The Japanese American National Museum downtown has acquired an art collection created by Japanese Americans held in internment camps after an East Coast auction house canceled the sale of photographs and other artifacts amid protests.
Roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at 10 relocation camps after the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The art in the collection was all done by those imprisoned over fears that they were spies.
“The mission of the Japanese American National Museum is to share this story,” said museum President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Kimura. “We honor the sacrifice of our forebears who suffered to prove their loyalty to the U.S. by ensuring that such Constitutional violations never happen again.”
The collection includes nameplates carved from wood that were once attached to tar-paper barracks, watercolor and oil paintings, wood animal sculptures, wooden furniture and black-and-white photographs of residents in their daily lives.
The art and artifacts will become part of the museum’s permanent collection, which includes more than 100,000 items. Museum spokesman Ben Mann said there are no plans yet for an exhibition specifically featuring the internment items, though that is a possibility.
The John Ryan family of Connecticut had the artifacts for many years before turning to the auction house last fall to help find the most appropriate home, said David Rago, founding partner of Auction Center.
However, the auction was canceled amid backlash and protests.
Internees gave the collection to historian Allen H. Eaton while he was researching his 1952 book, “Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: The Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps.” Eaton’s daughter sold the lot to the Ryan family.
The announcement about the exhibit came during the museum’s annual gala dinner, which honored Star Trek actor and activist George Takei with its Distinguished Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement and Public Service.
A young Takei and his family were among those incarcerated during World War II.
“All of us can take to heart that our voices were heard and that these items will be preserved and the people who created them during a very dark period in our history will be honored.” Takei said in a statement.
