University of Hawai'i Art Gallery is currently presenting the Hamilton Library's rare and special collections exhibition; including historical documents, and photographs, poignant messages from AJA servicemen during World War II.

For the students of both Japanese and Japanese Americans, this exhibition gives the viewers a sense of history of people of Japan and Japanese ancestry. Especially the real physical materials speak to us powerfully. Such artifacts includes: the photographs of the Japanese Americans in Hawai’i who were interned in the mainland in 1945; labor contracts in 1900; the handwriting letter of AJA to the professors at UH during the service in WWII documenting their struggles with racism in the U.S., especially in the South, and the divisions between the Nisei from Hawai’i and those on the mainland.

Some of the collections this exhibit includes are introduced in the UH affiliation page at the DiscoverNikkei website.

University of Hawai’i Art Gallery
September 18-Novebmer 10, 2005
http://libweb.hawaii.edu/treasure/treasures.html