GARDENA — Patti Hirahara will address the Greater L.A. JACL on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 2 pm. at Merit Park Recreation Hall, 58 Merit Park Dr. in Gardena (off 158th Street near Pacific Square). Her topic will be “From the Smithsonian to Anaheim: Preserving the Japanese American Legacy.”
Hirahara, whose father and grandfather took thousands of photographs while interned at the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming, took her family’s artifacts, documents, and photographs and helped to create five Hirahara family collections at the City of Anaheim, Washington State University, the Yakima Valley Museum in Yakima, Wash., the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center and the Oregon Historical Society, both in Portland, Ore., in addition to having a family Heart Mountain artifact on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Families do not realize what treasures they have in their homes, and their items may be a valuable key to fill a void in Japanese American history, Hirahara says. Her hints may help you find that instead of throwing items away, you may want to donate them instead. So if you don’t know what to do with your family artifacts, especially due to what happened with the Rago Auction and the Eaton Collection, this would be a great meeting to attend.
All are welcome. For more information, call Louise at (310) 327-3169 or Janet at (310) 835-7568.