About the Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives (JARDA)

JARDA contains thousands of Japanese American internment primary source materials:

• Personal diaries, letters, photographs, and drawings
• US War Relocation Authority materials, including camp newsletters, final reports, photographs, and other documents relating to the day-to-day administration of the camps
• Personal histories documenting the lives of the people who lived in the camps as well as the administrators who created and worked in the camps

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A Single Point of Access

Historically, these heavily requested materials for research, classroom study, and other uses have been difficult to access physically because they are widely scattered in a number of different collections. The JARDA project was created to remedy this problem. This single point of entry provides access to the rich resources of many diverse California archives, libraries, oral history programs, and museums.

History of JARDA

Beginning in 1988, the University of California began digitizing thousands of images and documents, providing a single, easy-to-use entry point for anyone interested in this material. This project was supported by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the state librarian.

Curators, archivists, and librarians from 10 institutions selected a broad range of primary sources from their extensive collections. These were digitized and placed in JARDA. The web site launched in November 2000.

Charter Contributors

JARDA continues to grow. We thank the following charter contributors for sharing their resources for this project:

California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library
California State Archives
California State University, Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History
Japanese American National Museum
University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office
University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Special Collections
University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Oral History Program
University of Southern California, Archival Research Center
University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Special Collections Department