Collection: Contested Histories: Preserving and Sharing a Community Collection

October 19, 2024 – January 5, 2025

During World War II, Japanese Americans incarcerated in America's concentration camps demonstrated their resilience, ingenuity, and creativity, from crafting necessities like furniture and tools to creating works of art. In 2015, thanks to the efforts of community organizations, leaders, and activists like the Japanese American History: Not For Sale Facebook page, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, and actor George Takei, JANM was entrusted with the safekeeping of the Eaton Collection, an important collection of some 400 items made by Japanese American incarcerees.

People around the United States have since helped JANM fill in the gaps in the historical record by identifying makers and telling the stories of artifacts from the collection as it toured the country. Now the exhibition, enhanced with these new findings, returns to JANM, where many of the recently restored artworks are on view for the first time.

Learn more at janm.org/contested-histories.