Environmental History Workshop: Manzanar National Historic Site

Cemetery obelisk at Manzanar National Historic Site.

This site of one of the infamous World War II relocation camps for people of Japanese ancestry is a shockingly good example of what some have termed "sites of shame" in the National Park System. A healthy democracy needs to feature its failings as well as its great achievements. Manzanar National Historic Site was established in 1992 following more than two decades of growing demand for "redress" for the racist attack on Japanese Americans' civil rights perpetrated during World War II. Writing the administrative history of this site was largely about writing the history of that movement and how it has carried forward from 1992 to the present.

Manzanar National Historic Site is located in the stunningly beautiful Owens Valley of eastern California. Eager to explore the valley as well as learn about its history, Diane and I turned our usual one- to two-week research trip into a two-month road trip with a five-week sojourn in the Owens Valley in the middle. If you have never seen the Owens Valley, see it. If you have not been to Manzanar, go. The camp that once held 10,000 people is now a World War II-era ghost town with remnants of Japanese gardens excavated from sand drifts and rabbit brush growing up through cracked cement pads. The 1944 high school auditorium building has been renovated into a first-class visitor center and museum. The place is blessed with an exceptionally dedicated staff.

About Us

ted.r.catton@gmail.com

dianekrahe@gmail.com

Theodore Catton is an associate research professor in the History Department at the University of Montana. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and reports on the national parks, including Inhabited Wilderness: Indians, Eskimos, and National Parks in Alaska, and National Park, City Playground: Mount Rainier in the Twentieth Century. He holds a PhD in environmental history from the University of Washington.

Diane L. Krahe is a research faculty affiliate at the University of Montana. She has written extensively on federal land management issues and is an expert on the history of Indian tribal wilderness in the twentieth century. She has a PhD in history from Washington State University and an MS in environmental studies from the University of Montana.

Catton and Krahe, who are married, reside in Missoula, Montana, where they research and write book-length reports for the National Park Service through both their faculty institution and their home business, Environmental History Workshop.

Collaborative writers since 2002, Catton and Krahe share a concern for the environment and an appreciation of national parks and wilderness areas. When they are not digging through boxes of old government records in the National Archives or pecking away on their laptops they enjoy hiking and camping in those special places that they are researching and writing about.

Some of our histories have been published on the web:

To Make a Better Nation: An Administrative History of the Timbisha Shoshone Homeland Act

Wonderland: An Administrative History of Mount Rainier National Park

Land Reborn: A History of Administration and Visitor Use in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Commemoration and Preservation: An Administrative History of Big Hole National Battlefield

Life, Leisure, and Hardship along the Buffalo: Historic Resource Study, Buffalo National River

Little Gem of the Cascades: Lassen Volcanic National Park Administrative History

Nez Perce National Historical Park Administrative History