The Densho Digital Archive holds more than 270 visual histories (approximately 550 hours of recorded video interviews) and over 9,000 historic photos, documents, and newspapers. The archive is growing as Densho continues to record life histories and collect photos and documents. These primary sources broadly document the Japanese American experience from immigration in the early 1900s through redress in the 1980s with a particular focus on the World War II mass incarceration.

The video interviews are fully transcribed and segmented for ease of viewing. The interviews and images are indexed by topic, location and chronology, and can be searched using keywords. We provide these resources to students, teachers, researchers, and the general public for educational purposes. Visit the Learning Center for contextual historical background, downloadable curriculum, and online exhibitions featuring interview clips, documents, and photos excerpted from the archive.

To help ensure proper use of the archive, Densho requires a free registration process to gain access to the archive. For more information, please click on Register for the Archive.

Our interviewees, or narrators, share their life histories to preserve history, educate the public, and promote tolerance. We urge our users to approach these materials in the same spirit.

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