On February 19, 2015, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History displays a small selection of artifacts in an exhibit to mark the anniversary of the 1942 signing of Executive Order 9066, which forced the relocation of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to internment camps. In late spring 1942, three generations of the Hirahara family – farmers and hotel owners who had emigrated from Japan beginning in 1907 – had been sent from Yakima to Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming. George Hirahara (1905-2000), and his teenage son, Frank (1926-2006), took an interest in photography, ordering equipment and film from mail order catalogs and building their own darkroom. Over the next three years, the pair captures more than 2,700 photographs documenting everyday life in the camp – family outings, school activities, sports games, new babies, even funerals. A softball used by George in the camp and Frank's Heart Mountain High School identification card were donated to the Smithsonian and placed on display in the new exhibit. The family's extensive photo collection, which had been stored in a closet and in the attic for nearly 50 years, was given in 2010 to the library at Washington State University, Frank's alma mater, where it is available as a digital archive.
Smithsonian Hosts Day of Remembrance
On February 19, 2015, after six months of planning, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History opened an exhibit of everyday objects used in internment centers as a way to examine the Japanese American experience during World War II. The exhibit was part of the annual Day of Remembrance, which in 2015 marked the 73rd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, forcing the relocation of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to guarded camps. Three generations of the Hirahara family, along with about 1,100 others from Yakima, were sent to Heart Mountain Relocation Center, about 12 miles west of Cody, Wyoming, in late spring 1942.
The Day of Remembrance exhibit included a softball owned by George Hirahara donated by his granddaughter Patti Hirahara, the family's last living descendent. The ball is autographed with George's initials (G. H.), the barracks number where his family lived (15-9-A), and the words Heart Mt. Hirahara also donated the 1943 Heart Mountain High School enrollment card which enabled Frank to gain access to school activities at the camp school. The card bore Frank's signature and that of his home room teacher. Both artifacts were accessioned into the Smithsonian's collection.
At the exhibit opening, Hirahara noted how happy she was that
"the Smithsonian is adding new camp artifacts to their collection, and to be able to donate my grandfather's softball from Heart Mountain to the Smithsonian is an honor … George Hirahara came to this country when he was 5 years old from Japan and always felt America was his home. When he got the chance, he became an American citizen in 1954 and would have never imagined that his softball would now be on display" (Pacific Citizen).
Joining the Hirahara objects on display were items from other camps and individuals, including woodworking tools; a well-worn suitcase used by one of the internees to travel to a camp in Minidoka, Idaho; a baseball uniform worn by teenager Tetsuo Furukawa at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona; and a hand-made wooden ashtray in the shape of a cat carved by another detainee who was the father of TV and stage actor Sab Shimono (b. 1937).
Award-Winning Documentary
That same evening, the Smithsonian hosted a free public screening of the Emmy Award-winning documentary, Witness: The Legacy of Heart Mountain, inspired by the many photos taken by George and Frank Hirahara beginning in 1943 when the prohibition against owning cameras in the camps was lifted. George frequently ordered equipment and film via mail order catalogs, and built his own underground darkroom in his barracks, using scrap materials. He even was able to acquire a photo enlarger.
Through their photographs, George and Frank documented the everyday life of Japanese Americans at Heart Mountain. There are images of women ice-skating, holding children, arranging flowers, and playing the mandolin. There are men on bicycles, inspecting the boiler room, and playing football. The normalcy of the images – high school marching bands and babies on blankets – are juxtaposed with those detailing the not-so-normal conditions, such as trains delivering more detainees and the camp barracks photographed in every kind of weather, whether sun, snow, or hail.
The documentary was inspired by these and other photographs:
"Featuring prisoner stories from the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, [film producer] David Ono investigates what happened through one of the largest private photo collections taken by George and Frank Hirahara who had a secret darkroom under their barracks. In the years they were imprisoned, they took thousands of photographs of camp life. Each photograph is a window into the daily struggles of American citizens, imprisoned in their own country, yet desperately attempting to live a normal life" (Day of Remembrance 2015).
The documentary also captured the contributions of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, segregated Japanese American units renowned for their bravery during World War II. On the flip side, the film relayed the story of young Japanese American men who resisted the draft in protest of American policies.
Following the screening, the Smithsonian presented a panel discussion of scholars and community leaders, including former Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, who was also featured in the film; film producer David Ono; and journalist and author Paul Takemoto. The event ended with a live spoken-word performance by the 2014 National Poetry Slam champion G. Yamazawa who received a standing ovation when he shared a verse about his Japanese grandmother.
After the War
After World War II, the Hirahara family returned to Yakima to pick up the threads of their lives. George enjoyed restoring and exhibiting antique farm equipment, and with his wife Koto began to travel the country in their RV. After graduating from Washington State University in 1948, Frank worked for six years at the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon, as a design and project engineer. In 1955, he moved to southern California to work as an engineer on different space programs until he retired in 1988.
In 1992, as George and Koto prepared to move to California to be closer to Frank, granddaughter Patti flew to Yakima to help her grandparents pack. In the attic she found a box of 850 photo negatives from Heart Mountain. In 2010, after her father Frank died, she found another 1,200 negatives hidden in a case in his closet. In an interview, Hirahara admitted she knew that the photos existed but she was surprised by the size of the collection. The extensive collection filled 32 boxes.
In 2010, Patti Hirahara donated the more than 2,700 images to the library at Washington State University, her father's alma mater, as a way to ensure the camp history was not lost to future generations.
"The photographs tell a story of people in an unpleasant situation, imprisoned by their government in a spare landscape, but willing to make a good life for the time being, says Hirahara. They beautified their barracks, explored their surroundings, and developed a social life. Frank's pictures include high school yearbook photos, shots of basketball games, and school dances" (Sudermann).
WSU has since received at least two National Park Service grants totaling more than $125,000 to digitize and preserve the George and Frank C. Hirahara Collection and make it available to the public online. Patti Hirahara also donated photos to the Yakima Valley Museum, Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, Anaheim Public Library Heritage Center, and Oregon Historical Society, several of which have opened exhibits based on the photos. In 2017, the Smithsonian presented a more extensive follow-up exhibit entitled "Righting a Wrong – Japanese Americans and World War II."
