The Japanese American National Museum will bring its pop-up display of the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection, which was saved from the auction block in 2015 through the efforts of Japanese American community leaders and activists, to five venues during June and July.
These venues are the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC), the Tule Lake Pilgrimage, the Minidoka Pilgrimage, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage. Viewing access, hours, and costs will vary by venue. Workshops to help facilitate the collection of information about the artifacts will accompany the display.
Following are dates for the display at each venue:
• Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
1840 Sutter St., San Francisco
June 23-24
Open to the public; free.
Website: www.jcccnc.org
• Tule Lake Pilgrimage 2018: “Preserving Our Hallowed Ground”
Union Peak Lounge, Oregon Institute of Technology
3201 Campus Dr., Klamath Falls, Ore.
June 29-July 1
Viewing restricted to pilgrimage participants only.
Website: http://tulelake.org/pilgrimage
• 2018 Minidoka Pilgrimage
College of Southern Idaho, Fine Arts Building
Falls Avenue, Twin Falls, Idaho
July 6
Viewing restricted to pilgrimage participants only.
Website: http://minidokapilgrimage.org
• Japanese American Museum of San Jose
535 N. Fifth St., San Jose
July 12-15
Open to the public; included with museum admission.
Website: www.jamsj.org
• 2018 Heart Mountain Pilgrimage
Holiday Inn
1701 Sheridan Ave., Cody, Wyo.
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center
1539 Road 19, Powell, Wyo.
July 27-28
Viewing restricted to pilgrimage participants.
Website: http://heartmountain.org/pilgrimage.html
Additional venues are being confirmed and will be announced later.
While conducting research for a book about art and craft objects created by Japanese Americans during World War II, author Allen Hendershott Eaton amassed a significant collection of such camp artifacts. After many years of being in storage and forgotten, the collection was inherited by a family friend of Eaton’s, who in April 2015 decided to put the artifacts up for auction. Japanese American activists and community leaders rallied successfully to stop the sale and ultimately the collection was transferred to JANM.
Titled “Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection,” the display includes physical or digital representation of every item in the collection — more than 400 individual photographs, sculptures, paintings and watercolors, jewelry items, vases, beads, nameplates, and other handmade items from the World War II incarceration camps that Japanese Americans were forced to endure.
In addition to providing the opportunity to see a collection that inspired strong emotions and decisive actions within the Japanese American community, “Contested Histories” is intended to help gather information about each individual object so that the museum’s efforts to preserve and catalog the collection can be as complete as possible.
Camp survivors and their family members and friends will be encouraged to share with JANM information they know or remember about the objects, including who is depicted in the many photographs, most of which were shot by photographers working for the War Relocation Authority.
Support for the conservation and display of the Eaton Collection was provided by the National Park Service’s Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. Additional support was provided by George and Brad Takei, the Earle K. and Katherine F. (Muto) Moore Foundation, and Richard Sakai.
For more details, visit http://janm.org/contested-histories.