Japanese Internment Media, Minidoka Camp Resident's Wartime Periodicals, Inter-camp Contact, and Movie Tickets, 1943

Minidoka Internment Camp

Archive

Japanese American incarceration archive documenting the lived experience of Takashi Hori, a Seattle-born Nisei Japanese American confined at the Minidoka War Relocation Center, with direct evidence of how wartime media access, postal systems, and organized recreation functioned within U.S. internment policy during World War II. Materials tied to Takashi Hori, whose family operated hotels in Seattle’s International District, establish how incarcerated individuals remained connected to national political discourse through subscribed periodicals while simultaneously embedded within the administrative systems of the War Relocation Authority. The archive supports research into Japanese American incarceration, wartime information circulation, and the bureaucratic structuring of daily life inside federal detention sites.

1943–1945, Hunt (Minidoka), Idaho and Twin Falls, Idaho. Archive of 6 items, including mailed magazines, postal correspondence, and camp-issued ephemera.

[1] United States News. Washington, D.C.: United States News Publishing Corp., 1941 and 1944 (4 issues). Group of four magazines mailed in 1945 to “Mr. Takashi Hori, 26-8-C, Hunt Branch, Twin Falls, Idaho,” including one prewar 1941 issue and three 1944 election-era issues. Covers feature national political figures including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Thomas E. Dewey, documenting the circulation of wartime political media into Minidoka and confirming sustained access to national print culture during confinement.

[2] Envelope. Hunt, Idaho: U.S. Postal Service, postmarked May 14, 1943. Outgoing correspondence addressed to Van Engelen’s, Twin Falls, Idaho, with return designation “44-4-B, Hunt, Idaho.” Early wartime example of Minidoka’s internal addressing system and evidence of commercial and personal communication networks operating from within the camp.

[3] Minidoka Community Activities Tickets. Hunt, Idaho: War Relocation Authority, c. 1944–1945. Group of three printed admission tickets documenting organized recreational programming within the camp, demonstrating federally structured leisure systems operating alongside confinement.

The paired address designations “26-8-C” and “44-4-B” correspond to the War Relocation Authority’s block-barracks-unit system used to identify and track incarcerated individuals, confirming the bureaucratic segmentation of living space within Minidoka. Contemporary camp publications instructed that “all mail for Minidoka colonists” be routed through “Hunt Branch, Twin Falls, Idaho,” a postal convention directly evidenced by the subscription labels present here. The magazines’ publication range from prewar 1941 through the 1944 presidential election, combined with 1945 mailing dates, confirms continued access to national print culture during the final phase of confinement, while the presence of community activity tickets demonstrates how federally administered leisure functioned alongside surveillance and restriction. The magazines addressed to Takashi Hori show interest in policy and news relevant to his own confinement to Minidoka camp. Light toning and handling wear throughout; mailing labels intact; envelope with creasing and postal wear; tickets well-preserved with clear printing. Overall very good condition. The archive establishes a cohesive, single-user record of how political information, communication networks, and structured daily life operated within the constraints of Japanese American incarceration.

Item #23089

Price: $1,850.00