National Park Service publication, now out-of-print but available in electronic form.
Abstract: "This report provides an overview of the tangible remains currently left at the sites of the Japanese American internment during World War II. The main focus is on the War Relocation Authority's relocation centers, but Department of Justice and U.S. Army facilities where Japanese Americans were interned are also considered. The goal of the study has been to provide information for the National Landmark Theme Study called for in the Manzanar National Historic Site enabling legislation. Archival research, field visits, and interviews with former internees provide preliminary documentation about the architectural remnants, the archeological features, and the artifacts remaining at the sites. The degree of preservation varies tremendously. At some locations, modern development has obscured many traces of the World War II-era buildings and features. At a few sites, relocation center buildings still stand, and some are still in use. Overall the physical remains at all the sites are evocative of this very significant, if shameful, episode in U.S. history, and all appear to merit National Register of Historic Places or National Historic Landmark status."
Text of Senate Bill S.3171 (101st Congress, 2nd Session; October 2, 1990), "To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to survey sites associated with the relocation and internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II, to provide for suitable identification, preservation, and interpretation of such sites, and for other purposes."
Excerpt from the Introduction: "Title II of Public Law 102-248, enacted by Congress on March 3, 1992, authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to prepare a Japanese American National Historic Landmark (NHL) Theme Study. Specifically, this law defined the purpose of the study as
identify[ing] the key sites in Japanese American history that illustrate the period in American history when personal justice was denied Japanese Americans. The Theme Study shall identify, evaluate, and nominate as national historic landmarks those sites, buildings, and structures that best illustrate or commemorate the period in American history from 1941 to 1946 when Japanese Americans were ordered to be detained, relocated, or excluded pursuant to Executive Order Number 9066 and other actions."
Text of Senate Bill S.1719 (109th Congress, 1st Session; September 19, 2005). This bill would establish a preservation program within the National Park Service to support the identification, restoration, and repair of historic confinement sites so that present and future generations may learn and gain inspiration from them. It would also authorize funding to acquire several sites that were used as internment camps.
Testimony by Gerald H. Yamada, National Coordinator, Japanese American National Heritage Coalition.
Excerpt: "The internment experience is still unknown to many Americans. That is why it is important to make available the framework of resources that would be authorized by HR 1492 to local community groups or organizations and local, State, and Tribal Governments to preserve the confinement sites. Although we could look to the National Park Service to carry out this responsibility, the National Park Service has resources to designate only a limited number of the confinement sites as National Park Service units. To complement the National Park Service’s efforts, HR 1492 would provide the resources to ensure that non-NPS confinement site units for which there is community group and local, State, or Tribal Government interest could be preserved."
Describes legislative efforts to appropriate $38 million to preserve internment camps, buy sites in private hands, and expand museum exhibits dedicated to telling the story of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.