Watch Watch Licensing

Color silent amateur films by Dave Tatsuno (1913-2006), a businessman in the San Francisco Bay area. Composed largely of home movie clips, taken 1942-1945, of the environment the Japanese Americans lived in during World War II in forced exclusion at the Topaz concentration camp near Delta, Utah.

This segment, from 1945, shows footage of internees being processed for relocation from the Topaz concentration camp (00:48): a sign, "Relocation-Leave Office"; Japanese-language signs on the Relocation building; crowds milling among camp buildings; a school bus with luggage stacked on top; internees shaking hands and saying goodbye; the loaded school bus departs; those left behind wave from the camp fence.

Credits: Dave Tatsuno Collection, Gift of Dave Tatsuno, in Memory of Walter Honderick, Japanese American National Museum (91.74). Preserved and made accessible in part by a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

HNRC — Last modified Aug 23 2012 4:34 p.m.


Get updates

Sign up for email updates

Journal feed
Events feed
Comments feed

Support this project

Discover Nikkei

Discover Nikkei is a place to connect with others and share the Nikkei experience. To continue to sustain and grow this project, we need your help!

Ways to help >>

A project of the Japanese American National Museum


The Nippon Foundation