Fast (Emery) papers, 1944-1945, bulk 1945

Summary

Creators:

Fast, Emery

Abstract:

Emery Fast (ca. 1907-1997) worked for the War Relocation Authority during World War II. The collection is largely comprised of personal letters written to his wife, Ethel “Billie” Fast, as he worked in both Utah and California and she worked in Washington, D.C. but also includes a report, speech, staff directory, and WRA booklets that belonged to Emery Fast.

Extent:

0.50 linear feet

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Emery Fast papers. 95.132, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The letters sent from Emery Fast to his wife provide context about the daily tasks of WRA staff as well as interactions between government staff and incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II. In his letters, Fast primarily describes his work relocating incarcerated families after the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. Fast’s letters shed light on the tensions faced by Japanese Americans as they left the concentration camps and tried to find work.

Fast provides a sympathetic point of view and expresses worry for many of the families he worked with in his letters to his wife. Fast writes multiple times about Dr. and Mrs. Ichihashi, whom he interviewed for resettlement. Dr. Ichihashi, one of the first Asian American academics in the United States, taught Japanese history and government, international relations, and the Japanese American experience during his time as a professor at Stanford University. Fast was particularly worried about Dr. Ichihashi after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan as Nagasaki was his native city. The letters are filled with stories of Japanese Americans that Fast worked with in 1945.

Fast worked hard to get Japanese Americans their jobs back following the end of the war and often expressed little patience for ignorance and racist attitudes. Throughout the collection, Fast expresses concern about bigotry towards Japanese Americans, describing property issues and other hardships that arose after leaving the camps.

Biographical / historical:

Emery Fast earned a political science degree from Stanford University in 1938 and went on to work for the War Relocation Authority throughout World War II. His wife, Ethel Fast, worked for Dillon Myer in Washington, D.C during the war. Myer served as the Director of the WRA from 1942-1946.

In March 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt established a civilian agency known as the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The WRA administered and assisted in the controlled migration of 110,000 people of Japanese descent who lived in areas around the Pacific coast and into concentration camps located between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. War Relocation officers were responsible for maintenance and supervision of the camps, and sought employment for Japanese Americans. Furthermore, Japanese Americans who wanted to leave the concentration camps had to meet strict requirements and obtain permission from the WRA. Indefinite leave was granted to those who securely obtained a place to settle and means of support, and those who left had to agree to inform the WRA of any employment and address changes. Emery Fast was employed for the War Relocation Board, traveling to throughout Utah and California to aid in Japanese American resettlement. His letters to his wife expressed his work responsibilities to resettle Japanese Americans into white West Coast communities, and his personal everyday encounters.

Arrangement:

Letters have been arranged chronologically. Dates were taken from envelopes if unavailable on letter.

Series 1 : Correspondence

Series 2: Miscellaneous Documents

Physical location:

Japanese American National Museum 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Japanese Americans
World War II
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
Central Utah Project
United States. War Relocation Authority
Japanese American evacuation and resettlement

Names:

Fast, Emery
Fast,Ethel
Fast, August
Myer, Dillon S. (Dillon Seymour), 1891-1982
McKee, Ruth Eleanor, 1903-
Kuroki, Ben, 1918-

Places:

Santa Rosa (Calif.)
Central Utah Relocation Center
Topaz (Utah)
Granada Relocation Center
Amache (Colo.)
Washington (D.C.)

Restrictions:

By appointment only. Please Contact the Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org) or telephone (213-830-5615).

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Emery Fast papers. 95.132, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.

Location of this collection:

Japanese American National Museum

Collections Management & Access Unit

100 North Central Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90012, US

Contact:

213-625-0414

collections@janm.org

Website

Summary

Extent:

11 folders

Background

Scope and content:

Letters written from Emery Fast to his wife, Ethel “Billie” Fast, as she worked in Washington, D.C. and he traveled throughout Utah and California. One letter is not written by Emery Fast (95.132.1) and it was written by his father, August, to Ethel. Throughout these letters Emery Fast describes his work with the WRA and the people he meets through interviewing Japanese Americans for resettlement as they leave the concentration camps.

Summary

Extent:

1 item

Background

Scope and content:

One letter written to Ethel Fast from her father-in-law, August Fast. Includes letter numbered 95.132.1.

Summary

Extent:

7 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.2-.8.

Summary

Extent:

8 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.9-.16.

Summary

Extent:

15 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.17-.31.

Summary

Extent:

14 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.32-.45.

Summary

Extent:

9 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.45-.54.

Summary

Extent:

10 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.55.63.

Summary

Extent:

13 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132..64-.76.

Summary

Extent:

10 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.87-.95.

Summary

Extent:

9 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132..87-.95.

Summary

Extent:

8 items

Background

Scope and content:

Includes letters numbered 95.132.96-.103.

Summary

Extent:

3 folders

Background

Scope and content:

Includes a memorandum, staff directory, letter to the Nation Magazine, a report written by Ruth E. McKee, and a speech by Sergeant Ben Kuroki.

Summary

Extent:

6 items

Background

Scope and content:

One memorandum entitled “The White House Washington” signed by President Roosevelt (95.132.104), one address and telephone directory of Washington staff (95.132.105), two booklets (WRA Government Requests for Transportation) that belonged to Emery Fast (95.132.106-.107), one letter to the Nation Magazine written by M.M. Tozier (95.132.108), and one biographical sketch of Dillon S. Myer (95.132.109). Includes items numbered 95.132.104-.109.

Summary

Extent:

1 item

Background

Scope and content:

One 36 page study in the background of the evacuation of the persons of Japanese Ancestry from the Pacific Coast prepared by Ruth E. McKee, WRA historian. Report is titled “California and her less favored minorities”. Includes item numbered 95.132.110.

Summary

Extent:

1 item

Background

Scope and content:

Two copies of a typewritten transcription (13 pages) of Ben Kuroki's speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California on February 4, 1944. His speech is about enlisting, assignment into a liberator group, intolerance and discrimination in the service. Includes items numbered 95.132.111A copy 1 and copy 2.