Thelma Kawakami Japanese American Internment Camp Letters, 1944/1945

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

Thelma Kawakami Japanese American Internment Camp Letters, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Summary

Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet
Creator:
Kawakami, Thelma
Language:
English Japanese
Preferred citation:

Thelma Kawakami Japanese American Internment Camp Letters, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of letters written to and from Japanese American families in temporary dentenion centers and internments camps during the last year of World War II. Letters present are related to camps at Poston, Arizona and Granada, Colorado. Some of the letters are in Japanese. The majority of the letters are written to Mr. and Mrs. K. Kawakami, from their daughter Thelma, working at the University of Minnesota.

These letters provide status updates on family members outside of the camp, and discussion of others being able to relocate away from the camp, and some letters were written after the Kawakamis returned to Sacramento after the war.