From the Director: Tom Ikeda

The Japanese American community lost one of its giants last month when Jim Hirabayashi passed away at the age of 85. I loved Jim's sense of humor, passion, and most of all his conviction. I remember meeting Jim 16 years ago when we started Densho and listening carefully to his stories of being Gordon's little brother in the small town of Thomas, Washington, and later the struggles and uncertainty of starting Asian American Studies at San Francisco State. I came away from the conversation clearer not only about the importance of Japanese Americans collecting their stories, but about the need to share these stories with non-Japanese Americans. Jim, you will be sorely missed, but not forgotten.

Please read more remembrances of Jim Hirabayashi by Brian Niiya, Densho's Director of Content, who worked with Jim at the Japanese American National Museum.

Archive Spotlight

James Hirabayashi: Considering Ethnic Identity

James Hirabayashi, one of the founding fathers of the ethnic studies movement, was doing research in Guam in the 1960s. While there, he remembers thinking about his own ethnic identity as a Japanese American living in the United States. James Hirabayashi's full interview is available in the Densho Digital Archive.

>> See the featured sample from the Densho Digital Archive
>> Register for the free Densho Digital Archive

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Densho News

Loan Your Photographs and Documents to Densho

If your family or community organization has photographs or documents related to the Japanese American experience during and surrounding World War II, please consider loaning them to Densho for digital preservation. Your collection will contribute to one of the largest and most diverse online educational collections about the Japanese American experience. We are interested in photographs, letters and diaries, artwork, government documents, etc. Densho does not retain materials for a physical collection. Instead, we seek to create high quality digital copies for preservation purposes and for web/online access. We return the materials after the processing is complete. If you have something to loan, please contact Densho's Collections Manager Caitlin Oiye (collections@densho.org or 206-320-0095). Materials will be reviewed and accepted at the discretion of the Collections Manager.

Teacher Training Workshop in Boise

Densho is presenting a teacher training workshop in Boise, Idaho, on June 21st. This workshop will use materials about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans to examine how to use primary sources in the classroom. The workshop will be led by Executive Director Tom Ikeda and Education Consultant Janet Hayakawa.

Funding for these workshops is provided in part by the Minidoka National Historic Site.

>> To register or for more information contact Carol Ash at carol_ash@nps.gov or (208) 933-4125

Thank You to the City of Seattle

The City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs is generously providing funding to help produce this month's eNews and for other core programs during the month of June. Thank you Seattle.

>> Learn more about the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs

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