Wooden Brooch, "Santa Anita"
date: label: date made
content: mid 1940s
notes: label: Description
content: Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII often turned to art and crafts to take their minds off of the imprisonment, and express themselves creatively. Many art schools, clubs, and classes started popping up throughout many of the camps to accommodate and provide for this want. It was a great way for many Japanese Americans to pass much of the large amounts of spare time they had while imprisoned, and many prisoners developed extraordinary artistic skills. This small wooden carving has a wooden brooch reading "Santa Anita" which was an assembly center for Japanese Americans. Attached by blue yarn is a small carving of geta (Japanese sandals). These are representative of Toshi Ito's experience in camp. The prisoners had to shower in the same place where prior to their imprisonment horses were hosed down and cleaned. The men in her camp carved geta out of old wood so other prisoners could wear them in the shower and not get their feet filthy. Many of the crafts done were like this, small, and representative of where or when the artist was imprisoned. This small trinket was carved by a boy in camp as a gift of love to Toshi Ito. Although it didn't work out between them, many gifts like this were made and given as tokens of love throughout all the camps.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Jewelry
label: Subject
content: World War II
label: Subject
content: Japanese Americans
label: related event
content: Japanese American Internment
label: related event
content: World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
label: See more items in
content: Executive Order 9066
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Toshi Ito
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0346.04
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0346.04
label: accession number
content: 2015.0346
objectType: label: Object Name
content: brooch
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: thread (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/2 in x 1 3/4 in; 6.35 cm x 4.445 cm
label: Measurements
content: carving: 1 in x 1/2 in; 2.54 cm x 1.27 cm
label: Measurements
content: nameplate: 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in; 1.905 cm x 4.445 cm