[Letter to Clara Breed from Fusa Tsumagari, April 25, 1942]

Images(6)

[Letter to Clara Breed from Fusa Tsumagari, April 25, 1942]

Maker Tsumagari, Fusa

Date1942

Mediumpaper, ink

ClassificationsArchives

Credit LineGift of Elizabeth Y. Yamada

Object number93.75.31IA

Description1 letter and envelope from Fusa Tsumagari to Clara Breed.;Transcription: April 25, 1942/Dear Miss Breed,/Thanks a million for everything: the nice letter you sent me, the pictures, and the book. I certainly was glad to receive all of them./I gave Mrs. Araki the picture and she was very grateful. She said that she was going to send that picture to her husband, who has been interned. She would certainly appreciate it if you would send another copy for her to keep. She said to tell you thanks a lot!/My mother gave the other pictures to Yuriko and Mariko. I believe that they will write or have written to you already. Thank you for sending me "Judy Grant, Editor." At the present time I am about half way through the book. I promised to lend it to another girl who wants to read it. I will pass it around, and as soon as they are through I will return it to you./Let me describe Santa Anita to you. It is located on a huge tract of land covering I guess about 75 to 100 acres. There are just rows and rows of houses. Families usually live in two rooms. If there are six or more in a family, they get four rooms. At the present time all the families live in what were formerly horse's stables. They all have new doors and windows in the front of the houses and the floors have been covered with asphalt. A partition separates the various families. We can overhear out neighbor's conversations even though we don't want to. One thing different from the ordinary home is the large door on the inside. The huge door is cut in half and is similar to those that the Dutch people have. These were made so that horses could stick out their head./The mess hall is located where the grandstand used to be, and where all the bets were placed. It is a huge place and very well constructed. I believe that must be about the only thing that was really well constructed. We have very good food to eat. The quality of the cooked food is getting better, too. You've noticed that I said "cooked food" because the food itself is almost the best. For example today for lunch we had: roast beef and boiled potatoes with gravy, spinach, and cole slaw. However, there are two things that bother me:/1. We don't get a second helping. 2. If the noon meal is very good, supper is terrible!/Gee, but really, I'm thankful for getting food free and also housing./My sister will arrive in Santa Anita on the 30th or the first of next month. We were certainly glad to read that the people in her locality were coming here instead of going directly to Manzanar./I guess I could ramble on and on and you'd probably be bored to death so I guess I'd better stop./Thank you for sending everything. Your card was so pretty that I have pinned it up in room./Truly,/Fusa Tsumagari/P.S. A library has been started here. As soon as it opens I will tell you all about it. Yours, Fusa