The 1942 Manzanar Diary of Robert L. Brown

Owens Valley Booster as Incarceration Camp Administrator

Arthur A. Hansen

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781646429066
• eBook ISBN:
  9781646429073
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

This transcribed and edited wartime diary of Robert L. Brown—a trained journalist who served as public relations staff and assistant director at the Manzanar concentration camp—reveals the thoughts and perspective of the jailer, providing a window into the views of the local population around the presence and experience of a concentration camp for Japanese Americans in their community. In addition to the heavily footnoted diary, the book includes a prologue, introduction, and epilogue from Arthur A. Hansen, providing context for the journal as well as how Hansen came to transcribe the work with Brown's blessing.

A departure from the typical recovered narratives from incarcerees, Brown's diary is a historically significant primary source that provides insight into camp administration and local community relationships with Manzanar and a rich primary source for specialists in the field of Japanese American incarceration.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Prologue
• Introduction
• 1942 Diary of Robert L. Brown
• Appendix 1. Let’s Look at This New Development with a Long-Range View: An Editorial of Interest to Every Citizen
• Appendix 2. For the Record—
• Appendix 3. Promises Seem to Mean Exactly Nothing . . .
• Appendix 4. Eisenhower Quits—
• Appendix 5. Manzanar—Relocation Center
• Appendix 6. Camp Divisions
• Appendix 7. Block 35 Tragedy
• Appendix 8. Manzanar’s First Homicide
• Epilogue
• Index
• About the Author