Shortly after the bombing of the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Federal Bureau of Investigation rounded up about 1,000 Japanese men and sent them to Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana. This included both American born Japanese (U.S. citizens) and immigrants who were barred by law from becoming citizens. Those who were interned were primarily men who were leaders in Japanese communities on the West Coast. Two months later, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which called for the forced relation of all Americans of Japanese descent to concentration camps run by the War Relocation Authority. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula (HMFM) had a special exhibit Looking Like the Enemy: The Internment of the Issei at Fort Missoula. Shown below is some of the art produced in the internment (i.e. concentration) camps.
Shown above is a hand-carved and decorated tray, ca. 1942-1945, Tule Lake Incarceration Camp.
Shown above is a hand-carved, unfinished based which belonged to Renichi Fujimoto, ca. 1942-1945, Minidoka Incarceration Camp.
Shown above is a hand-carved, unfinished based which belonged to Renichi Fujimoto, ca. 1942-1945, Minidoka Incarceration Camp.
Shown above is a hand-carved bird from the Minidoka Incarceration Camp.
Shown above: Fort Missoula—The Internment of Midori Shimoda 1943 by Karen Shimoda, 2009. Collage and Watercolor.
Shown above: Raking Sand by Kathy Herlihy-Paoli, 2020. Oil paint and wire on canvas.
Estelle Ishigo
Estelle Ishigo and her husband Arthur Shigehanu Ishigo spent three and a half years in the camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Her husband was Nisei and she was of Dutch, English, and French ancestry. She did hundreds of sketches and watercolor paintings showing life in the camp.
Shown above: 10 years from now they will all be dead? 1942
Shown above: Family crowded into a barrack, 1942
Shown above: A Meal Hall Entertainment, 1942
Shown above: Sons Returned from away to visit parents in camp, 1944
Shown above: Boys playing music while in camp, 1942
Shown above: 7 A,M. May 10, 1942, 1942
Two Watercolors Made by an Unknown Issei Internee, 1943
According to the display:
“These two watercolor paintings were given to Verna Mundt by an unknown Issei internee at Fort Missoula. The details of the gift are unknown. The maker’s signature is in the bottom left corner, a small portrait with the text ‘Your Truly.” The scenes have a humorous, narrative quality that may reference events experienced by Verna.”
Verna Mundt worked as a stenographer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service at Fort Missoula and then transferred to Spokane.
More museum photo tours
Museum of Glass: Some Lalique vases (museum tour)
Museums 101: Rodin's Late Drawings (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Japanese Folk Art (Photo Diary)
Museum 101: 18th Century Japanese Prints (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Quilted bears (art diary)
Museums 101: Montana Entanglements (art diary)
Museums 101: Visions of Southern California (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Animal Sculptures (Photo Diary)
