JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM RECEIVES TWO GRANTS FOR 2017 FROM NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Los Angeles, CA

The Japanese American National Museum has been awarded over $427,000 in National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites grants for 2017. The funds will support two projects—digitization of some of JANM’s moving image holdings and the development of a travelling exhibition featuring works from the museum’s Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection of art and artifacts made by Japanese Americans in America’s concentration camps during World War II.

JANM began pioneering work in collecting Japanese American artifacts in the 1980s and as a result, possesses numerous historically significant moving image collections. A JACS grant of over $176,000 will support the digitization of 35 rare and invaluable home movies of Japanese Americans dating from the 1920s to the 1950s. These moving images depict everyday life before, during, and after World War II, and include moving images of the wartime incarceration camp experience.

Following digitization, JANM will make the moving images accessible via its website. In addition, selected excerpts will be shared on the museum’s other digital platforms.

A separate JACS grant of over $250,000 will support additional conservation of the Eaton Collection, which JANM acquired in 2015 following the cancellation of a public auction that would have disrespected the memory and hardships of the Japanese Americans who created the artifacts while incarcerated during World War II. The Japanese American community joined together to speak out against the auction; JANM’s acquisition assured the preservation of the collection in perpetuity.

Following conservation, JANM will develop Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection, an exhibition that will travel to thirteen venues, including former camp sites, community centers, and other facilities that can safely house the project. Information about artifacts will be sought from those who view the exhibition; that information will become part of an expanded presentation of the exhibition at JANM in 2020-21.

The JANM grant proposals were selected through a competitive process. For 2017, grants totaling $1.6 million were awarded to fourteen projects in four states. Since its establishment in 2006, the JACS grant program has awarded more than $22 million. A total of $38 million was authorized for the life of the program whose mission is to teach future generations about the injustices of the World War II confinement of Japanese Americans and inspire commitment to equal justice under the law.

NOW ON VIEW AT JANM:

Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066
Through August 13, 2017
Instructions to All Persons: Reflections on Executive Order 9066, commemorates the 75th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, which led to the tragic and unlawful incarceration of 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Instructions to All Persons is intended to engage visitors in critical discussions of the Japanese American incarceration experience and its continuing relevance today. It aims to examine the social impact of language and encourage viewers to contemplate the lessons of the past, as well as to compare World War II experiences with current events.

New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei
Through August 20, 2017
New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei explores the life and career of pioneering actor, activist, and social media icon George Takei. By examining Takei’s diverse experiences and achievements, this entertaining exhibition creates a portrait of a unique individual while offering an innovative means of engaging with the social history of America.

Common Ground: The Heart of Community
Ongoing
Incorporating hundreds of objects, documents, and photographs collected by JANM, this exhibition chronicles 130 years of Japanese American history, from the early days of the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present.

About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, the Japanese American National Museum promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite and traveled 17 of its exhibitions to locations around the world, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America.

JANM is located at 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. General admission is $10 adults, $6 students and seniors, free for members and children under age five. Admission is free to everyone on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and every third Thursday of the month from noon to 8 p.m. General admission prices and free admission times may not apply to specially ticketed exhibitions. Closed Monday, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. For more information visit janm.org or call 213.625.0414.