Tule Lake, CA– It’s a sad chapter in Klamath Basin history, but a new effort to upload Nearly 2,000 items from the Tule Lake Japanese Language Library is underway.
Densho, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of history from the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, recently announced the digitization of the items that are now available online through a project at UCLA.
The library was created during World War II by incarcerated Japanese-Americans and immigrants at the Tule Lake Relocation Center between Nov. 26, 1943, and Nov. 30, 1945.
It housed roughly 7,000 volumes and at its peak had a circulation of more than 17,000 volumes loaned per month that “fostered intellectual activity, social engagement, and a quiet space for reflection.”
Surrounded by electrically charged barbed-wire fencing with guard towers at the corners, more than 18000 Japanese prisoners inhabited nine blocks, each containing sixteen tar-paper barracks, a mess hall, a recreation center, a laundry room, and a bathroom.
The Tule Lake Facility served as a camp for “disloyals” only.
