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[Letter to Clara Breed from Fusa Tsumagari, Poston, Arizona, December 27, 1942]
Maker
Tsumagari, Fusa
Date1942
Mediumpaper, ink
DimensionsH: 7.75 in, W: 5.75 in (sheet) H: 10.5 in, W: 8 in (enclosure) H: 4.125 in, W: 6 in (envelope)
ClassificationsArchives
Credit LineGift of Elizabeth Y. Yamada
Object number93.75.31CP
Description1 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 many books. They lack mystery stories in the line of fiction and in non-fictions they lack up-to-date U.S. History, Maps (especially of Arizona) and Reference Books. Browsing through the encyclopedias, I found them to be really old. The Britannica (which I thought must be a Britannica Jr.) turned out to be a 1911 edition! Before World War I! It was donated by some library in Fresno./The latest encyclopedia is the World Book published in 1933. The latest World Almanac is a 1937 edition. /They have a few books written in Japanese which are all religious books and were donated by residents./There is a branch library which opened about a month ago and is a Religious Library. Most of the books were donated by the Reedley Methodist Church./As yet Camp 3 has no library workshop due to lack in money and materials./I forgot to mention that there is one table which has the latest magazines and newspapers which we can look at but not check out. It has the publications of all the relocation centers and these are very interesting. I hate to admit it, but as every body knows, the Poston "Chronicle" (renamed as a camouflage) really is the worst of all the centers. I hope I have given you enough info about our libraries and that this reaches you in time. /Thank you for making mine a Merry Christmas. I wish you a happier new year./Sincerely,/Fusa/* THE following is typical of the reports and trends of the Poston Community Library Camp 1/Monthly circulation report:/May 26-May 30 176/June 1-June 30 2745/July 1-July 31 4745/Aug. 1-Aug 31 5982/ Sept. 1-Sept. 30 7512/Oct. 1-Oct. 31 7813/Nov. 1-Nov. 30 6216/Total membership cards issued up to November 10, 1942/ Jr. Membership Cards 1503/Adult Membership " 1708/Total number of books in the library:/Adult Fiction 1737/Adult Non Fiction 1035/Junior Fiction 701/Junior Non Fiction 743/Children's Fiction 656/Children's Non Fiction 105/Reference Books 84/0Total 50610/Total Number of Magazines in the library: 1989/Current Magazine Subscriptions:/1. Jack and Jill/2. American Magazine/3. Good Housekeeping/4. Cosmopolitan/5. Women's Home Companion/6. American Girl/7. Boy's Life/8. Harpers/9. Newsweek/10. Ladies Home Journal
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 many books. They lack mystery stories in the line of fiction and in non-fictions they lack up-to-date U.S. History, Maps (especially of Arizona) and Reference Books. Browsing through the encyclopedias, I found them to be really old. The Britannica (which I thought must be a Britannica Jr.) turned out to be a 1911 edition! Before World War I! It was donated by some library in Fresno./The latest encyclopedia is the World Book published in 1933. The latest World Almanac is a 1937 edition. /They have a few books written in Japanese which are all religious books and were donated by residents./There is a branch library which opened about a month ago and is a Religious Library. Most of the books were donated by the Reedley Methodist Church./As yet Camp 3 has no library workshop due to lack in money and materials./I forgot to mention that there is one table which has the latest magazines and newspapers which we can look at but not check out. It has the publications of all the relocation centers and these are very interesting. I hate to admit it, but as every body knows, the Poston "Chronicle" (renamed as a camouflage) really is the worst of all the centers. I hope I have given you enough info about our libraries and that this reaches you in time. /Thank you for making mine a Merry Christmas. I wish you a happier new year./Sincerely,/Fusa/* THE following is typical of the reports and trends of the Poston Community Library Camp 1/Monthly circulation report:/May 26-May 30 176/June 1-June 30 2745/July 1-July 31 4745/Aug. 1-Aug 31 5982/ Sept. 1-Sept. 30 7512/Oct. 1-Oct. 31 7813/Nov. 1-Nov. 30 6216/Total membership cards issued up to November 10, 1942/ Jr. Membership Cards 1503/Adult Membership " 1708/Total number of books in the library:/Adult Fiction 1737/Adult Non Fiction 1035/Junior Fiction 701/Junior Non Fiction 743/Children's Fiction 656/Children's Non Fiction 105/Reference Books 84/0Total 50610/Total Number of Magazines in the library: 1989/Current Magazine Subscriptions:/1. Jack and Jill/2. American Magazine/3. Good Housekeeping/4. Cosmopolitan/5. Women's Home Companion/6. American Girl/7. Boy's Life/8. Harpers/9. Newsweek/10. Ladies Home Journal
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Tasaki, Katherine
1944
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