George Hirahara and his family, including Frank ’48, had their lives in Yakima disrupted in 1942 when they were forced to relocate with about 10,000 other Japanese Americans to Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
Frank’s daughter Patti Hirahara has shared a number of items with Washington State University from her family’s internment experience. They include about 2,000 photographs and negatives, many of them showing daily life at Heart Mountain.
The gallery below shows a few scenes from the Heart Mountain internment camp: celebrations, school days, sports events, and daily routines.
The complete collection is housed at WSU’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, where students, scholars, and descendants of other families interned at Heart Mountain can access these historical records.
Courtesy WSU Libraries (Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections)
Read more about the Hirahara collection and Heart Mountain in “A Hidden History.”