Japanese American Incarceration and World War II Military Occupation Photo Archive of Tanforan Assembly Center After Internment 1943 to 1944

Camp Tanforan

Photograph

Tanforan Assembly Center photographs dating from 1943 to 1944 document the transformation of a major Japanese American incarceration site into a United States military training installation during World War II. Tanforan, located in San Bruno, California, functioned as one of the principal temporary detention centers established after Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. The facility, originally a horse racing track, held thousands of incarcerated civilians in hastily converted stables and barracks before the population was transferred to permanent camps such as Topaz in Utah. The album records the period shortly after the detainees were removed and the site was transferred to military control, providing visual evidence of how an internment facility was repurposed for wartime training and operations.

Archive consists of twenty six loose double sided album leaves containing approximately 169 items including black and white photographs, postcards, greeting cards, registration cards, and currency mounted to the pages. Fifty one photographs depict the Tanforan site in 1943 shortly after it had been transferred from the War Relocation Authority to military authorities and later to the United States Navy. The images show American naval personnel occupying the former assembly center and using the grounds for training activities. Photographs include sailors conducting drills on land and in nearby water, troops operating equipment and loading torpedoes, and informal scenes of soldiers during leisure time. The album is associated with Richard W. Ostrem, a naval serviceman whose wartime service is acknowledged in a message from the White House signed by President Harry Truman commending his leadership during the war. Because the photographs were taken after the detainees had been transferred from Tanforan, the images show military personnel rather than incarcerated civilians.

The second portion of the album documents Ostrem’s subsequent deployment to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, then a strategically important Allied base during the Pacific campaign against Japan. Photographs from this section include naval personnel stationed on the island, indigenous residents, and views of large United States naval fleets anchored in the harbor. The album therefore links two major wartime contexts: the domestic incarceration of Japanese Americans on the West Coast and the broader military operations of the United States Navy in the Pacific theater. The album leaves are loose and show wear consistent with handling, while the mounted photographs remain clear and well preserved. Very good condition overall and a significant visual record connecting Japanese American incarceration sites with later wartime military use and Pacific naval operations.

Item #20849

Price: $1,250.00