Objects are often said to be “mute” witnesses to history. In this slide presentation, Nancy Ukai will  explore some of the stories that she discovered in her research on objects in the Eaton collection of  Japanese American camp artifacts. The items, which include barrack nameplates, furniture, paintings,  photographs and carvings, were separated from the community for more than 70 years after they were  collected by crafts scholar Allen H. Eaton in 1945 as the camps were closing. Eaton wanted to mount an  exhibition but never did, and the objects which were handed down to his daughter and then to a  contractor’s family, came on the mark et for the first time in 2015. After a nationwide protest by  Japanese Americans, including JAMsj, who criticized the priv ate profiting off works that represented  suffering and injustice, the auction was cancelled. The collection was later acquired by the Japanese  American National Museum in Los Angeles.

The date of this lecture marks the day before the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, on Feb. 19, 1942, as well as the 65th anniv ersary of the publication of Eaton’s book, “Beauty Behind  Barbed Wire: the Arts of the Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps.”


NANCY UKAI is a writer and researcher based in Berkeley. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, she lived in Japan for 14 years, working as a Fulbright English Fellow, a weaving apprentice at a Buddhist temple,  and as a journalist for Newsweek and the Asahi newspaper in Tokyo.
Costs:  Free with admission to the museum (nonmembers, $5; students (with valid ID) and seniors over age 65, $3;  JAMsj members and children 5 and under, free).

RSVP:  Seating is limited. Contact PublicPrograms@jamsj.org  or call (408) 294-3138 to reserve a spot.