My Summer with NJAHS Meredith Oda 1998      I ORIGINALLY heard of the National Japanese American Historical Society when I was flipping through a book of internships one of my professors had in his office. I am a history major and an Asian American studies minor, focusing on Japanese American history, so NJAHS caught my eye. I called them immediately and set up an internship for the remainder of the school year to continue throughout the summer. My interest in Asian American studies had just began recently here at Cal, and I had only taken a handful of classes in the department. However, as my exposure to my own past grew, my interest grew exponentially and I knew that Asian American issues and experiences would be interests I would carry indefinitely. One of my classes at Cal emphasized non-profit organizations and their position in the Asian American community, and I became attracted to non-profits as a way of working with my interests outside of school. NJAHS has been extremely good to me. It is an organization driven by the dedication of it’s workers and members to the JA experience and community. Through exhibitions, publications, and events, NJAHS contributes to the continuance of JA history and the lessons that can be learned from it, emphasizing the relevance not only to the JA community, but also to the entire American community. In its own way, NJAHS is expanding the definition of “American history” to include diverse and multicultural experiences that many non-Japanese Americans would consider “ethnic history” not pertinent to themselves. The handful of staff at NJAHS shared their dedication and knowledge with me, particularly my supervisor, Gary Otake.      The original project for my summer was to organize and set up a digital archive of photographs. There are thousands of photographs in NJAHS’s archives and scanning them into a organized computer database would greatly facilitate research into them, as well as further preserve the photographs themselves. The job is huge and in an effort to make it workable, we began with the most often requested images: those of evacuation and internment. Of course, scanning the images onto the computer was the easy part. The job became more complicated when Gary and I sat down to think of a organizational system for them. Hopefully, looking up the photographs will be much like looking in the index in the back of a book: the images will be accessible by keywords or subjects, making it easy to call up specific images. The images themselves will be readily available, as well as information about the image: background information — date, description, or history — and technical information — location of the hard photograph, credits, and so on. The need for such a resource became apparent to me one day as I watched an academic struggle, shirtsleeves rolled up and glasses slipping down, through boxes of photographs and negatives and then wander away, mussed and tousled, empty handed. However, I quickly learned that the archive project would be only one of many jobs I would have at NJAHS. Non-profit staff all seem to have a million frazzling things going on beneath a varyingly cool exterior. Because of non-profits’ reliance on the community as well as the services it provides to that community, there are always a multitude of projects — exhibits, events, and so forth — going on. But because all of the staff, board, and the members of the community are always willing to go an extra mile, as is always required, NJAHS manages a remarkable output. As an intern, I was naturally swept along, enjoying and learning from everything. As a result, I also was able to assist in the exhibits NJAHS did in conjunction with “A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution,” the traveling version of the permanent Smithsonian exhibit. My work was extremely varied, ranging from graphic design on the fliers and signs to collecting artifacts for display. I spent a lot of time, with Gary, in the NJAHS archives and the San Francisco History Archives at the San Francisco Public Library. I also did some research for the captions and short essays that went with the displays, on people like Dorothea Lange, photographer of the internment, and Chiura Obata, professor from Cal and renown and influential artist. I learned a lot from the exhibit and not only in JA history: watching and participating in the presentation of history to a diverse public is fascinating. My previous experience with history was largely academic, and so this type of interactive, multi-dimensional history was a new and exciting format.      Just as I can appreciate NJAHS for the valuable services it provides for the community, I also appreciate yours. Not only did your grant save me from yet another summer waitressing, but more importantly offered me the opportunity to work with and learn from an organization like NJAHS. The experience was just as educational as any class I have taken. Technically, I have been exposed to different aspects of exhibits and artifact preservation, as well as current computer programs, like Quarkpress and Photoshop. I walked into the offices computer illiterate and hostile, and am now fairly comfortable with computers, if only somewhat less hostile. And of course, my knowledge of Japanese American history has expanded enormously. Experiences like those of the Japanese Latin Americans or the specific local experiences of the San Francisco community during eviction have opened my eyes to JA history that I might not have learned of elsewhere. This summer has been wonderful for me; I was working at a job I enjoyed, learning the entire time, and also actively working with the Japanese American community. So what else can I say but thank you, so much, for this opportunity. The California Japanese American Alumni Association is providing a valuable and generous service for Berkeley students like me.