Clara Estelle Breed, a San Diego children's librarian, was outraged by the WWII era policy of internment for Japanese Americans. In response, she met Japanese American families as they were being sent away by train and distributed stamped and addressed postcards to the children, asking them to write to her and describe life in the camps. Her papers, including cards sent by interned adults and children are now collected at the Japanese American National Museum.
Thanks to amyms on metafilter for this find.
4 comments:
Girlfriend! One of my librarian heroines featured on your blog. Last year they published a nice Young Adult novel "Dear Miss Breed" about her, I'll get it for R when she's a bit older.
The JANM also reprinted a gorgeous collection of Ansel Adams photos of the Japanese-American internment camps. Lots of his photos are available to download for free as well.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams/aamsp4.html
Is there anything that librarians can't do? You are part of an amazing people!
And that's a perfect topic for a Young Adult novel. I may have to check it out myself before Ru is of age.
Well, our blogs are sort of boring, whereas yours is wonderful. Ever think of working at a library? Or, not enough money to keep a roof over your head?
I still feel like I'm sneaking in where I don't belong when I'm in the stacks, and that's part of the fun of the project. I'm afraid if I got paid to do research then the whole thing would lose its thrill.
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