Palmerlee, Charles

Charles Seward Palmerlee was born February 27, 1919, in Oregon. Shortly after he was born, his family moved to North Sacramento, California, where they lived until moving to Rio Linda, California, in 1931. After high school, Palmerlee attended Sacramento Junior College, eventually matriculating at the University of California, Berkeley and earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1942. Palmerlee continued his enrollment in university with the intention of earning his General Secondary Teaching Credential, but after hearing of opportunities to teach for the War Relocation Authority, applied and was accepted to a teaching position at Tule Lake's Tri-State High School. From February to November 1943, Palmerlee was a mathematics teacher at Tri-State. He was also an advisor to the senior class from February until their high school culmination in July.

Tri-State High School opened in September 1942. During its first year, school buildings consisted of 20 barracks in which 2,400 students in grades 7 through 12 attended classes. The school faculty was composed of both interned Japanese Americans and other Americans, like Palmerlee, who taught and lived at Tule Lake. During his time at Tule Lake, Palmerlee recorded still and moving images of life at the camp using a Brownie camera and an 8mm Bell and Howard Sportster.

After leaving Tule Lake, Palmerlee attended the Pacific School of Religion, where he enrolled in the Post-War Rehabilitation School and received training for post war rehabilitation work. Charles Palmerlee died on April 29, 1990, in Alameda, California. (taken from finding aid by intern Keiko Nishimoto, 03.29.2011.