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letter
H: 7.75 in, W: 5.75 in (sheet) H: 10.5 in, W: 8 in (enclosure) H: 4.125 in, W: 6 in (envelope)
ink
paper

Exhibition(s):

Subject Tags
American letters
Arizona
Breed, Clara E.
Cataloging
Christmas presents
Circulation analysis
Comic books, strips, etc.
Concentration camp life
Concentration camps
Concentration Camps, Poston
Correspondence
Hasegawa, Yuriko
Librarians
Libraries
Library Journal
Manning, Ethel
Ota, Mabel
Poston Chronicle
Poston I
Poston II
Poston III
Public libraries
Religion
Shiota, Fumi
Statistics
Tsumagari, Fusa
United States. War Relocation Authority
World War, 1939-1945

[Letter to Clara Breed from Fusa Tsumagari, Poston, Arizona, December 27, 1942]

Fusa Tsumagari [bio]

Poston, Ariz., December 27, 1942

Gift of Elizabeth Y. Yamada

Clara Breed Collection

Description
1 letter and envelope from Fusa Tsumagari to Clara Breed + Camp I library report. | Transcription: December 27, 1942/(Nice sunny day)/Time: 1:30 p.m./Dear Miss Breed,/Thank you ever so much for the lovely Christmas presents. The maroon suede jacket and belt are beautiful and fit me fine. Thanks very much for the "Prince Matchabelli's Ave Maria", the candy, nuts, and powder puff. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness./This time I am glad that I can be of some help to you, and hope that this letter reaches you before the deadline for your article in the Library Journal. I certainly would like to see your article if and when it is published./Here goes for some of the material you requested about Poston Libraries:/When I received your letter, I asked my brother, who was going down to the library in Camp 1 to go and get all the information that he possibly could. This is what he found./The library system in Poston has two distinct division: the Education Department, and the Poston Free Public Library./The library under the Education Dept. is under the supervision of Miss Ethel Manning, a former California State Library worker in Northern California (Colusa, I believe), whose central Poston school library is in Camp 2. She is being paid the regular W.R.A. salary. The W.R.A. supports only the Education Dept. Library. Miss Manning supervises the distribution of supplies such as books, collateral reading, periodicals, and miscellaneous incidentals./The Poston Free Public Library is classified as "Community Activity under the jurisdiction of Dr. Powell. Miss Findley is head of the library division. Each camp has a separate school and public library; each functions as an independent unit with the policies, system, and regulations made by the Head Librarians and her co-workers./The Japanese Head Public Librarians are: Camp 1. Mrs. Mabel Ota (of Holtville, Calif. a U.C.L.A. graduate--a very good friend of my sister)/Camp 2. Miss Yuriko Hasegawa/Camp 3. Miss Fumi Shiota/Since the W.R.A. does not aid the Public library all of the books received are gifts from various libraries in California; these are mostly old discards which are still legible, and also donation by people./It seems that both boys and girls prefer "Western Stories." Comic books were extremely popular, but due to the fact that too many children went to the library just to look at Comic books the librarian in Camp 1 has done away with them./They have a Hospital Service in Camp 1 and it seems that patients prefer mystery stories./A popular shelf in the library is "Current Best Sellers." They are rented out at 5 c. a week and are purchased by "Petty Fines."/Newspapers and magazines are donated by individuals who are subscribers. /The books are catalogued according to title, author, and their respective division such as fiction, non fiction, reference etc./I have enclosed some statistics gained from Camp 1 which my brother got. * /The information I got in Camp 3 is quite similar to that of Camp 1, though Camp 1 is much more advanced. /At the present time Camp 3 has about 3100 books. (least of all 3 public libraries) It receives mostly duplicates of Camp 1 and 2 and other books through donation. The membership at present is about 1500 with each person limited to 2 books or magazines for a period of 7 days. /Prior to opening, the librarian and her associates asked for donations. Some gave money, others books. With the money they bought new books. These books are rented out a 5 c. a week until they are paid for. Then, they are put into free circulation. Some of the latest books are: "Storm," " The Pied Piper," "This Above All," "Mary Cary," "The Moon is Down," and "The Sun is My Undoing." /Camp 3 has most of Children's Books while Camp 1 seems to be lacking them./Most popular among children is Fairy Tales and Comic Books (which they allowed to see--but not check out). The authors most popular with adults are Lutz, Zane Gray, and Faith Baldwin./This library lacks ma

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