Rare Boston War Relocation Authority Publication
Loyal Jap-Americans Happy in New England: Hyde Park Family of "Chick" Uno Typical of Nisei Relocated in the Northeastern Area--450 Already Living Here
Publication: Boston: War Relocation Authority, 1944.
Notes: A very scarce example of the War Relocation Authority's efforts to find opportunities for interned Japanese Americans in New England. The pejorative headline suggests that the Boston field office of the WRA may not have fully supported the effort.
This pamphlet is dated December 31, 1944. The Western Defense Command, the Army unit that issued the order to remove people of Japanese descent from the Pacific Coast, rescinded the order in December 1944, with effect on January 2, 1945. This publication is likely connected to the official end of the Japanese internment. As a practical matter, before the surrender of Japan it was difficult for internees to obtain permission to return to California, Oregon, and Washington. With relatively few people being cleared to return home, the WRA made an effort to find jobs for interned Japanese in other parts of the United States.
The WRA operated small offices around the country. The Boston office, perhaps ordered to expand its outreach to potential employers and non-profit groups willing to help resettle Japanese and Japanese Americans, did the bare minimum with this publication. The content consists entirely of reprinted newspaper articles about Japanese Americans, mostly collected from midwestern cities.
The stories selected include articles about Nisei soldiers and WACs, babies, and Nisei men and women doing all-American things like decorating Christmas trees and ice skating. Notably absent is any text about what someone amenable to assisting the interned Japanese might do to help.
24 leaves, printed rectos (front side) only. Publication no. 48 / C-2015. Not located in OCLC; in fact, no WRA publications from Boston are recorded. The date and location are printed in the upper left corner of the front cover.
SOURCE: The same bookseller from whom I acquired the other Japanese American pamphlets in my list 114.
Edition + Condition: A near fine copy, stapled in the upper left corner, as issued. Complete, with page 24 labeled "final" in the lower margin. With an ink stamp from the Hartford, CT, WRA office on the front cover, and a chop mark (土井, the surname Doi) on the verso of the last page.
Item No: #319493
Price: $1,250