Many Mountains Surrounding .::. Poetry, Photography and Oral Histories from the WWII Santa Fe Internment Camp

Poetry Group, Santa Fe Internment Camp Courtesy of Reiko Matsumoto.

Santa Fe Internment Camp conference to commemorate New Mexico's state centennial
A symposium titled "From Inside and Outside the Barbed Wire: New Mexico's Multicultural World War II Internment Stories" was held April 21-22, 2012, at the New Mexico History Museum at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.

Congratulations to all involved for an informative and inspirational weekend. Special thanks goes out to Bill Nishimura, nisei prisoner at Santa Fe, for livening up the event with his sharp wit, memorable commentary and boundless enthusiasm!

See photos of the conference here.

Historic Santa Fe Internment Camp Photographs Found!

Lou Schatz, niece of Lloyd Jensen, former Acting Officer in Charge at Santa Fe in 1943, has generously donated a collection of 22 original large format photographs taken at the camp. The photos, many of which have never been published, depict the camp buildings, an art and calligraphy exhibition, group photos, internees in the canteen, the mess hall, the bakery, the dispensary and on stage in elaborate kabuki costumes. One of the silver gelatin prints, that of a tennis team at the camp, was stamped on the back by Santa Fe photographer, T. Harmon Parkhurst.

Mr. Parkhurst was active in the Santa Fe area in the first half of the twentieth century and produced an excellent archive of images of the Native American people. A collection of his original 7 in. by 11 in. nitrate negatives is stored at the Palace of Governors in Santa Fe.

Welcome to ManyMountains.org! Our name is derived from the kanji the issei prisoners invented for the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They called their new home, San Ta He, or Many Mountains Surrounding.

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the FBI arrested and imprisoned thousands of immigrants. Japanese, German and Italian immigrants were branded "dangerous enemy aliens" and confined in military and INS prisons without trial. No charges were brought and no evidence was produced by the US Justice Department. Some men were held until 1947.

Click the buttons at left for reproductions of a poetry manuscript from the Santa Fe Internment Camp historic photos of the issei detainees and their families, oral histories, and more information about the Justice Camps.

Read about the April 2002 Santa Fe Historical Marker Dedication and visit MinamiPictures.com to see what former Justice Camps at Lordsburg and Santa Fe look like today. Having problems locating the Santa Fe Camp Historical Marker? Here is a map!

Learn how to use the Freedom of Information Act to request copies of previously classified FBI files stored at the National Archives.

Today, the Justice Department continues its assault on the innocent. Under the guise of the "War on Terrorism," and in reaction to the 9/11 attacks, the INS has been conducting clandestine deportations of Muslims living in the U.S. Listen to Amy Goodman's interview with the wife of one detainee. For many of you, the account of her husband's arrest will sound all too familiar.

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