Patti Hirahara, administrator of the Hirahara family collection, is looking for help in identifying babies, individuals, groups, and family photographs taken by her grandfather, George Hirahara, and father, Frank C. Hirahara, during WWII. These remarkable photographs were taken and processed in the Heart Mountain relocation camp from 1943 to 1945. 

The Hirahara family collection of more than 2,000 Heart Mountain photos has been donated to Hirahara's father's alma mater, Washington State University. She has left two, 3-ring binders of photos with identification sheets and will be adding a third shortly, which represents only a small portion of the collection, here at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) for people to look through. 

Hirahara lives in Anaheim, California, and would be happy to talk with any family members about the photos. She can be emailed at hiraharacollect@aol.com or reached by phone at (714) 392-2103 for more information. If you happen to be in the area, please stop by to see if you recognize anyone in the photos. Identifying as many faces as possible would deeply personalize the devastating experience that more 120,000 Japanese Americans endured as a result of Executive Order 9066.

The photo binders of the yet-to-be-identified Heart Mountain incarcerees will be kept in the JAMsj library. Viewing hours are Thursday - Sunday, from 12 to 4 p.m. Viewing is also available by appointment by emailing jamsjlibrary@gmail.com or by calling (408) 294-3138.