Fine Books & Manuscripts

(Japanese Internment) 1942 Japanese Internment Poster. Original World War II-era broadside poster printed on lightweight board, 14 x 22”, dated May 5, 1942 and issued by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration. Entitled “Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry” and stating, in part: “...Pursuant to the provisions of Civilian Exclusion Order No. 94 ... all persons of Japanese ancestry, living in the following area [San Francisco] both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above area by 12 o''clock noon ... Monday, May 11, 1942. No Japanese person will be permitted to move into, or out of, the above area ... without obtaining special permission from the representative of the Commanding General, Northern California Sector ...” The “Assembly Center” mentioned here was a temporary camp where the Japanese populations of California, Washington, and Oregon were gathered together before eventual transport to internment camps such as Manzanar in California, Topaz in Utah, and Heart Mountain in Wyoming. The poster is evenly toned throughout, and wavy with bends and creases at top.