
nihonmatsuri
JAPAN FESTIVAL

Exhibits & Panels
We will have 2 amazing Exhibits
We will be having a panel room where we cover the CONTESTED HISTORIES special exhibit featured at this year’sfestival. A panel is a type of classroom setting that is open to all people and can usually be found and conventions and other festivals. Panels can be one expert presenting on a subject,
multiple experts discussing a topic, multiple experts
taking questions from the audience and giving their
answers, and even a single expert taking questions from the audience. If you are looking to learn more about the art and
artifacts and the historical significance of our special
featured exhibit, be sure to join one of the panel presentations.

CONTESTED HISTORIES 30 minute presentation on Japanese art and artifacts presented by the Japanese American National Museum.
Two sessions: noon and 2 p.m. (class room just outside the gymnasium
where exhibits are displayed).
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About the Japanese American National Museum:
Established in 1985, the Japanese American National Museum promotes understanding and
appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American
experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of Downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a
hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice
for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage
and culture. Since opening to the public, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite and
traveled six of its exhibitions to over 30 locations, including the Smithsonian Instituion, the
Ellis Island Museum, and leading cultural institutions in Japan and South America. For more
information, visit janm.org
About the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection:
Allen Hendershott Eaton’s historic 1952 book, Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: The Arts of the
Japanese in Our War Relocation Camps, explored art and craft objects created by persons of
Japanese ancestry while wrongfully incarcerated in the World War II American concentration
camps. In the course of conducting research for the book, Eaton amassed a significant
collection of such artifacts.
After many years of lying forgotten in storage, the collection’s eventual owners would put the
objects up for auction in April 2015. An outcry arose from the Japanese American community
leaders and activists, who rallied successfully to stop this insensitive sale of these important
artifacts of Japanese American history. Ultimately, the collection was transferred to the Japanese
American National Museum for safekeeping. This project was funded, in part, by a grant from
the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement
Sites Grant Program. Additional support was provided by George and Brad Takei, the Earle K.
& Katherine F. (Muto) Moore Foundation, and Richard Sakai.
Details for Contested Histories Pop-up Display and Workshop:
The pop-up display includes physical and/or digital representation of every item in the collection
— such as photographs, sculptures, artworks, and other items handmade by Japanese Americans
while incarcerated in American concentration camps. Contested Histories is intended to gather as
much information about each individual object so that the museum’s efforts to preserve and
catalog the collection can be complete as possible. People are encouraged to share with JANM
information they know or remember about the objects including who and/or what is depicted in
the many photographs or objects.
Exhibition Contents/ Physical Dimensions:
- 289 reproductions of photos and artwork in binders.
- 120 artifacts in 11 display suitcases.
Thank you for your support.
