Special Collections owns four collections of materials from and about the World War II Relocation Center for Japanese-Americans in Granada, Colorado, also known as Camp Amache. Related materials can be found in the Colorado Information File and the Colorado Photograph File.

Table of Contents

Granada Relocation Center, located at Amache, Colorado was one of the ten centers used by the War Relocation Authority to house Japanese-Americans evacuated from the Coast during World War II.

The Granada Papers consist of the files of Donald T. Horn, project attorney for the Grenada Relocation Center. Included are official correspondence, personal letters, instructions and memoranda from the War Relocation Authority, legal opinions, business records, and speeches and papers relating to the Japanese-American detention. Of particular interest are the government memoranda and instructions revealing the policy and stance of the federal government, and Horn's correspondance relating to his attemps to resettle the Japanese- Americans of his camp.

The collection was given to the Colorado College Library in October 1975 by Judge Robert F. Sanderson of Lamar, Colorado, and Andrew Gulliford, a former student at Colorado College who obtained the papers while doing research for class papers. The two papers he wrote, based on the Granada papers, are included in the collection.

The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7,194l aroused a reaction of fear and hate against Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the United States. Because most of the Japanese-Americans lived on the West Coast, the reaction there amounted to virtual panic. The loyalty of anyone of Japanese descent was questioned.

On December 8th, 1300 Japanese aliens were arrested. Travel restrictions and curfews were put into effect for Japanese-Americans. There were demands for the removal of such persons from the West Coast for fear of espionage, sabotage and aiding Japaenese invasion.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order #9066 authorizing the Secretary of War or any military commander designated by the Secretary to establish military areas and to exclude therefrom any or all persons. Secretary of War Stimson designated General John DeWitt. His Public Proclamation #1 dated March 2, 1942, established much of the West Coast and southern Arizona as Military Area #1, and prohibited residents of Japanese American ancestry.

On March 18, 1942, the War Relocation Authority was created by Executive Order #9102. The Government Organization Manual of 1942 describes the purpose of WRA: "To provide for removal from designated areas of persons whose removal is necessary in the interest of national security, and for their relocation, maintenance and super- vision ... And to provide insofar as feasible and de- sirable for the employment of such persons at useful work in industry, commerce, agricultural or public projects, prescribe the terms and conditions of such puplic em- ployment, and safeguard the public interest in the private employment of such persons."

During the spring and summer of 1942 approximately 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were evacuated from the designated areas. Two-thirds of those involved were American citizens. They were forced to leave their homes, jobs and any possessions they were unable to carry with them. After temporary residence in reception and assembly centers, they were assigned to one of the ten location centers in the western and south central states. One of the centers was located in Colorado--Granada Center at Amache, Colorado.

The bleak detention centers (called by some "concen- tration camp"s) were the homes of Japanese-Americans for the next three and a half years. In spite of resentment, humil- iation and frustration, most of them made homes for them- selves, many of them providing needed labor, especially in agricultural pursuits.

The mass exclusion orders were revoked 1945 and orders went out to close all relocation centers by the end of the year. The phasing-out stage took longer than expected, but all finally closed by the middle of 1946. Granada Center closed on January 26, 1946. The Japanese-Americans were released and sent out to again make new lives for them- selves, with little help provided in adjusting to a society with both job and housing shortages caused by the end of the war.

Inventory

Fd 1	Letters and copies of letters between WRA officials,
	September 1942 - December 1944
	Filed chronologically:
	Barrett, Frank S., Project Attorney
	Glick, Philip, Solicitor, Washington, D. C.
	Horn, Donald T., Project Attorney, Amache, Colorado
	Housel, Jerry, Regional Attoney, Denver, Colorado
	Knodel, Walter J., Relocation Program Officer, Amache, Colorado
	Lovell, Ulys A., Project Attorney, Denson, Arkansas
	Myer, D. S., Director, Washington, D. C.
	Silverman, Maurice, Acting Project Attorney, Amache, Colorado
	Silverthorne, Kent, Project Attorney, Newell, California
Fd 2	Copies of letters written by Donald T. Horn,
	Project Attorney, Granada, Relocation Center,
	November 1942 - September 1945
	Filed chronologically:
	Abe, Shiro
	Amache Consumer Enterprises, Inc.
	Carter, C. D.
	Davis, Harold
	Farmer, Guy
	Fisher, Paul J.
	Igasaki, M.
	Knapp, Gray
	Mabry, John
	Maeno, John Y.
	Meyer, Donald H.
	Nakashima, Mrs. Thomas
	Osterman, George B.
	Peterson, Harry S.
	Phelps, Judge J. Arthur
	Sakamato, Chiyoko
	Sakai, Ruby
	Silverman, Maurice
	Stewart, Francis L.
	Sunday, Mr. and Mrs.
	Tamura, Stephen
	Throckmorton, Robert B.
	Wear, H. C.
	Yamasaki, Toshi
Fd 3	Letters written to Donald T. Horn, Project Attoney,
	Granada Relocation Center, November 1942 - March 1945
	Filed alphabetically:
	Abe, Shiro
	Davis, Harold A.
	Farmer, Guy
	Hannan, L. J.
	Hoshino, M. W.
	Iki, Katuski
	Jepsen, H. J.
	Kito, Frank E.
	Leflar, Robert A.
	McGrew, W. A.
	Mabry, John N.
	Maeno, John Y.
	Meyer, Donald H.
	Moore, John J. O.
	Onishi, Bessie
	Peterson, Harry S.
	Phelps, Judge J. Arthur
	Sakamoto, Chiyoko
	Silverman, Maurice
	Stewart, Francis L.
	Tamura, Stephen K.
	Terry, Paul J.
	Throckmorton, Robert B.
	Wood, Ted
	Yamasaki, Toshie
Fd 4	Miscellaneous correspondence, May 1943 - June 1944
	Filed chronologically:
	Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
	Kadletz and Company
	Lindley, James G.
	Nishimoto, Elmer
	Sakamoto, C.
	Silverman, Maurice

II. LEGAL PAPERS

Fd 5	Memoranda and instruction from War Relocation
	Authority, October 1942 - March 1945
	Filed Chronologically:
	Enis, Edward J., Director, Alien Enemy Control Unit
	Ferguson, Edwin E., Regional Attorney
	Glick, Philip M., Solicitor
	Housel, Jerry W., Regional Attorney
	Kellogg, John H., Commander 335th MP Escort Guard Company
	Provinse, John H., Chief, Community Management Division
	Stauber, B. R.
Fd 6	LEGAL OPINIONS, November 1942 - February 1945
	Applicability of Securities Act of 1933...cooperative
	Arbitration of Granada Relocation Center
	Common law marriages
	Dual citizenship
	Acquisition of U.S. citizenship by persons of Japanese ancestry
	Boycotts against evacuees
	Protection given to evacuees by federal civil rights status
	Use of the mails to discourage relocation in West Coast states
	Unincorporated and incorporated cooperative enterprise
	Residential requirements for welfare
Fd 7	LAW SUMMARIES
	Compertive associations
	Renewal and termination of leases in California
	State child-labor standards: Colorado
Fd 8	DOCUMENTS
	Affidavit regarding qualifications of John Y. Maeno
	Promissory note: Isabel Artiaga
	Affidavit regarding qualifications of Chiyoko Taskahashi
	Memorandum of understanding: Tomoko Shintani and H. J. Jepson
	Agreement to employ Attorney H. J. Jepson
	Receipt of promissory note: H. J. Jepson

III. BUSINESS RECORDS

Fd 9	Expense vouchers
	Administration suspension statement
	Vouchers for travel expenses
	Travel authorizations
	Bill for collection
	Official receipt
Fd 10	Business forms
	Advice of personnel action
	Lists of government property issued to Project Attorney
	Initiation, bid and acceptance (short form contract)
	Blank forms: record of interview, applications for leave

IV. SPEECHES AND ARTICLES

Fd 11	Speeches
	Biddle, Francis, Address
	Biddle, Francis, "Civil Rights and the Federal Law"
	Biddle, Francis, "Democracy and Racial Minorities"
	Konishi, Marion, "America, Our Hope is in You"
	Rotnem, Victor W., "Civil Rights Through the Window of a Criminal Statute"
Fd 12	Articles
	Buck, Pearl S., "Tender for Tomorrow" (abstract)
	Clark, Blake, "The Japanese in Hawaii" (abstract)
	Embree, John, "Cause of Unrest at Relocation Centers"
	Rostow, Eugene V., "The Japanese American Cases--Disaser"
Fd 13	Papers by Andrew Gulliford
	"The Granada Papers and Japanese-American Relocation"
	"American Concentration Camps for Japanese Americans"
Fd 14	Newspaper clipping
	175 march to site of war camp, April 1975

INDEX

The number refers to folder in which material is filed.

This collection contains miscellaneous correspondence, newsletters, brochures and clippings dealing with the Japanese-American relocation camp in Granada, Colorado. There is also information about the relocation of Japanese-Americans, in general, in the United States.

Ms 0295
Block Managers Assembly records

The Granada Relocation Center, located in southeastern Colorado, was named after the nearby town of Granada. It was also given the name Amache, Colorado (after Amache, the daughter of a Cheyenne chief), and was often referred to in the press as a town of this name.

The camp officially opened on August 27, 1942, with the arrival of evacuees from the Merced (Calif.) Assembly Center. On September 19, 1942, groups began arriving from the Santa Anita Assembly Center, and by September 30, occupation was complete. The camp had a capacity of 8,000 and at its peak held approximately 7,600 evacuees. Of these, about two-thirds were U.S. citizens. About half--primarily those from the Merced Assembly Center--were from rural areas, while those from the Santa Anita Assembly Center were primarily from the urban Los Angeles area.

The camp covered 10,400 acres of prairie land, 3,592 feet above sea level, with one square mile of buildings. Most of the buildings were military-style barracks. The residential area was divided into thirty blocks, each containing a mess hall, recreation hall, block office, laundry facilities, shower room, and toilets. Each block housed about 250 people in twelve barracks. The barracks measured 120-by-20-feet and were divided into six apartments. These rooms ranged from 16-by-20-feet to 24-by-20-feet and contained a closet, coal stove, cots, mattresses, and quilts. The camp also contained several schools, a hospital, and a police department. Agriculture was the principal industry; vegetable and grain crops, along with livestock, were raised on two ranches, the Koen Ranch and the XY Ranch.

The evacuees themselves were responsible for much of the community's government. The Block Managers Assembly, creator of these records, served as the community council and consisted of an elected representative from each block. The Assembly was responsible for making laws and regulations to govern community life and for appointing members to the judicial and arbitration commissions, which settled criminal and civil cases, respectively. Issei, however, were prohibited by the U.S. Government from serving in this capacity.

The thirty blocks were also divided into five districts. One block manager was selected from each district to serve on the Assembly's executive committee.

Amache Consumer Enterprises, a major subgroup of the Block Managers Assembly records, was the consumer's cooperative for the Granada camp. Incorporated on January 25, 1943 and supervised by a nine-member board of directors, it included the following enterprises: "clothing store, variety store, shoe store, shoe- repair shop, cleaning and pressing agency, barber shop, beauty parlor, canteen, watch repairing, and optometry supplies."(3) Amache Consumer Enterprises was liquidated in August, 1945.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of materials accumulated by Yatsutoshi Yoshizawa in the course of his duties as a member of the Block Managers Assembly and several of the Assembly's committees. The bulk of these records are minutes of the Block Managers Assembly. These minutes, along with other records, document primarily the day-to-day management of the camp, rather than the broad administrative policies set by the War Relocation Authority. Typical issues addressed include community activities, maintenance, supplies, etc. Also included, however, are responses to major issues and policies, such as searches of living quarters, meetings with the Spanish Consul (the representative of Japanese nationals during the war), and, especially, concerns regarding relocation outside the camp. These concerns are particularly well-documented by the Granada Community Analysis reports (REPORTS, roll 2, frames 242-346). These two items present detailed analyses of evacuee attitudes and concerns about leaving the camp, and include statistical data and graphs as well as text.

Inventory

Scope and Content

This collection consists of photocopies taken from the collection of Mr. Thomas V. Nidey of Lamar, Colorado. He purchased the original papers of Mrs. Gladys Seever at the time of her estate sale, several years ago.

At the time of photocopying (September 16 & 17, 1993), these papers were stored in a suitcase. Mr. Nidey also stored other documents pertaining to Camp Amache in this same suitcase. Unfortunately, not all copies are legible due to the use of mimeographs, and, the originals themselves are quite illegible.

BRIEF BACKGROUND of Mrs. Seever: She was not only a schoolteacher, but, she also raised great danes, and was married to an optometrist in Lamar. She is, at this writing, in a nursing home in Holly.

BACKGROUND TO THE PAPERS: These papers were collected by Mrs. Seever who taught school at Camp Amache. The bulk dates of this collection are from the 1944-45 school year. The papers reflect the business of being a schoolteacher and show that "life went on as usual". Students were expected to research and write papers, take exams, prepare for dances and other social events, etc. There are very few student papers in this collection, perhaps for the simple reason that students retained the papers they wrote.

It is evident that there was a strict hierarchy within the teaching ranks of the Amache school. These documents record that relationship between teachers, teachers and principal, and teachers and the War Relocation Authority. Teachers were expected to provide written requests for supplies, furniture, food, and other materials as they saw the need arise.

Keeping in mind that Camp Amache was the largest settlement of people in southeastern Colorado (over 7,500 persons), the Thomas Nidey collection reveals the actual day-to-day activities of a teacher's life in the Camp Amache school system, during the 1944-45 academic year.

Many of the "new" developments within the confines of the Camp, were, in fact, much more "modern" than those services available in the local community. For example, the water system installed for the Camp is now used by the township of Lamar. Once the camp was dis-assembled and disenfranchised internees were provided with a place to go, many of the barrack-like structures were used by locals, otherwise these buildings were left to rot away.

As shown by photographs taken of the camp site in 1993, only cement foundations continue to exist as testament to the thousands of persons who called this place home. The graveyard has only recently been "maintained". And there are a couple of new structures erected by the survivors of the camp who made their pilgrimage to the site in 1992.

Inventory

Box 1

Folder 1	- General information on Granada/Amache
	-Articles from magazines and descriptions put out by Amache
Folder 2	- News from and to Amache-in chronological order - 1944-45
	-schools newspapers, project newspapers, information from newspapers from around the U.S. on what was happening in the world at that time
Folder 3	- Memos to all project personnel at Amache-in chronological order - 1944-1945
	-Memos that were sent out to all people working at Amache from people who ran the project
Folder 4	- Memos to all personnel in Amache schools-in chronological order - 1944-1945
	-Memos to and from teachers and principals in the school system
Folder 5	- Class and activity list from schools - 1944-1945
	-Lists of the names of people in different classes and who participated in different activities in the school
Folder 6	- Secondary School Bulletins-in chronological order - September 5, 1944 to December 21, 1944
	-Daily bulletins to teachers and students telling the activities for the day in the Amache secondary school

Box 2

Folder 7	- Secondary School Bulletins-in chronological order - January 3, 1945 to June 6, 1945
Folder 8	- Miscellaneous School Materials-in chronological order - 1944-1945
	-School materials used by Mrs. Seevers
Folder 9	- Miscellaneous School Material-1944-1945