UCCS to host exhibit on World War II Japanese internment camps

The lives of Japanese Americans who were interned in a southeast Colorado camp during World War II will be remembered in a special exhibit at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs opening Monday and continuing through Nov.5.

“Connecting the Pieces: Dialogues From the Amache Archaeology Collection” will be displayed at the Heller Center for Arts and Humanities in the studio gallery. An opening reception is scheduled for 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Heller Studio. The reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public.

The exhibit was created by students at the University of Denver working in conjunction with descendants and their families from the Amache World War II Japanese internment camp. The Amache Japanese Internment Camp, also known as the Granada Relocation Center, was built and operated during the war for housing Japanese-Americans who were relocated from the West Coast to southeastern Colorado. Camp Amache operated from August 1942 until October 1945. At its capacity, Amache housed more than 7,500 people, two-thirds of whom were American citizens.

The exhibit commemorates those who were detained there through a collaboration between archaeologists and members from the community who lived at Camp Amache. Items pulled from the archaeological remains collected during excavations at the camp are paired with stories told by survivors and their family members. Each highlights life in what was Colorado’s 10th largest city during World War II.

The exhibit is sponsored by the State Historical Fund. Its appearance at UCCS was made possible by the University of Denver Anthropology Department and Bonnie Clark, associate professor. Additional support was provided by the UCCS Visual and Performing Arts Department and the Heller Center for the Arts and Humanities.

The Heller Center for the Arts and Humanities hosts exhibits on art and culture of Colorado. For more information and hours contact Karin Larkin at (719) 255-3124 or arts@uccs.edu.

To reach the Heller Center, visitors should enter from North Nevada Avenue, turning east onto North Campus Heights Road. For more information about the Heller Center or to see a map, please visit http://www.uccs.edu/~heller/contact.html