From the Director: Tom Ikeda

Before Densho plunges into the ambitious projects we have scheduled for 2008, let me toot our horn a bit by mentioning the many new resources we added to the Densho website in 2007:

4,000 editions of newspapers from all ten War Relocation Authority camps, published from 1942 to 1945 by incarcerated Japanese Americans reporting on their daily lives and outside events
32 videotaped interviews with full transcripts, including sixteen from Bainbridge Island, nine from the Manzanar National Historic Site collection, and narrated home-movie footage filmed in the Heart Mountain incarceration camp
500 historical documents including a collection of letters from Manzanar
400 historical photographs including recently published images by Dorothea Lange
230 transcripts of redress testimonies from national hearings, among them, a complete set from Seattle plus miscellaneous testimonies from Washington, D.C.
2 curriculum units aligned with Washington State Social Studies standards that use Densho interviews, historical photographs, and newspapers to consider current constitutional issues and the biases of news media

In recognition of our work, in 2007 Densho was awarded an Online History citation from the American Library Association and the Long Term Project Award from the Association of King County Historical Organizations. Our digital archives were prominently featured in news articles and stories from the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, National Public Radio, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Densho website attracted over 100,000 visitors from every state in the United States and 124 different countries.

I look forward to another year of expanding Densho's cultural resources and increasing our reach to new audiences. Happy New Year to all our supporters!

In this issue

Community News
From the Press
Donor Profile

Community News

National Meeting for Japanese American Preservation Grants

The National Park Service (NPS) invites the public to attend a national meeting on January 17 in Los Angeles to discuss the proposed draft criteria and program guidelines for the Public Law 109-441 federal grant program. Passed in December 2006, the law authorizes up to $38 million for the preservation and interpretation of confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The law directs NPS to administer the grant program after funds are available. Congress had not yet appropriated funding for this program. Two meeting sessions will be held, at 10:00 a.m and 7:30 p.m. on January 17 at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy, 111 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, 90012.

>> For more information about the grant program

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From the Press

Densho Featured by BBC and NPR

Two radio shows with global audiences featured Densho last month. On December 10, BBC Radio 5 broadcast excerpts of Densho interviews about Pearl Harbor in their show based on the Pacifica Radio archives. On December 20, NPR's Hidden Kitchens series broadcast the story "Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment," and highlighted Densho photos and interviews on the program webpage. Streaming audio of both programs is available. We invite you to listen to these thought-provoking programs.

>> To listen to the BBC story (downloadable mp3 format)
>> For more information and audio for the NPR story

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Donor Profile

4Culture

Densho is grateful for critical operating and program support from 4Culture, King County's cultural services agency located in Seattle. A new model for public support of cultural programs, 4Culture combines the resources of the public sector with the flexibility of a non-profit. Through the integration of four program areas, 4Culture stimulates cultural activity and enhances the assets that distinguish our communities as vibrant, unique, and authentic. Densho is pleased to partner with the good people at 4Culture in preserving King County's heritage for generations to come.

>> For more information about 4Culture's program activity

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