Museum seeks input from families with Japanese heritage – Cache Valley Daily

Family photos of Japanese Americans in Box Elder County give a glimpse of what life was like for them.

BRIGHAM CITY – The Brigham City Museum is seeking artifacts and memorabilia for a Japanese exhibition to open sometime in 2025, about the contribution Japanese residents have made in Box Elder County and Northern Utah.

Brigham City Museum Director Alana Blumenthal said many of the earliest Japanese initially came to work on the railroads in the mid to late 1800’s.

As the railroad work started, many of them settled down to farm. A small number of the Japanese communities stayed in Box Elder County.

At the start of World War II many Japanese faced national and local prejudice against them after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Japanese citizens promoted understanding of Japanese culture and protected the rights of Japanese-Americans.

“During World War II, Japanese-Americans were prevented from purchasing farms and were pressured to give up land they already had,” she said. “They were also asked to give up personal property, including guns, radios, and cameras.”

Many Japanese-Americans enlisted in the armed forces and reached out to Japanese-American soldiers recovering at Bushnell Hospital in Brigham City.

“The Japanese community has contributed to the success of our region for over 100 years, and the Museum seeks to collect and share their stories,” Blumenthal said. “The research for this project has been underway since November of last year after initial input and support from Norio Uyematsu and his family.”

Ongoing input from Uyematsu, Yamasaki, and other families with connections to Box Elder County have helped shape the research and exhibition plan.

“We hope more individuals will come forward to share their family connections to this place,” Blumenthal said. “To create this locally-produced exhibition, the Museum has created a wish list of items they hope will help make this a unique experience for visitors and students from area schools.”

The Museum would like to create the foundation of a Japanese-American Collection as part of their permanent collection.

“We’d love to take donations of items but we understand that some items are too precious to part with, except for a short time,” Blumenthal said. “For documents and pictures, the museum can scan them. For objects, just knowing what families are willing to loan will help us with creating this exhibition.”

Museum officials are asking the community to consider what historical treasures they might have from their family history, and what they might want the Museum to know about for upcoming research and displays. Based on interest, the Museum can provide accession and/or loan paperwork and work with the public on gathering the items and information:

EXAMPLES OF ITEMS TO SUBMIT

1. Anything from employment in Box Elder County (uniforms, pictures, mementos, pay stub, etc.)
2. Anything related to the Japanese-American incarceration
3. Crafts and Decorations
4. Family heirlooms, i.e. items from domestic life, courtships and weddings, scrapbooks and trophies
5. Family Pictures
6. Farming objects, signs, crates with personalized labels, maps
7. Genealogy charts
8. Legal documents of significance
9. Military objects and memorabilia
10. Pictures of life in Brigham City and Box Elder County
11. Religious items
12. School Activities

Blumenthal is also particularly interested in scheduling oral histories around this project.