Storage Basket

Eiko Yamada brought this basket with her when she immigrated to the US in the 1920s to join her husband Tamizo in his nursery business. Fearing that her heirloom kimono would be confiscated after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 1941, Eiko cut it up, hid the silk remnants in this basket, and had it shipped with other items to Manzanar. The original shipping tags with the family number 2811 are attached. Her grandson Russel said: "Until recently, I didn't know the significance of the items inside this basket; torn pieces of silk, a 1947 guest book and an art deco metal plate.”

When the US government forcibly removed Japanese Americans from their homes to inland camps, these people could only pack as much as they could carry. Because of the limited space individuals had to choose carefully which objects were most necessary or most meaningful. This basket and its contents demonstrate the choices Eiko was forced to make, and represent the tragedies of forced removal for 110,000 others.