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William J. Mountin material relating to forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans

 Collection
Identifier: MS-3196

Scope and Contents

Consists of various materials collected and maintained by William J. Mountin, gathered in the course of his work in the Statistical Branch of the Wartime Civilian Control Administration (WCCA). Includes War Relocation Authority (WRA) and WCCA correspondence and memos concerning the administration of the office in San Francisco; copies of statistical reports and bulletins, including those compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau; sample forms, reports, maps, bulletins, and Civilian Exclusion Orders and Instruction broadsides; ephemeral publications of various official organizations concerned with the administration of the U.S. Army Western Defense Command office, including directories and organizational charts; and clippings. Also included is a handbook, or notebook, assembled from copies of executive orders and supporting materials. The handbook is one of five or six copies that existed for use by WCCA supervising officers.

Dates

  • 1940-1942

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection. Unpublished works are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation; works published before 1923 have entered the public domain. The California Historical Society (CHS) is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection. For more information, please contact rights@calhist.org.

Biographical sketch

William J(ohn) Mountin (b. 14 Nov. 1901) was employed by the Statistical Branch of the Wartime Civil Control Administration, under the Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil Affairs, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army.

Extent

0.5 linear feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

William J(ohn) Mountin (b. 14 Nov. 1901) was employed by the Statistical Branch of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), under the Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil Affairs, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army. Established in March of 1942 by order of General John DeWitt, the WCCA oversaw the forced removal of roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast, and administered detention camps called “temporary assembly centers.” In the late summer and fall of 1942, the WCCA transferred incarcerees to longer-term camps run by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The WCCA was dissolved on March 15, 1943. Mountin collected and maintained the materials included in this collection through the course of his work at the WCCA. The material consists of memos, reports, bulletins, forms, reports, maps, Civilian Exclusion Orders, broadsides, ephemera and publications related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Arrangement

Contents of notebook have been foldered separately, in their original order.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of William J. Mountin, 1973.

Existence and Location of Copies

Items from the collection have been digitized and are available online through the California Historical Society Digital Library. These items, as well as duplicates of many of the maps, memos, bulletins, broadsides, and official WCCA documents also present in the John M. Flaherty Collection of Japanese Internment Records, MSS.2006.05.02, at San Jose State University Special Collections and Archive are also available through the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project at https://csujad.com.

General

Formerly described as Executive Order 9066 records, 1942-1945, and as William J. Mountin material relating to Japanese-American evacuation.

General

Material from this collection was digitized as part of the CSU Japanese American Digitization project. https://csujad.com/

Title
Finding aid to the William J. Mountin material relating to forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, 1940-1942,
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid encoded by Al Bersch in 2021, using description from existing catalog records.
Date
January 2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English

Repository Details

Part of the California Historical Society Repository

Contact:
678 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94105