:

June 10, 1942-

Scope and Content Note

Conditions and activities at Santa Anita.

June 22, 1942-

Scope and Content Note

People getting used to conditions here.

September 5, 1942-

Scope and Content Note

Card saying they are to leave for Wyoming.

The following letters are from Heart Mountain:

October 24, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Camp not ready when they got there. Had to build their own billets. Provisions scarce-talk about "eat" and nothing else. Were there about one month before housing was done. Comparison with life at Santa Anita.

October 31, 1942-

Scope and Content Note

Money is everything at camp. Nostalgia for California.

November 12, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Getting supplies for winter.

December 13, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Excited about carpenter job; keeping very busy, learning a lot.

December 25, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Letter from Chrisato Kumano. Pictures of family and part of "apartment". Chrisato's brother and son in Japan.

February 12, 1944

Scope and Content Note

The camp becoming a regular community. Californians adjusting to Wyoming.

September 28, 1944

Scope and Content Note

The Palo Altans get together for first time at a wedding party in camp. Trips "outside". October 1, 1944-Letter from Chrisato about trip to Yellowstone Park.

December 27, 1944-

Scope and Content Note

Rumors that they are about to leave but they don't know where or when.

July 30, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Not relocating to Palo Alto because of housing shortage problem.

4 Letters of George Kitasako to Minna Stillman

Written from Heart Mountain

April 16, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Awe for President of U.S. Evacuation a blessing for Nisei-branch out into trades and professions they never would have found clustered on the coast. Comments on draft resistance movement at Heart Mountain.

December 15, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Letter from George's father. Young George relocated in Chicago.

Written from Chicago

January 2, 1945

Scope and Content Note

How can the Government close camps in six months after stranding so many families. Feels that very few Japanese Americans will move back to California. Pressure groups have done a great job of intimidation.

November 4, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Dad had a rough trip back to Palo Alto.

5 Letters of John Kitasako to Alice Newman Hays and Minna Stillman

Written from the Santa Anita Assembly Area:

Picture postcard of Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

June 4, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Disgruntled-does not want to have to move again. (Hays)

June 4, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Must be patient and make the best of it. Dad dreading the prospect of being sent to Tanforan. (Stillman)

July 28, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Working with Kaz Takahashi on documentary report of the history of the Santa Anita Assembly Area. Father "has come a long, long way with only a blank future awaiting him; his genuine source of happiness lies in the past." (Hays)

August 10, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Description of riot and martial law at Santa Anita Assembly Area from 4-8 August. Lengthy account of attitudes and anxieties of the people there. (Stillman)

Written from the Heart Mountain Relocation Center:

September 19, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Train trip to Wyoming. Description of Heart Mountain. (Hays)

September 19, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Montgomery Wards doing heavy business here supplying winter garmets. He says he was told it does not snow much here. Isolated from the rest of the world - people getting disillusioned at being away from their idea of civilization. (Stillman)

October 13, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Deletions of letter to Palo Alto Times made for diplomatic reasons. (Stillman)

October 24, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Conditions at Heart Mountain- best climate of the ten centers despite the cold. Great danger of out-break of fire. Lack of sufficient understanding, leadership in education department. (Stillman)

December 9, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Expressions of acceptance of life at Heart Mountain. (Hays)

December 30, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Spirits high Christmas day at camp. (Hays)

January 7, 1943

Scope and Content Note

(Hays)

March 8, 1943

Scope and Content Note

WRA resettlement program and military service registration of men and women is troubling the minds of people, especially the parents. (Hays)

April 27, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Execution of American aviators in Japan will set back efforts to foster a favorable public opinion of Japanese Americans. An effect comparable to Pearl Harbor. Press and politicians using this incident for political purposes. All leaves for evacuees have been frozen. Dust storms a problem at Heart Mountain. Food better now that assistant steward was fired who felt Japanese were content so long as they had fish and rice. (Stillman)

May 25, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Camp rapidly becoming depopulated-even some Issei leaving. Mecca for outgoing workers so far is Chicago. (Hays)

January 6, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Plans to relocate but must leave his father behind. (Hays)

Written from Washington, D.C.:

April 16, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Discusses the lack of discrimination in Washington and some reasons for it. (Hays)

April 16, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Dispersal of Hisei good from a race relations standpoint. Concentration of Nisei will only retard the process of assimilation. (Stillman)

August 20, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Lea Congressional Committee investigating Kitasako's integrity and loyalty. His opinions of the Committee and its example for democracy.

August 3, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Accounts of people leaving Heart Mountain to go or find a home and the problems they encounter.

6 Letters of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ishikawa, (Arcadia, Heart Mountain)

The following letters were written from the Santa Anita Assembly Area:

May 31, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Jack expresses satisfaction with the conditions at Santa Anita. (Jack, Note: name in parentheses will be that of the person writing the letter to Mrs. Hays.)

June 12, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Comment on lack of reading materials at Santa Anita. (Jack)

June 29, 1942

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

July 18, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Special diats become available at camp. Satisfaction with camp conditions-"We are very glad to be here." Talent show. (Jack)

August 9, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Everything just fine. (Jack)

August 28, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Relocation to Heart Mountain. Separation of family. Jack still very satisfied with the way the evacuation is being carried out. "Junior is fine and enjoying his stay here." (Jack)

The rest of the letters were written in Heart Mountain unless otherwise noted:

September 8, 1942

Scope and Content Note

card written en route to Wyoming. (Jack)

September 11, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Description of trip to Heart Mountain. (Jack)

September 17, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Educational facilities at Heart Mountain. (Jack)

September 30, 1942

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

November 10, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Comparison of Santa Anita's living quarter's to Heart Mountain's. Jackie's activities at camp. (Doris)

December 10, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Christmas card: "We are going to have a nice Christmas too." Everyday activities of the family. (Jack)

January 5, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jack proud to have a robe that came from California. "The Uncle Sam treat us so good, but once in a while I get homesick for my hometown and freedom." (Doris)

January 19, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Californians having trouble dealing with 300F. temperatures in Wyoming. (Doris)

February 14, 1943

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

March 4, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jackie joins the "Boy Scouts of America in Wyoming and learning to be a good scout and we think its a good thing for him." (Jack)

March, 19, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jackie going hiking "outside the..fence" with the Scouts. (Doris)

May 15, 1943

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

June 3, 1943

Scope and Content Note

"We are only waiting for the day when we win this war and peace restored to this world and go back to California and nice folks like you if possible." (Jack)

July 30, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Men and boys playing baseball at camp. (Doris)

August 23, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jack's new job. (Doris)

September 9, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jack very content working on railroad. (Doris)

November 12, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Jack enjoyed railroad job. Jackie seems to be leading a normal life. (Jack)

December 16, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Doris and Jack do not think that they are economically prepared to relocate yet, though they would like to someday. The family went outside the camp to work at harvest time. Worked hard, but enjoyed it. (Doris)

February 20, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Letter from Jackie telling of his recent activities at camp. (Jackie)

February 21, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Doris' elation at finding that her husband has been declared 1-A and will get a chance to serve his country soon. (Doris)

March 14, 1944

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

March 29, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Doris talks about Jack's refusal to take his physical examination and the accusations of draft evasion that followed. Jack taken to a jail and he pleads not guilty. Fighting for a principle, he would have flunked the physical anyway. Very important letter followed by a statement from the Civil Liberties Union and the Fair Play Committee concerning the twelve that were arrested at Heart Mountain for not showing up to the physical. (Doris)

April 28, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Jack being treated well by the U.S. Marshalls. (Doris)

May 5, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Card written in Casper. Doris got to visit Jack at Casper and says she was treated like a queen by the U.S. Marshalls. (Doris)

June 4, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Doris sorry to say that Jack is going to fight it out until the end. Jack being treated very well in jail. When he thinks back to Santa Anita life he gets upset. Account of the despair of many Japanese Americans, especially the older ones who have lost everything. Desire to relocate after a taste of freedom at Casper. (Doris)

June 17, 1944

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

July 19, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Jack in Leavenworth. Being treated well. (Doris)

August 29, 1944

Scope and Content Note

If Jack is good he may get paroled in a year or so. Jackie went on a field trip to Yellowstone Park. (Doris)

September 2, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Gila, Arizona baseball team came to play the Heart Mountain Team.

October 9, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Jack's parole may come up June 15, 1945. Doris still waiting for those happy days again. (Doris)

December 22, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Doris got notice that she can go back to California. Although she wants to very much, she is kind of afraid to, especially without Jack. (Doris)

February 14, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Now that everyone is being relocated Jack is going to take his physical and serve his country. Doris glad it is over after only being in the outside world twice in three years, but she is going to stay in camp until Jack gets out. (Doris)

April 2, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Jack took physical, was rejected as expected February 18, 1945, but still hasn't gotten his special parole from Attorney General Biddle yet. (Doris)

April 6, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Doris won't leave camp until Jack gets out. Jack got his West Coast clearance from the WRA. (Doris)

May 11, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Jack's bid for special parole turned down. Doris says she knows that people are very understanding in Palo Alto and she hopes to get back there soon with Jack. (Doris)

July 24, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Jack got special parole but still will not be out for another month or so. Doris more than anxious to leave camp. (Doris)

August 7, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Doris does not understand how the bureauoracy is holding up Jack's release. (Doris)

August 22, 1945

Scope and Content Note

(Doris)

September 28, 1945

Scope and Content Note

From Kansas City, Missouri. Jack's parole still being held up. Doris gets to see him once a month. (Doris)

7 Letters of Mr. and Mrs. Kazayuki Takahashi to Mrs. Alice N. Hays

The following letters were written in the Santa Anita Assembly Area:

April 13, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Wedding announcement for Kaz and Soyo Okazawa

June 6, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Life at the Santa Anita Assembly Area. Remodeling a "two-room" stable; supplies and wages; children's education - adversities involved; Army Work Project - camouflage plant, misplaced professionals, girls displeased with the type of work, wages, politics already established at camp; cliques run personnel departments. Chances of being relocated to a new Resettlement Area.

June 19, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Furnishings at Santa Anita Assembly Area; shortage of beds and mattresses. Five doctors for 18,500 people; food causing diarrhea. "Nothing to be cheerful about." Reasons for denying repatriation.

June 30, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Receive beds. Soyo's job. Standing in line. Workers on camouflage project strike for better food. Professor Ichihashi reorganizes educational facilities. Fear of being sent to Parker Dam Resettlement Area (Arizona). Getting used to camp life.

July 6, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Supplies. Soyo's job. Church in the grandstand. (Soyo, Note: if Soyo's name appears in parentheses it means that Soyo wrote the letter, otherwise Kaz wrote the letter.)

July 9, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Supply problems - bureaucratic red tape. Kaz's job. Script books issued. Inadequacy of the Canteen. Distribution of shoes and clothing. Fourth of July celebration at camp. Censorship of letters.

July 31, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Furnishings. Kaz's new job on the Writer's Project, research directed by the Caucasian Administration. Censorship. News from permanent Relocation Centers. Failure of "self-government". Law enforcement, mass resignation to Japanese American police. Wages. Excerpts from Center Regulations issued by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration.

August 15, 1942

Scope and Content Note

(Soyo)

August 18, 1942

Scope and Content Note

National Student Relocation Council postponing consideration of applications from non-citizen students.

The following letters were written in the Manzanar Relocation Center:

September 22, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Arrival in Manzanar.

September 25, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Two pages of comparison of the Manzanar Relocation Center with the Santa Anita Assembly Area.

October 12, 1942

Scope and Content Note

WRA's attitude on individual relocation -leaving camp to work in the sugar beet fields. Kaz's analysis of the effect of public sentiment and the influence of the press. WRA rulings on its offer to store the property of evacuees for the duration and now it is pouring into the relocation centers so that the Government will not have to pay rent anymore. Sears, Roebuck, and Co., doing a huge business in the camp. Confiscations at Santa Anita: flashlight (signaling device), screw drivers, knitting needles, (dangerous weapons), War and Peace, Grapes of Wrath. Tolan's Committee's Congressional Report, Dairies.

October 22, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Treatment of evacuee furlough workers by sugar beet companies.

November 23, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Life at camp. (Soyo)

December 30, 1942

Scope and Content Note

Analysis of riot at Manzanar. Development of pro-Japanese sentiment versus pro-American sentiment. Possibility of going back to California. Not likely due to pressure groups there.

January 9, 1943-(Soyo)

February 26, 1943

Scope and Content Note

and December 26, 1942 - Note from the Relocation Office of WRA at Manzanar.

May 7, 1943

Scope and Content Note

(Soyo)

August 9, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Educational facilities at camp. The virtual impossibility of relocating Issei. Fear of relocating because of anti-Japanese sentiment in Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Examiner which are read eagerly by camp residents to get a feeling for what is going on outside. Resistance to relocate increases as Government pressure to relocate them increases. Effect on public sentiment on evacuee's outlook. Comment on Dies Committee "investigation" of WRA.

The remaining letters were written in St. Louis, Missouri:

October 16, 1943

Scope and Content Note

En route to St. Louis.

October 26, 1943

Scope and Content Note

Housing conditions in St. Louis. Sympathy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch to WRA relocation program. Generally much less discrimination in St. Louis. Attitudes on Tule Lake and the famous "Question 28".

December 28, 1943

Scope and Content Note

"We do not care a great deal for the rest of California because of the vicious anti-Japanese campaign which appears to continue unabated." Reflections on camp life and discrimination in general.

January 11, 1944-(Soyo)

January 30, 1944

Scope and Content Note

(Letter says 1943 on it but it has to be 1944) Newspaper accounts of the war "have been hard on our nerves." Feels that St. Louis is a "friendly, conservative, and liberal-minded city," due to their two excellent papers, The Post-Dispatch and the Star-Times. Hesitates at having his letters put in Hoover because there are certain inadvertent errors of fact. Feeling of Nisei on Selective Service discrimination in not drafting Japanese Americans. Some questions raised by the Army's decision to resume drafting Nisei. Right to fight must be accompanied by other rights. Irrationality of citizenship - ban against naturalization of Oriental (except Chinese).

May 26, 1944

Scope and Content Note

(Soyo)

June 21, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Special clearance from the Provost Marshall General's office to attend a university doing war work. Disheartened Nisei who are allowed to fight but are still under suspicion at home. Examples of discrimination against Nisei. Government care of evacuee's property in California. Soyo's house taken over by a Negro family - Transition of of Ramona Street, Palo Alto from a Japanese American neighborhood to a black one.

June 26, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Factual error in letters - Manazanar riots were not as simple as pro-Japanese versus pro-American.

July 1, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Racial discrimination will make it very hard for a zoologist to find a job or a university appointment. Professor s can't take chance of upsetting community or students. Authorities object to his father being West Coast Manager of the N.Y.K. Steamship Line.

December 10, 1944

Scope and Content Note

Reluctance of Soyo's parents to leave camp. Inability to settle sale of Soyo's house- no real estate agent will touch the house now that the whole neighborhood is a Negro community.

February 6, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Opinion of the Pacific Citizen. Soyo's gradual acceptance at her job at the church.

April 13, 1945

Scope and Content Note

Soyo is in Palo Alto.

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