Japanese American Internment

Research Paths

"Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Identification tags were used to aid in keeping a family unit intact
during all phases of evacuation. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township."
By Dorothea Lange, Hayward, California, May 8, 1942. (Photo No. 210-GC-153)

For ordering Photographs:
See the Ordering Still Picture Reproductions page.

How to Order Copies of Records

Order Copies of:

  • War Relocation Authority Evacuee Case Files

  • World War II Alien Enemy Detention and Internment Case Files

  • Compensation and Reparation Case Files for the Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II

If you wish to obtain a paper copy of any of the above files, please review the following privacy statement and provide the information requested on the relevant order request page. Please use one separate request page for each individual case file that you are ordering.

Privacy Requirements:
These case files contain records of a highly personal nature and access to them is subject to certain restrictions to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. Individual case files cannot be copied without proof that your request does not violate another's right to privacy.

We require a signed statement from each of your relatives whose file you are requesting authorizing us to release copies of his or her case file to you or a statement from you giving the reason your relative cannot furnish the required permission.

In addition to the signed statement we ask that you or your relative furnish us with the information necessary to locate a case file and expedite your request.

The information necessary on the War Relocation Authority Evacuee Case File request includes:

  1. name of evacuee (include all names used while in a center)
  2. name of the head of family
  3. date year of birth; and
  4. name of the War Relocation Authority center
    Proceed to the file request

The information necessary on the World War II Alien Enemy Detention and Internment request includes:

  1. name of internee (include all names used while in a center); and,
  2. Department of Justice case file number
    Proceed to the file request

The information necessary on the Compensation and Reparation file request includes:

  1. name of internee (include all names used while in a center)
  2. Department of Justice case file number; and,
  3. the act that the claim was made, I.E. 1948 or 1988
    Proceed to the file request

Order Requests

Please select the link below for the specific type of case file that you wish to order. Complete as requested, and send it to the address listed.


Contact Us

If you have any questions or for more information, contact us:

By e-mail: http://www.archives.gov/contact/inquire-form.html

By phone: 1-866-272-6272

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The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272