War Relocation Authority Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection brings together materials largely generated by the United States War Relocation Authority (WRA). Additional materials are authored by the press, academics, and other U.S. government agencies. The collection consists of federal publications, reports, academic essays, instruction booklets, correspondence and memoranda, and news items documenting the U.S. government’s policies of forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, euphemistically referred to at the time as “relocation” administered by the War Relocation Authority.
Content Warning: The historical documents in this collection include euphemistic terms and racist language that were wrongfully used to describe Japanese Americans during and after the World War II period.
Dates
- Creation: 1941-1949
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Historical Note:
The library created this collection of materials for study and research. The United States War Relocation Authority (WRA) was established in the Office for Emergency Management by Executive Order 9102 on March 18, 1942. The WRA was a civilian agency created to administer the forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II and manage their incarceration in American concentration camps.
Full Extent
.854 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Japanese
Abstract
This collection brings together materials largely generated by the United States War Relocation Authority (WRA). Additional materials are authored by the press, academics, and other U.S. government agencies. The materials document the forced removal of Japanese Americans during World War II and their incarceration in American concentration camps.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift and purchase, 1990
Electronic Format:
Digital reproductions of selected items in this collection are available electronically as a part of the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project.
Processing Information:
The collection was initially processed by Tony Gardner. The finding aid was revised in 2012. It was revised again in 2026 to address outdated and harmful descriptive language. References to Japanese American “relocation,” “evacuation,” and “internment” during World War II were removed and replaced with community recommended/currently accepted terminology in 2026, such as “Japanese American incarceration.”
Genre / Form
- Title
- Guide to the War Relocation Authority Collection
- Date
- 2012-06-18
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections & Archives Repository
University Library
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge CA 91330-8326 USA
818-677-4594
asksca@csun.edu