Temporary Detention Centers

Reparative Description Preferred Term

Preferred Terms: Temporary Detention Center (pl. Temporary Detention Centers)

Non-Preferred Term: Assembly Center (pl. Assembly Centers)

Related Terms that May Continue to be Used: n/a

Guidance:

Any NARA-supplied metadata containing Assembly Center should be changed to the preferred term, Temporary Detention Center. However, each instance should still be reviewed for context.

A describer or reviewer will review each instance of a non-preferred term to determine if the term requires changing or should be retained because it is an exception such as when used in the proper name of a place or the name of an organization. Exceptions that require no revisions will be clearly indicated in the General Note of the Description.

Examples:

Example:
Scope and Content Note - Personal property forms (WCCA Form FRB-2), inventory lists, and notices of receipt for property stored for people forcibly removed in the Los Angeles Branch zone temporary detention centers and reception centers. Generally sorted by temporary detention center then family number, not inclusive. Some family numbers may be associated with more than one location. Includes location names Colorado River War Relocation Project, Manzanar Reception Center, Parker Reception Center, Pomona Assembly Center, Poston Reception Center, Santa Anita Assembly Center, and Turlock Assembly Center.

General Note - This archival description was reviewed and revised as part of the NARA reparative description initiative on [mm/dd/yyyy]. The term “assembly centers” was removed from the Scope and Content Note and replaced with “temporary detention centers” except where used as part of the formal name of a temporary detention center. Original archival records have not been altered.

Example:
Scope and Content Note - Under the authority of Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned in 10 relocation centers for the duration of World War II. Professional photographers, including Dorothea Lange, were commissioned by the WRA to document the daily life and treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

These photographs show Japanese Americans at home and at work immediately prior to forced removal; Japanese Americans at temporary detention centers where they were processed before being assigned to relocation centers; agricultural, vocational, educational, recreational, religious and internal political activities at each of the 10 relocation centers; supervisory personnel and local officials; Nisei resettled in their former homes or at work after releases from a relocation centers; Nisei servicemen and women at awards ceremonies or on leave; the arrival and departure of forcibly removed Japanese Americans who were transferred from one of the relocation centers to the Tule Lake Segregation Center in September 1943, including a few photographs of repatriated Japanese Americans embarking for Japan; property formerly owned by Japanese Americans, but vandalized, deserted, or taken over by Chinese Americans and others. Prints and negatives are fully captioned.

General Note - This archival description was reviewed and revised as part of the NARA reparative description initiative on [mm/dd/yyyy]. The term “assembly centers” was replaced with the term “temporary detention centers” in the Scope and Content Note. Original archival records have not been altered.

Where does this apply?

This applies to changes in descriptions and authority records. See the Appendix: Reparative Description Preferred Terms for guiding principles and general guidance.

Rationale:

Japanese American community stakeholders, historians, museum curators, librarians, and archivists consider the use of the term assembly centers as an outdated and offensive euphemism due to its history of use during World War II by the U.S. Government to minimize the treatment of people of Japanese ancestry in the United States. Records from World War II show that U.S. officials deliberately used language such as assembly center as an euphemism that clouded the real purpose of the forcible removal of Japanese Americans from their homes.

The preferred term “temporary detention center” more accurately describes the government’s decision to forcibly remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast to temporary detention camps and then eventually to internment camps.

Resources:

Use of Preferred Terms at Peer Institutions:

Library of Congress, Japanese Americans–Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia: Japanese American Relocation acknowledges the use of forced removal rather than “evacuation.”
Densho, Terminology list
Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Terminology

Additional Resources:

Date added: August 5, 2024

Date updated: August 5, 2024