Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation
Collection Summary | ||
| Title | Kubota Wooden Box | |
| Creator | Yoshida | |
| Collection Number | HMWF 2016.002 | |
| Size | 1 object | |
| Repository | Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation | |
| Languages | English, Japanese | |
Prior to incarceration, the Kubota family, Guntaro (b. 8/16/1903 in Japan, immigrated to the US on 4/21/1924, d. 5/13/1967) with his wife Grace Tsugiko (b. 5/22/1916, d. 4/26/2012) and infant daughter Grace Makiko lived in Cupertino, California, where Guntaro taught Japanese language and farmed. When required, they first reported to Santa Anita Assembly Center (family number 32283) then transferred to Heart Mountain, with Gloria and Grace arriving on September 13, 1942. Guntaro arrived a short while later on October 30, 1942, having stayed behind in Santa Anita to help organize the mess halls. Their son, Gordon Hidemaru, was later born at Heart Mountain. The family resided at 30-18-E.
On July 20, 1944, Guntaro departed Heart Mountain for Cheyenne, Wyoming under federal custody. With the the Fair Play Committee leaders, he was tried and conviction for felony "conspiracy to violate the Selective Service Act, and aiding and abetting, and counseling others to resist the draft", receiving a sentence of two years which was served at Leavenworth in Kansas.
On September 18, 1945, just prior to the closure of Heart Mountain, Grace obtained an employment offer and departed for Laramie, Wyoming and the two children. After his release from prison, the family returned to California. They settled in Saratoga and Guntaro worked as a landscape contractor.
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Kubota Wooden Box, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, Accession 2016.002
Machine-readable finding aid created by Nicole Blechynden, April 2016.
This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Given by Grace and Jack Ybarra, in memory of Guntaro and Gloria Kubota.
No additional information on the creator of the box "Yoshida" is known.
See also Accession 2014.032 (Guntaro Kubota Papers) and Accession 2012.072 (Frank Emi Papers).
United States. War Relocation Authority
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Wyoming.
World War, 1939-1945 -- War work -- Wyoming.
Wyoming -- History -- 1919-1945.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps
World War, 1939-1945 -- Evacuation of civilians
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japanese Americans -- Social conditions -- Wyoming -- Park County.
Wyoming -- History, 1939-1945.
| Description | Container | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carved wooden box depicting Heart Mountain and barracks circa 1943-1944
Japanese inscription on underside of base. Measures: 12cm L x 9cm W x 6cm H, in two pieces: box and lid. The characters have been identified as an old style of Japanese writing, circa the 1900s. The rough translation is: Wyoming, USA Heart Mountain Prisoner of War Camp Elevation 4,600 shaku (Japanese old scale) = 4,500 feet September, 1943 Commemorative Work Created by Yoshida (per admin correspondence, via Sam Mihara) |
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