The Florin Oral History Project was initiated to preserve the unique history of Florin which was once a thriving farming community with a large Japanese population. Over 70 volumes have been completed representing a cross-section of the Florin and Sacramento communities, including those in various occupations, war veterans, draft resisters, minors in the prisoner of war exchanges, etc. The uniqueness of our oral history collection is the inclusion of non-Japanese community friends who took care of the Japanese farms and belongings and high school teachers who taught us with compassion in camp.

The focus of the interviews is on the forced internment and life in the relocation camps, but questions touch on other issues. We ask about their immigration to the United States from Japan, pre-war experiences, resettlement after the war and personal philosophies. We also have recorded the stories of the people left behind. They were friends and neighbors who watched in anguish as the trains transported the community away.

Summaries follow. Please visit the California State University, Sacramento, Archives and Special Collections located next to the library, to see the entire collection. Individual copies can be purchased by contacting Marion Kanemoto, 916-422-8252.

Below are links to web pages with short descriptions of the oral histories:

• MASATOSHI ABE, ONATSU AKIYAMA,
  BUNZO AND HARUYE ASOO,
  LARSON AND BUTLER
• ROBERT COOMBS, FRANCES CUMPSTON,
  FUMIKO DEGUCHI,
  JERRY AND DOROTHY ENOMOTO
• MARGARET GUNDERSON & MARGERY FIELD, ROBERT ANDTERESA FLETCHER,
  ISAO FUJIMOTO, JOY NOZAKI GEE, ALICE GOT
• YONEKO HAMAMOTO, TOSHIO HAMATAKA, YAEKO HATANO, MINAYO AND SUMAKO IMADA, FRANK IRITA
• WOODROW ISHIKAWA, KAZUO AND ISAO ITO, SHIZUKO GRACE ITO, KOTONO KATO, HANA KODAMA
• HIDEO KADOKAWA, MARION KANEMOTO, VIVIAN KARA, HARRY SUYETARO KIINO,MOLLY KIMURA,TED KOBATA
• CHIYOE KOBAYASHI, MOTOKO KOBAYASHI, DOROTHY LOVE MACK, HARRY MAKINO, MASAKI PERCY TAKESHI
• YOSHIRO WILLIAM MATSUHARA, BILL MATSUMOTO, GEORGE MATSUMOTO, GEORGE MIYAO, DAVE MORSE
• PERCY NAKASHIMA, KAZUO NINOMIYA, SHIGENO HOKA NISHIMI, KINYA NOGUCHI
• MARGARET HATSUKO OGATA, KOKAN OSHIRO,TOM OSHIRO, FRED OUYE, KENNETH HISAO OZAWA
• ELIZABETH PINKERTON, ANN RUDIN, COL. THOMAS SAKAMOTO, ROY SATO, KIYO SATO-VIACRUCIS
• SUSUMU SATOW, EADA SILVERTHORNE, NOBORU TAGUMA, TSUNE TAHARA, BENJI TAKAHASHI, PAUL TAKEHARA
• ALFRED TSUKAMOTO, MARY TSUKAMOTO, TOMOYE TSUKAMOTO, LILY UMEDA, UTO UYEYAMA
• WAEGELL FAMILY (MARGARET, GEORGE, JAMES AND JACK), HIDEKO WAKITA, MASA YAMAMOTO, SHIRLEY YATES, CHIYO YOGI, MATSUYE YOKOI, HARRY YOSHIMURA