Balch Online Resources

publication: for all to remember

Individual camps were allowed to circulate newspapers, though the content of both news and feature articles was closely monitored by the United States Office of Official Reports.  The following newspapers are available at the Balch Institute Library:

  • Gila River, Arizona:  Gila News-Courier (1942-1945); Gila Bulletin (1945)
  • Granada (Amache), Colorado:  Bulletin (1942); Granada Pioneer (1942-1945)
  • Heart Mountain, Wyoming:  Heart Mountain Sentinel (1942-1945)
  • Jerome (Denson), Arkansas:  Communique (1942-1943); Denson Tribune (1943-1944)
  • Manzanar, California:  Manzanar Free Press (1942-1945)
  • Minidoka, Idaho:  Minidoka Irrigator (1942-1945)
  • Poston (Colorado River), Arizona:  Official Information Bulletin (1942); Poston Official Bulletin (1942-1945); Press Bulletin (1942); Poston Chronicle (1942-1945)
  • Rohwer, Arkansas:  Rohwer Outpost (1942-1945); Rohwer Relocator (1945)
  • Topaz, Utah:  Topaz Times (1942-1945); Trek (1942-1943)
  • Tule Lake, California:  [Daily] Tulean Dispatch (1942-1943); Tule Lake WRA Center Information Bulletin (1944); Newell Star (1944-1946)

In addition, two newspapers were founded at the California Assembly Centers at Santa Anita and Tanforan, the Santa Anita Pacemaker (1942) and Tanforan Totalizer (1942).  

Newspapers kept internees informed of local events such as camp socials and sports events, and national news as well.  Special personal news, including birth and death notices, were also printed.  Because these publications were censored, Japanese American reporters generally refrained from making overt criticisms of internment.  However, because articles detailed everyday aspects of camp life, the frustration and sadness felt by internees is made quite clear.  A recurring theme within many editions is the strong desire of Japanese-Americans to be trusted by whites and considered true patriots.
Manzanar Free Press

"Manzanar Free Press", 11 June 1942 and 10 September 1943  [110 KB; 121 KB; 110 KB; 62.3 KB; 203 KB; 203 KB]
Santa Anita Pacemaker

"Santa Anita Pacemaker", 15 May 1942  [185 KB; 184 KB]

The repeal of Executive Order 9066 in December 1944 and the end of World War II in August 1945 did not eliminate prejudice against Japanese Americans.  Nearly six thousand Nisei opted to renounce their U.S. citizenship; many emigrated to a war-devastated Japan.  In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act lifted the ban on Asian immigration and allowed Issei to become American citizens.

In 1988, the United States Congress ordered that surviving internees (nearly sixty-thousand persons, roughly half of those interned) be paid $20,000 each in compensation for personal property losses sustained during internment.  For many, the forty-six year-long Japanese-American redress movement ended in a long-awaited triumph.  For others, it achieved only partial victory--winning much too little, way too late, for far too few.

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