1

 The National Park Service (NPS) is pleased to report 

on the progress of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 awards 

and on the new FY2010 grant awards for the Japanese 

American Confinement Sites Grant Program. Over the 

past two years, the Japanese American Confinement 

Sites Grant Program has awarded $3,895,000 in federal 

funds to private nonprofit organizations; educational 

institutions; state, local, and tribal governments; and other 

public entities working towards the preservation and 

interpretation of historic confinement sites where more 

than 120,000 Japanese Americans were detained during 

World War II. 

In 2009, Congress appropriated $1 million for the first year 

of the grant program, from which the NPS awarded 19 

grants totaling $970,000. 

In 2010, the second year of the grant program, the NPS 

awarded 23 grants totaling $2,925,000 to help fund 

projects in 12 states. The grants were awarded through 

a competitive process, providing $2 in federal money 

for every $1 in non-federal funds and/or “in-kind” 

contributions raised by groups and individuals working to 

preserve the sites and their histories. 

The FY2010 grants range from $17,295 to the Friends 

of Minidoka to re-establish the historic Honor Roll, 

which commemorated Japanese Americans serving 

in the U.S. Army, to $832,879 to the Heart Mountain, 

Wyoming Foundation to complete the construction of 

the interior and the remaining exterior infrastructure 

for the 11,000-square-foot Heart Mountain Interpretive 

Learning Center in Park County, Wyoming. 

The 42 projects awarded over the past two years 

demonstrate the tremendous commitment of the 

numerous individuals, organizations, stakeholders, and 

communities who have dedicated their time and resources 

towards the goal of preserving and interpreting these 

sites and stories. Collectively, these projects help us gain 

a better understanding of the past, engage new audiences, 

and build new partnerships to work collaboratively 

towards the long-term preservation of these historic sites 

and the memories and lessons they hold.

Japanese American

Confinement Sites

Grant Program

A YEAR IN REVIEW: PRESERVING AND INTERPRETING WORLD WAR II 

JAPANESE AMERICAN CONFINEMENT SITES

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center, designed by Schutz Foss Architects of Billings, Montana.

Photo courtesy: Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation.

Winter 2010

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service

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Status of Funding for the Fiscal Year 2011 

Japanese American Confinement Sites 

Grant Cycle 

As a Federal agency, the NPS fiscal year begins on 

October 1 and ends on September 30 each year. At 

the time of this publication, Congress has not yet 

passed the government’s formal operating budget, 

known as an appropriations bill, for Fiscal Year 

2011. In its place, Congress passed a continuing 

resolution (signed into Public Law 111-242 on 

September 30, 2010) that temporarily funds the 

Federal government through December 3, 2010. 

Governmental funding after December 3 is 

dependent on Congress returning from its autumn 

recess and passing an appropriations bill. 

In order to ensure that the NPS has the 

administrative ability to successfully award 

Japanese American Confinement Sites grants in 

2011, the grant program will operate on a schedule 

similar to that of 2010. Grant applications will be 

announced on January 4, 2011; applications will be 

due on March 1, 2011; and grants will be awarded 

when funds are appropriated by Congress. As we 

receive updated information about funds available 

for the 2011 cycle, we will post it on the Japanese 

American Confinement Sites Grant Program 

website: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/hpg/

JACS/index.html

Background

On December 21, 2006, President George W. Bush signed 

Public Law 109-441 (16USC 461), which authorized the 

NPS to create a program to encourage and support the 

preservation and interpretation of historic confinement 

sites where Japanese Americans were detained during 

World War II. The law authorized up to $38 million 

for the life of the grant program to identify, research, 

evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire 

historic confinement sites in order that present and 

future generations may learn and gain inspiration from 

these sites and to demonstrate the Nation’s commitment 

to equal justice under the law.

The Act also directed the NPS to consult with a variety 

of governmental, educational, and private nonprofit 

organizations in the development of a grant program to 

achieve the purposes of the Act. On June 11, 2007, the 

House Committee on Appropriations directed the NPS 

to provide a report that described how the agency would 

implement the grant program (H. Rpt. 110-187). 

In preparation for a congressional appropriation and in 

response to the directive from the House

Committee on Appropriations, the NPS engaged the 

public to gain valuable input to assist in the development 

of this grant program. The NPS consulted with state, 

local, and tribal governments, other public entities, 

educational institutions, and private nonprofit 

organizations, including those involved in the 

preservation of historic confinement sites. 

During this process, the NPS engaged more than 1,000 

individuals representing more than 40 organizations, 

governmental entities, and academic institutions. They 

shared their hopes and expectations and helped shape 

the evaluation criteria and guidelines for the grant 

program.

On May 21, 2008, this information was presented by the 

Department of the Interior, on behalf of the NPS, to the 

House Committee on Appropriations in the Report to 

Congress Pursuant to Public Law 109-441: Preservation 

of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites. 

This report outlined the legislative requirements, 

project categories, evaluation criteria, and program 

administration guidelines for the grant program.

Overlooking the Granada Relocation Center (Amache).

Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library, University of

California, Berkeley.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

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OVERVIEW OF THE 2010 JAPANESE AMERICAN CONFINEMENT SITES 

GRANT PROGRAM

On October 30, 2009, Congress appropriated $3 million for 

Fiscal Year 2010 of the grant program (Public Law 111-88). 

In early January 2010, the NPS invited organizations and 

entities working to preserve historic Japanese American 

confinement sites and their history to submit grant 

applications.

As defined by Public Law 109-441, eligible confinement 

sites include the ten War Relocation Authority camps: 

Gila River (AZ), Granada (CO), Heart Mountain (WY), 

Jerome (AR), Manzanar (CA), Minidoka (ID), Poston (AZ), 

Rohwer (AR), Topaz (UT), and Tule Lake (CA), as well as 

other historically significant locations identified in the 

NPS report Confinement and Ethnicity and as determined 

by the Secretary of the Interior, where Japanese Americans 

were detained during World War II.

The grant program guidelines listed seven major 

categories of eligible activities for the Japanese American 

Confinement Sites grants to benefit one or more 

confinement sites: capital projects (such as construction 

of new interpretive centers); documentation (such 

as archeological surveys); oral history interviews; 

interpretation and education related to historic 

confinement sites (such as wayside exhibits or educational 

curricula); preservation of confinement sites and related 

historic resources (such as restoration of historic buildings 

or collections conservation); planning projects (such 

as resource management plans); and non-Federal real 

property acquisition (allowed only at Heart Mountain 

(WY), Honouliuli (HI), Jerome (AR), Rohwer (AR), and 

Topaz (UT), per stipulations of Public Laws 109-441 and 

111-88).

Postcards announcing the availability of grant 

applications and guidelines were mailed in January 

2010 to a mailing list of more than 10,000 individuals 

and organizations, including state, local, and tribal 

governments, public entities, educational institutions, 

private nonprofit organizations (including organizations 

involved in the preservation of historic confinement sites), 

former internees and their families, and individuals within 

the Japanese American community. The FY2010 grant 

cycle also was announced through the grant program 

website, press releases, and other correspondence. The 

NPS held informational meetings in Chicago, Denver, 

Former internees share their experiences with Densho, which received a FY2009 grant award to document and preserve the underdocumented stories from ten War Relocation Authority Camps and fifteen assembly centers across the country. Photo courtesy: Densho.

Announcement of Fiscal Year 2010 Grant Cycle
National Park Service

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Honolulu, Little Rock, Los Angeles, San Francisco, 

Seattle, and Washington DC to meet with interested grant 

applicants and address questions about the grant program 

and application process.

Grant Selection Process

By the application deadline of March 4, 2010, the NPS 

received 42 applications, requesting nearly $7.8 million 

in federal funds. During the week of March 15, 2010, the 

Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants selection 

panel convened to evaluate the grant proposals for the 

FY2010 grant cycle. The panel was composed of NPS 

staff from the Intermountain, Midwest, and Pacific West 

Regions. Appointed by NPS Regional Directors, the six 

panel members represented a variety of backgrounds 

and disciplines, including expertise in ethnography, 

architecture, construction, planning, interpretation, and 

partnerships. As was the case for the 2009 panel, the 2010 

selection panel also included one panelist whose family 

members had been interned in one of the War Relocation 

Authority camps. The panel members met at the NPS 

Intermountain Regional Office in Lakewood, Colorado, to 

review all eligible applications. 

The panel evaluated and ranked each proposal using the 

evaluation criteria and guidelines that were established 

based on public input. Applicants were asked to address 

questions related to the need, impact, feasibility, 

sustainability and support for their project. For more 

information on these criteria and guidelines, please 

visit the grant program website at: http://www.nps.gov/

history/HPS/hpg/JACS/application.html

Of the 42 applications received, the panel 

recommended that 23 proposals receive funding. These 

recommendations were then forwarded to the Secretary 

of the Interior, who approved $2,910,000 in funding 

on April 29, 2010. In August, an additional $15,000 

was reapportioned, resulting in a total of $2,925,000 

for grant awards. Although $90,000 had been allotted 

for NPS administration of the program, the NPS only 

needed $75,000 (amounting to 2.5% overhead). As a 

result, the Secretary of the Interior approved the $15,000 

reapportionment on August 12, 2010, which came from 

the unused administrative funds.

Little girls playing house at the Colorado River Relocation

Center (Poston). Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library,

University of California, Berkeley.

Left: Japanese

Americans from the

Rohwer Relocation

Center return by train

to their homes in

California in 1945.

Photo courtesy: The

Bancroft Library,

University of

California, Berkeley.

Barracks at the Rohwer Relocation Center in

Arkansas. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library,

University of California, Berkeley.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

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FY2010 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS LISTED BY STATE

ARKANSAS

Recipient:	 Arkansas State University

Project Title:	 Rohwer Relocation Camp Interpretive Project

Grant Award: $100,502

Site(s): Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR 

Description: Under the direction of Arkansas State University’s 

Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program and the Arkansas 

Heritage SITES (System Initiatives for Teaching 

& Economic Support) program, a grant of 

$100,502 will help these groups conduct research 

to identify major themes and events associated 

with the history of the Rohwer Relocation Center. 

Once major interpretive themes are identified, 

the grantees will conduct public stakeholder 

sessions to review and evaluate scholarly research. 

Arkansas State University will use the selected 

historical themes to develop and install interpretive 

materials such as informational panels, kiosks, and 

brochures at the Rohwer Relocation Center.

Recipient:	 McGehee Industrial Foundation

Project Title:	 Jerome-Rohwer Visitor & Interpretation Facility

Grant Award: $434,967

Site(s): Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR

 Jerome Relocation Center, 

 Chicot and Drew Counties, AR 

Description: The McGehee Industrial Foundation plans to create 

a permanent exhibit space for the “Against Our Will: 

The Japanese American Experience in World War 

II Arkansas” exhibit by restoring the south building 

of the historic Missouri Pacific railroad depot in 

McGehee, Arkansas. The exhibit, created by the 

University of Arkansas at Little Rock with major 

funding from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, 

focuses on the internment history of the Jerome and 

Rohwer Relocation Centers. The goal of this project is 

to provide a central interpretive hub for people to visit 

as they explore the nearby camp sites. This project 

addresses the growing need to enhance local site 

interpretation, educational awareness, and visitation 

to these confinement sites.

Headstones at the Rohwer Relocation Center

cemetery. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library,

University of California, Berkeley.
National Park Service

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CALIFORNIA

Recipient:	 Friends of Manzanar

Project Title:	 Oral History and Research for Enhanced Interpretation and Education at Manzanar

Demonstration Block 14

Grant Award: $58,833

Site(s): Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA 

Description: Manzanar National Historic Site’s Block 14 – which is composed of two barracks, a restored mess hall, 

foundations, rock gardens, paths, and a wading pool – serves as a demonstration block to interpret 

camp life of the 11,070 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at the camp. Through this project, 

the Friends of Manzanar will survey 

state and federal repositories and 

collections to locate, gather, and 

synthesize resources available on 

Manzanar, which will be used 

to expand Manzanar’s reference 

files and aid in the development of 

interpretive exhibits, media, and 

programs for Block 14. As a second 

aspect of this project, the Friends of 

Manzanar also will collaborate with 

Densho to conduct and preserve 

fifteen new oral histories on the 

living conditions experienced by 

internees at Manzanar from 1942-

1945. The interviews will be hosted 

on Densho’s website (www.densho.

org). The combination of research 

and oral histories produced through 

this project will support a multimedia 

approach to interpreting Block 14, 

including the potential production of 

video clips, podcasts, virtual tours, 

and interactive exhibits.

Recipient:	 Japanese American Citizens League

Project Title:	 Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretation of Confinement Sites in the Western United States

Grant Award: $151,790

Site(s): Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA 

 Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA

 Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ

 Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID

Description: Passing on the legacy of internment is a vital initiative of the Japanese American Citizens League. To 

make sure that the legacy of internment in the United States is never forgotten, the Japanese American 

Citizens League will educate Japanese American youth and non-traditional audiences on the history 

of World War II internment. This project will engage youth audiences with the past so they may gain 

a sense of passion through civic participation to preserve and interpret confinement sites. Taking a 

multi-pronged approach, the Japanese American Citizens League will lead four localized programs in 

the western United States to educate and inspire dialogue and individual interpretation among youth 

about internment. Highlights of these programs include seven months of educational workshops and 

forums, and in-service learning activities at confinement sites, which would include environmental 

conservation and historic preservation projects. The final aspect of this program will be a leadership 

project through which participants will create presentations about confinement sites to share with the 

general public at pilgrimages and other confinement site events. 

Mess hall at the Manzanar Relocation Center in California.

Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

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Recipient:	 Japanese American National Museum

Project Title:	 Nisei Oral History Project 

Grant Award: $42,573

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states

Description: The Japanese American National Museum employs several Nisei docents to share their internment 

stories during the guided tours of their School Visits Program. These interactive tours serve more 

than 25,000 students annually from southern California. To ensure these memories are permanently 

recorded and shared with future generations, this project will create video and audio recordings of 25 

of the museum’s Nisei docents. All recordings will be digitally processed by the museum’s Media Arts 

& Web staff and posted on the museum’s website (www.janm.org and www.discovernikkei.org). The 

recordings also will be showcased in the museum’s Japanese American core exhibits, opening in 2011, 

and will serve the museum’s School Visits Program for years to come. The museum also will include the 

oral history interviews within their public program series, which reaches out to the Los Angeles public 

and the surrounding areas to provide educational activities related to Japanese American history.

Recipient:	 Japanese American National Museum

Project Title:	 Toward Justice For All (Exhibit Planning) 

Grant Award: $75,713

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states

Description: This award will support the Japanese American National Museum’s first planning phase for a new 

exhibit titled “Toward Justice for All: Learning from the Japanese American World War II Experience,” 

which is scheduled to open in January 2013. To prepare for the exhibit, the museum will convene with 

a national scholarly advisory group and facilitate community collaboration meetings to develop a 

framework and walk-through for the exhibit. 

The long-term exhibit will feature artifacts, 

oral histories, and media installations. The 

museum also will assess collections and media 

resources to identify featured individuals for the 

exhibit. The project proposes to integrate video 

documentation of former Japanese American 

internees and 500 artifacts from the museum’s 

collection into the exhibit. The museum will 

focus on a diverse group of individuals affected 

by internment, ranging from former internees 

to soldiers and renunciants. The project will 

organize website access, public programs, 

and curriculum development to extend the 

exhibition’s educational efforts with public 

engagement.

Recipient:	 Poston Community Alliance

Project Title:	 Poston Preservation Project—Barrack

Relocation and Rehabilitation

Grant Award: $31,000

Site(s): Colorado River Relocation Center 

 (Poston), La Paz County, AZ

Description: Poston, which was built on the Colorado River 

Indian Tribes Reservation, was one of the ten War Relocation Authority camps during World War II. 

Today, the majority of the camp’s structures have either been moved, razed, or dismantled. Through 

this project, the Poston Community Alliance will relocate and restore a Poston barrack that is currently 

located at a plant nursery in the nearby community of Parker, Arizona. This project is part of the 

Poston Community Alliance’s long-term initiative to develop a “living museum” and interpretive center 

at Poston. The “living museum” and interpretive center will provide insight into the stories of Japanese 

American and Native American experiences during World War II.

A soldier, stationed at Camp Leonard Wood, Missouri,

is furloughed to help his mother prepare for evacuation

from the West Coast. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library,

University of California, Berkeley.
National Park Service

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COLORADO

Recipient:	 Colorado Preservation, Inc.

Project Title:	 Building Stock Research and Inventory Related to the Granada Relocation Center (Amache) 

Grant Award: $20,093

Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO 

Description: The Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program funded a total of three projects for the 

Granada Relocation Center (Amache) this year, with Colorado Preservation, Inc., receiving two 

grant awards. With a grant of $20,093, this project will survey, identify and inventory the remaining 

historic buildings from Amache that are located in a 110-mile radius outside of the camp. In an effort 

to assess the integrity of the remaining building stock, Colorado Preservation, Inc., will document the 

locations and conditions of the identified structures as well as provide preservation recommendations 

in a final project report. An assessment of this kind will 

assist preservation specialists in gathering the survey 

data needed to create a prioritization list for the possible 

relocation of historic buildings back to Amache. 

Recipient:	 Colorado Preservation, Inc.

Project Title:	 Water Tower Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan at

Granada Relocation Center (Amache)

Grant Award: $37,327

Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), 

Prowers County, CO 

Description: Using a grant of $37,327, Colorado Preservation, Inc., 

working in cooperation with the Friends of Amache, 

will relocate a historic water tower tank to Amache, and 

develop plans to rehabilitate and reconstruct the water 

tower structure at its original location. Presently the water 

tank is located off-site on a local farm, as a result of the sale 

of camp structures in 1945. The water tower tank will be 

stored at a temporary location at Amache until Colorado 

Preservation, Inc., is able to complete an archaeological 

survey of the water tower’s original site at the camp. Also 

as part of the project, Colorado Preservation, Inc., will 

produce detailed specifications for the rehabilitation of the 

extant parts of the tank, as well as for the reconstruction of 

the water tower legs. The project also includes the design 

and fabrication of an interpretive wayside panel to provide 

additional information to visitors.

Recipient:	 National Trust for Historic Preservation

Project Title:	 Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Guard Tower Reconstruction Plan

Grant Award: $34,980

Site(s): Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO 

Description: Through a $34,980 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, the National Trust for Historic 

Preservation will formulate plans to reconstruct a guard tower at Amache. The project includes 

researching original guard tower design and construction plans, with a focus on the unique features 

of the Amache guard towers, which were octagonal in design. The reconstruction plan will include 

architectural drawings, specifications for construction, and costs estimates. The project also includes 

the design of an interpretive wayside panel.

Ireito Memorial at the Granada Relocation

Center (Amache) in Colorado. NPS photo.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

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HAWAII

Recipient:	 Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii

Project Title:	 Hawaii Confinement Sites Educational

Documentary

Grant Award: $117,626

Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, 

Honolulu County, HI

Sand Island Detention Camp, 

Honolulu County, HI

Kilauea Military Camp, 

Hawaii County, HI 

 Kalaheo Stockade, Kauai County, HI 

 Haiku Camp, Maui County, HI 

Description: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii 

will produce a one-hour documentary 

film on the stories of Hawaii internees, 

including the effects of the selective 

arrest and incarceration of civilians, 

and the personal accounts of former 

Japanese American internees and their 

children. The film will include personal 

interviews and reenactment scenes that 

describe Japanese American and European 

American internment in Hawaii. Once 

completed, the Japanese Cultural Center 

of Hawaii will broadcast the film on Public 

Broadcasting Service (PBS) Hawaii, at Day of Remembrance events, and distribute the documentary to 

communities and institutions. As a second facet of this project, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii 

will release a 45-minute classroom version of the documentary to supplement lesson plans on Hawaii’s 

history. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii will send the classroom version to every public and 

private high school in the state of Hawaii.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Recipient:	 National Japanese American Memorial Foundation

Project Title:	 Recruitment and Training of Volunteer Docents for the National Japanese American Memorial

Foundation

Grant Award: $38,909

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states

Description: The four docents who are responsible for leading the guided tours at the National Japanese American 

Memorial are overwhelmed with approximately 200 requests for tours each year. The docents, who 

are either former internees or members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, are only able to 

accommodate approximately eight to ten such requests. To accommodate more visitors, the National 

Japanese American Memorial Foundation will recruit and train ten new volunteer docents, who will 

then participate in five, two-hour training workshops. The workshops will include training on the 

interpretive and abstract elements of the memorial, as well as the historical contexts for all of the 

internment camps, assembly centers, and Department of Justice camps. Once the new volunteers have 

completed their training, they will join the core group of veteran docents.

First evacuee arrivals at Granada Relocation Center (Amache),

transferred from the Merced Assembly Center in California.

Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library, University of

California, Berkeley.
National Park Service

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HAWAII (continued)

Recipient:	 University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History

Project Title:	 Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas

Grant Award: $29,080

Site(s): Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR 

Description: The University of Hawaii’s Center for Oral History will conduct interviews with fifteen individuals 

who left their homes in Hawaii to be with their detained fathers in the Jerome Relocation Center in 

Arkansas. Each interview will cover 

topics such as pre-internment life, 

the forced removal of fathers from 

their families, the stresses and effects 

of separation on Japanese American 

families, and the decisions made by 

families to move to Jerome. The oral 

histories will be recorded in digital 

audio format, transcribed, edited, and 

transferred onto CDs. To make sure that 

the public has access to these important 

memories, the Center will deposit the 

oral history CDs in the University of 

Hawaii, Hawaii State, Japanese Cultural 

Center of Hawaii, NPS, and University 

of Arkansas libraries. Additional 

information about the project’s efforts 

to share wartime experiences of 

families at Jerome will also be accessible 

via the Center’s website (www.

oralhistory.hawaii.edu). 

Recipient:	 University of Hawaii, West O’ahu

Project Title:	 Multidisciplinary Research and Education at Honouliuli Internment Camp, Phase 2

Grant Award: $98,544

Site(s): Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI

Description: Following up on its 2009 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant award, the University of HawaiiWest O’ahu will continue its multidisciplinary research and education project on the internment 

experience in Hawaii, including archaeological field schools at Honouliuli during the summers of 2011 

and 2012. The University will expand its current research staff to create a multidisciplinary group with 

backgrounds in anthropology, Asian-American studies, early childhood education, economics, English, 

history, psychology, and sociology. University faculty will complete research with local collections 

and interviewees, travel to other collections in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, and record oral histories 

of former internees, their families, and individuals who interacted with the Honouliuli Internment 

Camp. The University will share its research findings through public outreach and a project website. 

University faculty also will develop and deliver university courses that feature comparative analyses 

of internment in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, while utilizing local fieldtrips, writings from former 

internees, films, and guest speakers to enhance class sessions.

Evacuee flower garden at the Tule Lake Segregation Center in

California. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library, University of

California, Berkeley.
IDAHO

Recipient:	 Friends of Minidoka

Project Title:	 Minidoka Honor Roll

Grant Award: $17,295

Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID 

Description: Honoring the over 1,000 Minidoka internees who served in the United States military, the Friends of 

Minidoka will reestablish the historic Minidoka Honor Roll through this project. Originally installed 

at the camp’s entrance, the Honor Roll honored the bravery of Japanese Americans from Minidoka 

who were serving in the US Army, 

and reflected the ingenuity of the 

Minidoka internees who created 

it. To reconstruct the Honor 

Roll on the site, the Friends of 

Minidoka will design, fabricate, 

and install the structure at the 

camp’s historic entrance. The 

Honor Roll will be a three-sided 

structure with the hand-painted 

names of each soldier, crowned 

with a carved bald eagle. The 

Honor Roll will be part of a 

network of visitor trails, complete 

with a wayside panel. The final 

installation of the Honor Roll 

will be highlighted at the annual 

Civil Liberties Symposium and 

Pilgrimage hosted by the Friends 

of Minidoka, Minidoka National 

Historic Site, and the College of 

Southern Idaho.

Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

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MASSACHUSETTS

Recipient:	 University of Massachusetts, Boston

Project Title:	 From Confinement to College: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Students in

World War II

Grant Award: $68,852

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states 

Description: The stories of young Japanese Americans who left confinement sites for educational opportunities at 

mainland colleges due to the initiatives of the National Student Relocation Council are rarely heard. 

To uncover this history, a team from the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of 

Massachusetts, Boston will document the experiences of former student internees. The team will 

identify and recruit interviewees, conduct oral history interviews, process and edit videos of the 

sessions, and compile text transcriptions. Overall, the project will produce fifteen video oral histories 

of Japanese Americans who traveled from internment sites to college campuses. The videos will 

explore their lives before internment, camp experiences, dealings with the National Student Relocation 

Council, adjustment to new campus locales, and the feelings of acceptance or disapproval they 

encountered in campus communities. The Institute will make the video oral histories accessible to the 

public via its website and through partner websites.

Fumi Onodera points to the names of her family members serving in the

U.S. Army from the Minidoka Relocation Center.

Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.
National Park Service

12

TEXAS

Recipient:	 Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc.

Project Title:	 Japanese Confinement Sites in Texas: An Untold Cultural Legacy of World War II

Grant Award: $20,167 

Site(s): Kenedy Internment Camp, Karnes County, TX

Seagoville Internment Camp, Dallas County, TX

Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Bexar County, TX

Fort Bliss Internment Camp, El Paso County, TX

Description: Following up on an interpretive pilot project at the former Crystal City Department of Justice camp, 

the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will use this grant to interpret World War II 

confinement camps throughout Texas. The Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will focus 

attention on the confinement sites at Kenedy, Seagoville, Fort Sam Houston and Fort Bliss, due to their 

lack of recorded documentation and deteriorating physical remains. The group will organize public 

outreach meetings; conduct research, documentation, and oral histories; and develop online virtual 

tours to promote public awareness and heritage tourism of the camps. In addition, the Friends of the 

Texas Historical Commission, Inc., will create 20,000 travel guides for the confinement sites in Texas, 

and distribute them to local, state and regional visitor information centers. Also through the project, 

the Friends group will install official Texas Historical Markers at the four sites.

OREGON

Recipient:	 Klamath County Friends of the Library

Project Title:	 Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering

Grant Award: $55,000

Site(s): Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake 

Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA 

Description: This project will focus on the history 

of the implementation of the loyalty 

questionnaire by the War Department and 

the War Relocation Authority. Individuals 

who answered “No-No” or refused to 

answer this questionnaire were labeled 

as “disloyal” and were sent to the Tule 

Lake Segregation Center. As part of this 

project, the Klamath County Friends of the 

Library will conduct a series of twenty oral 

history interviews that document protests 

over loyalty questions, inmate attempts 

at self-governance, labor organizing, and 

repatriation and renunciation stories from 

the Tule Lake Segregation Center. The oral 

histories will be recorded both in audio and 

video footage, photographed, and transferred 

into digital format, transcribed, archived, and 

made accessible to the public. In addition to 

the interviews, the project will collect and 

preserve photographs and documents to supplement the personal testimonies. As a vital oral history 

source, the videos will provide evidence of protest to counter myths of Japanese American passivity 

during wartime internment.

Japanese Americans arrive at the Santa Anita Assembly

Center. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library, University of

California, Berkeley.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

WASHINGTON

Recipient:	 Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

Project Title:	 Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

Grant Award: $182,725

Site(s): Bainbridge Island/Eagledale Ferry Dock, Kitsap County, WA

Description: Constructed at the site of the Eagledale Ferry Dock, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American 

Exclusion Memorial project marks the historic site where the first community of Japanese Americans 

were removed from their homes 

during World War II and put on 

a ferry to Seattle, beginning their 

forced removal to confinement 

sites. This grant award supports 

the completion of the Bainbridge 

Island Japanese American Exclusion 

Memorial Wall, which is an integral 

component of the memorial site. 

The 276-foot-long memorial wall is 

made of granite, basalt and cedar, 

and is built upon Taylor Road, where 

Bainbridge Islanders were escorted 

by Army soldiers to the ferry landing. 

The wall’s length also is symbolic, 

as each foot marks the number 

of Japanese Americans who were 

removed from their homes. With the 

2010 Japanese American Confinement 

Sites grant, the Bainbridge Island 

Japanese American Exclusion 

Memorial will fabricate and install 

the interpretive displays on the wall, 

which will include images, art, and 

historical information. 

Recipient:	 Densho: The Japanese American

	 	 Legacy Project

Project Title: 	 Japanese American Confinement: Reference and Resource Website

Grant Award: $166,145

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states 

Description: Through this project, Densho will collaborate with ten scholars of Japanese American history to 

develop a reference and resource website. Linked to the Densho database, the new encyclopedic 

website will provide access to scholarly articles, primary sources, and links that recommend resources 

and curricula on Japanese American history. The website will hold 250 short articles and 40 larger 

articles on World War II Japanese American removal and detention, and will cater to the basic research 

needs of young students, as well as to the in-depth needs of scholars. The materials will be organized 

in a user-friendly manner, and will include biographies and testimonies of internees, contextual 

interpretations, key terminology, interactive maps, a timeline of World War II events, and resources 

on topics related to the early discrimination and wartime experiences of Japanese Americans and the 

redress era. To help disseminate the information on the website, the articles also will include links to 

social networking sites such as Facebook. 

The Japanese American owner of this store placed the “I am an

American” sign in the store front on December 8, 1941, the day after

Pearl Harbor. Photo courtesy: The Bancroft Library,

University of California, Berkeley.

13
National Park Service

14

WYOMING

Recipient:	 Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation

Project Title:	 Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center (Phase 3: Interior Build-Out)

Grant Award: $832,879

Site(s): Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY 

Description: In 2009, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation received a Japanese American Confinement Sites 

grant award of $292,253 to help construct the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center. With 

the 2010 grant of $832,879, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation will complete the remaining 

construction of the facility. The entire project includes the completion of the interior construction, 

and the remaining exterior infrastructure (parking lot, lighting, landscaping, concrete, and the water 

treatment system).

WASHINGTON (continued)

Recipient:	 Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project

Project Title:	 Stories Less Told Part II: Video Oral Histories of the Japanese American Incarceration

Grant Award: $210,000

Site(s): Multiple sites, counties and states 

Description: This oral history project conducted by Densho will produce and digitize 140 little-known stories of 

internment from World War II. Building on a previous 2009 project (Stories Less Told Part I) funded by 

a Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, Densho will collect stories from WRA camps, assembly 

centers, Department of Justice camps, and camps in Hawaii. The stories range from experiences 

of women internees, Japanese Americans educated in Japan (known as Kibei), and non-Japanese 

Americans who had roles in the administration of confinement camps or who witnessed Japanese 

American removal. Of the 140 oral histories, 80 newly recorded and 60 donated interviews will be 

digitally processed, archived, indexed and produced onto DVDs. The digital form of the oral histories 

will be made accessible on Densho’s website (www.densho.org). The digital database currently holds a 

collection of 400 interviews, 10,500 photographs and documents, and a social studies curriculum.

Recipient:	 Wing Luke Memorial Foundation dba Wing Luke Asian Museum

Project Title:	 First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten

Cent Store

Grant Award: $100,000

Site(s): Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID 

Description: Stored within the Higo Ten Cent Store in Seattle’s 

Japantown are photographs, camp documents, 

souvenirs, memorabilia, and artifacts saved by 

the Murakami family who were incarcerated at 

the Minidoka Relocation Center. This project 

will preserve these historic materials and share 

them with the public through a traveling display 

and book publication. Under the guidance of the 

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation, this project 

will present the traveling display at two Seattle 

festivals, distribute 1,500 copies of the publication, 

and conduct 10-12 oral history interviews with 

Murakami family members and close associates. 

The documents and letters saved by the Murakami 

family and presented by this project will educate 

the public on the effects of forced internment 

and Japanese American resettlement. Additional 

information on the project’s publication and display will be updated and found on the “Teachers 

Resource” page of the Wing Luke Memorial Foundation’s website (www.wingluke.org). 

Looking west on F Street at the Heart Mountain

Relocation Center in Wyoming. Photo courtesy: The

Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

JAPANESE AMERICAN CONFINEMENT SITES GRANT FUNDING BY STATE

15

This map shows total (2009-2010) Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program funding by the states where the grantees are located. Also shown are the Japanese American confinement sites that were the specific focus of those grant funds. In some cases, the grantee is in a different state than that of the confinement site. For example, Poston Community Alliance, which is in California, 

received funding for the preservation and interpretation of the Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston) in Arizona. In addition, some projects generally benefit all confinement sites and/or interpret the overall Japanese American internment experience. While this map shows the location of those grantees, it does not show every confinement site that benefitted from those general projects. 
National Park Service

16

This year ushered in an exciting milestone for the 

Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program 

as the first four grantees from 2009 completed their 

projects. These grantees included the Heart Mountain, 

Wyoming Foundation; Japanese American Service 

Committee; Japanese American Citizens League, 

Marysville Chapter; and the Topaz Museum Board. As 

the first generation of Japanese American Confinement 

Sites Grant Program success stories, the completed 

projects reflect the dedicated commitment and hard 

work of numerous groups to preserve, interpret and 

memorialize the history of the Japanese American 

internment during World War II. 

Japanese American Service Committee 

Completes its “Winning the Peace” Traveling 

Exhibit

With a FY2009 grant of $74,620, the Japanese American 

Service Committee created an exhibit on Japanese 

American soldiers who enlisted in a secret operation 

in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service. Using a 

multi-media approach that integrates the use of 

photographs, artifacts, maps, films, and oral histories 

of former Military Intelligence Service soldiers, the 

Japanese American Service Committee was able to 

fabricate a 42-panel traveling exhibit called “Winning 

the Peace.” In addition to this extensive exhibit 

display, the Japanese American Service Committee 

produced two computerized video documentaries, 

an ancillary website, and held a panel discussion for 

Military Intelligence Service members and veterans. 

From May 7-June 30, 2010, the public had the 

opportunity to view the exhibit and documentaries 

at the Japanese American Service Committee Legacy 

Center in Chicago, Illinois. Immediately following 

the conclusion of the exhibit at the Legacy Center, the 

traveling exhibit had a four-day viewing at the Japanese 

American Citizens League’s national convention in 

Chicago. The exhibit provides an in-depth perspective 

of Military Intelligence Service soldiers who worked as 

translators, spies, and fighters during World War II while 

their families endured internment at War Relocation 

Authority camps. 

Exhibit panel from Winning the Peace tells the history of Nisei

Chicagoans who were members of the Military Intelligence

Service during World War II. Image courtesy: Japanese American

Service Committee.

COMPLETED JAPANESE AMERICAN CONFINEMENT SITES GRANT PROJECTS
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

17

The Arboga Assembly Center in Marysville, California 

has been commemorated through a $5,000 grant 

project completed by the Marysville Chapter of the 

Japanese American Citizens League. On February 

27, 2010, the Marysville JACL unveiled a bronze 

plaque, placed atop a redwood presentation stand, 

that recognizes the Arboga Assembly Center and 

the 2,465 Japanese Americans who endured forced 

incarceration there in 1942. The ceremony also 

included an educational session and luncheon, at 

which community members and former internees 

reunited and shared their memories to “keep future 

generations informed on the Japanese American 

story.” Eventually, the Marysville JACL plans to 

move the monument to another location nearer the 

former site of the Arboga Assembly Center, once 

that site development is completed. Until then, the 

current monument serves the immediate need to 

commemorate the significance of the Arboga Assembly 

Center, and to share that history with the general public. 

Marysville Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League Commemorates the 

Arboga Assembly Center with a Memorial Plaque

A ceremonial unveiling of the

bronze plaque, presented by

the Marysville JACL, allowed

former internees and their

families the opportunity

to commemorate their

experiences at the former

Arboga Assembly Center site.

Image courtesy: Marysville

JACL.
National Park Service

18

With $48,000 in grant funding, the Topaz 

Museum Board has produced an interpretive 

design plan for an exhibit at the proposed 

Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah. The plan, 

which was produced with the professional 

expertise of the West Office Exhibition 

Design firm, a multi-disciplinary design 

studio specializing in museum and cultural 

centers, generated a creative framework 

for content development, space planning, 

and exhibit concepts. Rich with significant 

historical themes and interactive exhibit 

stations, the proposed exhibit will present 

the many stages of internment, and 

incorporate the experiences and resiliency of 

former internees by making use of artifacts, 

internee artwork and stories. 

As explained in the interpretive design plan’s 

introduction, the exhibit will challenge 

visitors, “to consider what happened at Topaz 

and why it matters to all of us...to understand 

the importance and value of their constitutional 

rights and civil liberties.” To achieve this, the 

exhibit will take visitors through an exploration 

of American history that highlights the social, 

emotional, and historical effects of Japanese 

American confinement. 

One page of a concept design plan, proposed by West Office Exhibition

Design for the Topaz Museum Board, depicts an origami crane installation

suspended from the ceiling of the future museum’s gallery entrance.

Topaz Museum Board Completes an Interpretive Design Plan for the 

Proposed Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah

Another concept design plan depicts a display

of personal belongings, representing all that

a single family could bring with them upon

evacuation—only what they could carry in their

arms.
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

19

In FY2009, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming 

Foundation was the recipient of that year’s 

largest grant award: $292,253. The Foundation 

has now successfully completed that project, 

through the construction of the exterior 

shell (Phase II) of their highly anticipated 

Interpretive Learning Center (ILC) at the site 

of the former Heart Mountain Relocation 

Center. Building on an earlier phase of 

construction, the completion of Phase II 

expanded the facility to a total of 11,000 square 

feet. 

The Interpretive Learning Center will house 

administrative and curatorial storage space, 

as well as exhibits that will educate visitors 

on Japanese American internment history 

by emphasizing themes of constitutional 

issues, civil liberties, diversity, and ethnic 

understanding. In celebration of their recent construction 

achievements, the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation 

opened the Interpretive Learning Center grounds to 

visitors with a progress celebration and site tour on August 

19-20, 2010. Scheduled to open on August 20, 2011, the 

Interpretive Learning Center will be part of a complex 

that houses a Memorial Garden, a restored Military 

Honor Roll and flagpole, an eight-station interpretive 

walking trail, a plaque dedicated to those killed in service, 

and four original camp buildings.

The Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation Constructs the Exterior Shell of its Interpretive 

Learning Center

Photo courtesy: Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation.

Side view of one of the

Interpretive Learning

Center buildings, the

design of which is 

based on the Heart

Mountain barracks.

Photo courtesy: Heart

Mountain, Wyoming

Foundation.
National Park Service

20

The Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program 

has achieved Facebook status! With our new Facebook 

page, we hope to keep grant recipients, applicants, and 

those interested in the program up to date on the latest 

news and the grantees’ recent achievements. 

Join us on Facebook by checking out the program’s 

fan page. Visit www.facebook.com/jacsgrant and “like 

our page” to see updates, upcoming events, and more 

information on the grant program. The Facebook 

page will have weekly status updates, bi-weekly chats 

for grantees and interested applicants, photos, videos, 

and news articles showcasing grant recipients and their 

projects. Additional resource links, important application 

dates, and contact information also will be available with a 

click of a button via our Facebook page. So stay connected 

and join us today.

Please note that our Facebook page is a supplement 

to the NPS Japanese American Confinement Sites 

Grant Program website. Important information on 

the application process, grant manual and reporting 

documents, grant eligibility and federal regulations 

can only be found on our grant program website, at: 

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/hpg/JACS/index.html. 

Therefore, please visit our website to download official 

Japanese American Confinement Sites documents and 

press releases in Microsoft Word and .pdf formats. 

We also will continue to update the website with the 

latest information on grant eligibility, application 

announcements, and news articles on funded grant 

projects. 

THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CONFINEMENT SITES GRANT PROGRAM 

JOINS FACEBOOK!
Public Law 109-441 - Preservation of Japanese American World War II Confinement Sites

21

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please contact one of the NPS regional representatives if you have any questions about the 

Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.

INTERMOUNTAIN REGION

Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, 

Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Wyoming

Contact: Kara Miyagishima, Program Manager 

 Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program 

Phone: 303-969-2885

Email: Kara_Miyagishima@nps.gov

Contact: Alexandra Hernandez, Historian 

 Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program

Phone: 303-969-2846

Email: Alexandra_Hernandez@nps.gov

MIDWEST REGION

Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas,

Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota,

Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan,

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

Contact: Rachel Franklin-Weekley, Historian

 Midwest Regional Office, Division of Cultural Resources

Phone: 402-661-1928

Email: Rachel_Franklin-Weekley@nps.gov

PACIFIC WEST REGION

Alaska, California, Idaho, Nevada,

Oregon, Washington, and other

states not listed above

Contact: Tom Leatherman, Deputy Superintendent

 Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park

 Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial

Phone: 925-943-1531, ext. 122

Email: Tom_Leatherman@nps.gov

Hawaii

Contact: Frank Hays, Pacific Area Director

Phone: 808-541-2693 x723

Email: Frank_Hays@nps.gov

Please visit http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/hpg/JACS/index.html 

for information about the grant program.

All correspondence and comments 

may be sent to the address listed 

below: 

National Park Service

Intermountain Region

Japanese American Confinement

Sites Grant Program

ATTN: Kara Miyagishima

12795 W. Alameda Parkway

Lakewood, CO 80228

Thank you for your interest in the 

Japanese American Confinement 

Sites Grant Program.

Artwork by George Yano, 1943, courtesy of Manzanar NHS
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the

American people so that all may experience our heritage.

Layout / design by the Office of Communications & Legislation

Intermountain Region

December 2010