Four collections of materials from and about Amache, also known as the "Granada Relocation Center."
Ms 0011, Records of Attorney Donald T. Horn (one item digitized)
Ms 0221, Ruth L. Parker Collection (partly digitized)
Ms 0295, Block Managers Assembly Records (fully digitized)
Ms 0299, Thomas Nidey / Gladys Jones Seevers Collection (partly digitized)
During World War II, the United States forcibly removed thousands of Japanese Americans from their homes. About 8000 incarcerees lived at Amache, near Granada, Colorado. For more information, see Robert Harvey’s Amache: The Story of Japanese Internment in Colorado during World War II (Taylor, 2004). Digitized materials related to other incarceration camps are available from the University of California's "Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives," JARDA.
Please note: in 2023, we updated this finding aid with language recommended in the Japanese American Citizens League handbook "The Power of Words."
Gift of Judge Robert F. Sanderson of Lamar, Colorado, and Andrew Gulliford, CC class of 1975, in October, 1975. These papers are Gulliford's research materials for two college papers he wrote, included in the collection.
Files of Donald T. Horn, project attorney for Amache: official correspondence, personal letters, instructions and memoranda from the War Relocation Authority, legal opinions, business records, and speeches and papers relating to Japanese American detention. Includes government records showing the policy and stance of the federal government, and correspondance relating to the incarceration of Japanese Americans at Amache.
Inventory
I. CORRESPONDENCE
Ms 0011, Folder 1: Letters and copies of letters between WRA officials, September 1942 - December 1944
Barrett, Frank S.,
Project Attorney
Glick, Philip, Solicitor, Washington, D. C.
Horn, Donald T., Project Attorney, Amache, Colorado
Housel, Jerry, Regional Attoney, Denver, Colorado
Knodel, Walter J., Relocation Program Officer, Amache, Colorado
Lovell, Ulys A., Project Attorney, Denson, Arkansas
Myer, D. S., Director, Washington, D. C.
Silverman, Maurice, Acting Project Attorney, Amache, Colorado
Silverthorne, Kent, Project Attorney, Newell, California
Ms 0011, Folder 2: Copies of letters by Donald T. Horn,
Project Attorney, Granada, Relocation Center,
November 1942 - September 1945
Abe, Shiro
Amache Consumer Enterprises, Inc.
Carter, C. D.
Davis, Harold
Farmer, Guy
Fisher, Paul J.
Igasaki, M.
Knapp, Gray
Mabry, John
Maeno, John Y.
Meyer, Donald H.
Nakashima, Mrs. Thomas
Osterman, George B.
Peterson, Harry S.
Phelps, Judge J. Arthur
Sakamato, Chiyoko
Sakai, Ruby
Silverman, Maurice
Stewart, Francis L.
Sunday, Mr. and Mrs.
Tamura, Stephen
Throckmorton, Robert B.
Wear, H. C.
Yamasaki, Toshi
Ms 0011, Folder 3: Letters to Donald T. Horn, November 1942 - March 1945
Abe, Shiro
Davis, Harold A.
Farmer, Guy
Hannan, L. J.
Hoshino, M. W.
Iki, Katuski
Jepsen, H. J.
Kito, Frank E.
Leflar, Robert A.
McGrew, W. A.
Mabry, John N.
Maeno, John Y.
Meyer, Donald H.
Moore, John J. O.
Onishi, Bessie
Peterson, Harry S.
Phelps, Judge J. Arthur
Sakamoto, Chiyoko
Silverman, Maurice
Stewart, Francis L.
Tamura, Stephen K.
Terry, Paul J.
Throckmorton, Robert B.
Wood, Ted
Yamasaki, Toshie
Ms 0011, Folder 4 Miscellaneous correspondence, May 1943 - June 1944
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Kadletz and Company
Lindley, James G.
Nishimoto, Elmer
Sakamoto, C.
Silverman, Maurice
II. LEGAL PAPERS
Ms 0011, Folder 5: Memoranda and instruction from War Relocation
Authority, October 1942 - March 1945
Enis, Edward J., Director, Alien Enemy Control Unit
Ferguson, Edwin E., Regional Attorney
Glick, Philip M., Solicitor
Housel, Jerry W., Regional Attorney
Kellogg, John H., Commander 335th MP Escort Guard Company
Provinse, John H., Chief, Community Management Division
Stauber, B. R.
Ms 0011, Folder 6: Legal opinions, November 1942 - February 1945
Applicability of Securities Act of 1933...cooperative
Arbitration of Granada Relocation Center
Common law marriages
Dual citizenship
Acquisition of U.S. citizenship by persons of Japanese ancestry
Boycotts against evacuees
Protection given to evacuees by federal civil rights status
Use of the mails to discourage relocation in West Coast states
Unincorporated and incorporated cooperative enterprise
Residential requirements for welfare
Ms 0011, Folder 7: law summaries
Co-Operative associations
Renewal and termination of leases in California
State child-labor standards: Colorado
Ms 0011, Folder 8: documents
Affidavit regarding qualifications of John Y. Maeno
Promissory note: Isabel Artiaga
Affidavit regarding qualifications of Chiyoko Taskahashi
Memorandum of understanding: Tomoko Shintani and H. J. Jepson
Agreement to employ Attorney H. J. Jepson
Receipt of promissory note: H. J. Jepson
III. BUSINESS RECORDS
Ms 0011, Folder 9
Expense vouchers
Administration suspension statement
Vouchers for travel expenses
Travel authorizations
Bill for collection
Official receipt
Ms 0011, Folder 10
Business forms
Advice of personnel action
Lists of government property issued to Project Attorney
Initiation, bid and acceptance (short form contract)
Blank forms: record of interview, applications for leave
IV. SPEECHES AND ARTICLES
Ms 0011, Folder 11: Speeches
Biddle, Francis, Address; "Civil Rights and the Federal Law"; "Democracy and Racial Minorities"
Konishi, Marion, "America, Our Hope is in You" / National Archives photo of Konishi / Channel 9 News piece on Konishi (Thank you, Aline Lo, for providing the outside links!)
Rotnem, Victor W., "Civil Rights Through the Window of a Criminal Statute"
Ms 0011, Folder 12: Articles
Buck, Pearl S., "Tender for Tomorrow" (abstract)
Clark, Blake, "The Japanese in Hawaii" (abstract)
Embree, John, "Cause of Unrest at Relocation Centers"
Rostow, Eugene V., "The Japanese American Cases - Disaster"
Ms 0011, Folder 13: Papers by Andrew Gulliford
"The Granada Papers and Japanese-American Relocation"
"American Concentration Camps for Japanese Americans"
Ms 0011, Folder 14 Newspaper clipping
"175 March to Site of War Camp," April 1975
Gift of Ruth L. Parker. Accessioned 1984. Finding aid created May 2010. Ms 0221, Folder 1: 5 letters to Ruth Parker 1938-1943; Amache (24-page booklet); 8 photographs of Amache, including Sunday School children. Ms 0221, Folder 2: “A Visit to the Japanese Relocation Center at Granada, Colorado” (1942) and related materials. Ms 0221, Folder 3: Granada Pioneer (newsletter), 1942-1944. Includes “Lil’ Neebo” comic on back pages. Incomplete. See Ms 0295, Folder 2 for one additional issue. Ms 0221, Folder 4: Single issues or short runs of several publications: Amache (33-page orange booklet), Dispossessed, Evacuation!: A Selected Bibliography on the Japanese Evacuation, Pulse (literary magazine of Amache), church publications Granada Christian Church News, Amache Tidings: News from Granada Christian Sunday School, Newsletter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Ms 0221, Folder 5: Clippings. Ms 0221, Folder 6: Publications: The Japanese in Our Midst, Resettlement Hand-Book, Information Bulletin of the Japanese-American Relations Committee, A Balance Sheet on Japanese Evacuation, American Refugees, Community Preparation for Resettlement of Japanese Americans. Ms 0221, Folder 7: Newspaper: Pacific Citizen, 1943 (incomplete). [Digital version coming from the Japanese American Community Foundation] Gift of the University of Washington, July, 1992. Materials accumulated by Yatsutoshi Yoshizawa in the course of his duties as a member of the Block Managers Assembly. Minutes of the Block Managers Assembly documenting the day-to-day management of Amache, including community activities, maintenance, and supplies, along with information on searches of living quarters, meetings with the Spanish Consul (the representative of Japanese nationals during the war), and relocation outside Amache. Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 1 Constitution and by-laws [1943?] Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 2 General correspondence 1944-45 Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 3 Memoranda 1943-45 (warehouse workers, overtime)
Ms 0295 Box 1, Folders 4-33 Block Managers Assembly
minutes May 18, 1943 - September 27, 1945 (searchable PDF, 606 pages) Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 34 Duplicates of above (not digitized). Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 35 Meetings with Spanish Consul 1943-44 Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 36 Other Bodies: Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 37 Announcements 1944-5? Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 38 Agriculture section monthly reports 1945 Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 39 "Granada Community Analysis Report No. 2" [1943] Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 40 "Granada Community Analysis Report No. 8" [1944] Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 41 "Report on Trip to Iowa" [1945?] Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 42 Daily time reports and other reports of hours worked 1945 Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 43 Amache Mid-Summer Carnival 1945 Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 44 Miscellaneous 1943-45 (cash ledger, resolution thanking Dillon S. Myer) Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 45 Questionnaire for evacuees after resettlement; subjects for discussion with Dillon S. Myer; resolution expressing appreciation to Myer Ms 0295 Box 1, Folder 46 Schedules:
Volunteer tofu manufacture 1944-45,
Schedule for checking crating 1945?,
Movie schedule [1944?] Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 1 Scholarship recipients ca. 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 2 Block Managers Assembly committees 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 3 Block Managers names and addresses 1943-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 4 Block Managers Assembly roll call sheets 1943-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 5-6 Miscellaneous 1944-45 (scholarship fund, American Red Cross, bingo prizes, vacation leave, slaughterhouse workers, janitorial supplies, names of office workers) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 7 Notes for minutes 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 8-9 Miscellaneous 1943-45 (handwritten notes including orders for ice and rice) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 10 Forms (blank) 1943-45 (request for transportation of property, nomination of Block Representative, request for supplies) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 11 Instructions for requesting additional cots, etc.; List of works for Block Managers; Community Government Manual: Plans for Permanent Government Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 12 Employment 1943-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 13 Population data 1944-45,
fixtures,
maps and diagrams Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 14 Residents Directory [1945?] Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 15 Odori - permit for public assembly 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 16 Newsletter fragments, possibly from introductory
newsletter for new incarcerees, mostly in Japanese Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 17 Photograph: Memorial to soldiers from Granada
killed in World War II [1945?] Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 18 Miscellaneous 1943-45
(request for workers, notice of assignment, application for leave, packing list, property shipment form, farewell program for Mr. Terry) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 19 Amache Consumer Enterprises minutes, Liquidation Committee 1945,
Financial Records 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 20 Amache doctors Koen Kwai Memorandum 1945,
List of officers and committee
members 1944,
Financial Statements 1944-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 21 General Correspondence 1944-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 22 Minutes 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 23 Financial Statements 1944-45 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 24 Inventories 1945 (athletic equipment, costumes and props including musical instruments) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 25 Notes 1945 Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 26 Miscellaneous 1945 (Athletic Department loans of softballs and bats) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 27 Mess Committee
Notes 1945 (food distribution) Ms 0295 Box 2, Folder 28 Yoshizawa, Yatsutoshi
Outgoing Letters 1945 Seevers was a schoolteacher at Amache. We don't know much about her. She raised Great Danes, and was married to an optometrist in Lamar, Colorado. In September, 1993, she was living in a nursing home in Holly, Colorado. The papers concern the day-to-day activities in the Amache school system during the 1944-45 academic year.
Box 1
Ms 0299 Box 1, Folder 1 Pages 1-195 of Allen Eaton's book Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: The Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps (1952) Folder 10 ADDITION, 2014 (ongoing): reference file of newspaper clippings, etc., from various sources (not part of original gift)
maintained by Special Collections; last revised April 2023, jr
Ms 0221
Ruth L. Parker Collection
Ms 0295
Block Managers Assembly Records
MINUTES
Advisory School Board 1944
Amache Community Council
1945
Coordinating Advisory Committee
1945
Business Committee 1945
Representatives of blocks 12K & 11K
1945
Ireito Construction
1945
REPORTS
FINANCIAL RECORDS
LISTS
NOTES
SUBJECT SERIES
AMACHE RECREATION ASSOCIATION Ms 0299
Photocopies of papers in the collection of Mr. Thomas V. Nidey of Lamar, Colorado, in 1993. He purchased the original papers of Gladys Jones Seevers at an estate sale ca. 1985. Special Collections staff copied the papers, with Nidey’s permission, September 16-17, 1993. Not all originals were legible. Accessioned 1994.
Thomas Nidey / Gladys Jones Seevers Collection
Ms 0299 Box 1, Folder 2
Publications:
Amache Wrangler ("for WRA Staff Use"), fall 1944
Essential Information Concerning Movement of Evacuees Bulletin No. 5
Granada Pioneer January 23, 1943 (see Amache 0221, Folder 3 for many more issues)
Ordinances No. 1 (misdemeanors); No. 2 (regulating traffic), April, 1943
The Spotlight (Amache Junior High), June 1945
War Relocation Authority Daily News Digest September 7-13, 1944
War Relocation Authority Field Bulletin No. 7 - March 1945 for the Middle Atlantic Area
War Relocation Authority Weekly Press Review, August 9 - September 26, 1944
WRA Information December, 1944
Ms 0299 Box 1, Folder 3 Memos from Project Director James Lindley and others to "All Appointed Personnel (Education)" 1944-1945
Ms 0299, Box 1, Folder 4 School-related memos 1944-1945
Ms 0299 Box 1, Folder 5 Class lists 1944-1945 (some grade sheets not digitized)
Ms 0299 Box 1, Folders 6-7 Amache Secondary School Junior-Senior High Bulletins 1944-1945
Folder 8 Miscellaneous school materials used by Mrs. Seevers 1944-1945
Folder 9 Miscellaneous school materials 1944-1945, including Record List (music and spoken word recordings)