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The National Historic Landmark Nomination for the Rohwer Relocation Camp Cemetery

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The National Historic Landmark Nomination for the Rohwer Relocation Camp Cemetery The National Historic Landmark Nomination for the Rohwer Relocation Camp Cemetery The Past, Nostalgia, and the Power of Place Arkansas Historic Preservation Program • State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) • State agency serves as primary agent for promoting historic preservation statewide • Located in Little Rock • Oversees a number of programs, including the National Register of Historic Places • Primary contact for all historic preservation efforts coordinated with National Park Service, including National Historic Landmark program Lakeport Plantation, 1859 Executive Order #9066 • Issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in response to national anti-Japanese hysteria after attack on Pearl Harbor • Empowered Secretary of War to create and enforce “exclusion zones” for anyone deemed a threat to the war effort • Western exclusion zone included roughly 100-mile band along coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, but also included part of Arizona • People of Japanese ancestry, whether American citizens or not, forced to relocate to one of ten internment camps in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and Arkansas • Issued February 19, 1942; not officially rescinded until February 19, 1976 by President Gerald Ford • Total of ten camps established • Two in Arkansas: Rohwer and Jerome Camp Construction • Inexpensive wood frame, finished with tar paper • Included barracks, latrines, mess halls, schools, etc. • Hospitals tended to be more permanent construction Manzanar – Independence, California • One of larger camps in terms of maximum population • Over 10,000 internees (Rohwer and Jerome never had more than 8,500) • Best preserved and most well-known relocation camp • Designated National Historic Landmark in February, 1985; now interpreted as National Historic Site Rohwer – Rohwer, Arkansas • Opened September, 1942; closed November, 1945 • Maximum population: over 8,500 internees • Acreage: 10,161 Status of Rohwer Camp site as of 1990 • Camp site, as built (almost 400 acres), listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1974, including cemetery • Deterioration issues with inexpensive concrete used for original cemetery monuments • Growing sentiment among camp ‘alumni’ that something needed to be done to help preserve the cemetery at the very least National Historic Landmark program • Originated with National Historic Sites Act of 1935; took shape as the National Historic Landmark program in 1960 • Predates National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which created National Register of Historic Places • Overseen by History Division of National Park Service • Exclusively recognizes historic properties of national significance • Significantly higher standard of documentation required to achieve designation • Designation includes legal protection and funding for maintenance, repair, restoration, etc. Ed Bearss Chief Historian, NPS 1981-1994 Obstacles for Rohwer being considered for NHL designation • NHL designation of Manzanar in 1985 – five years before – led NPS staff to believe no more historic resources associated with Japanese-American Relocation camps need be so-recognized • Loss of virtually all historic structures outside of cemetery created historic integrity issues, as did modern construction on part of site, coupled with use of site for farming • Lack of systematic study of stateside historic sites associated with WWII made comparisons of significance difficult • Properties associated with negative aspects of American history treated with less enthusiasm by NPS staff in general Nomination Timeline • Original NHL nomination, prepared in spring of 1990, initiated in response to letter received from NPS staff in February, encouraging SHPOs to identify and submit nominations • Original NHL nomination included boundary identical to National Register nomination; included text, maps and photographs • First response from NPS, received late summer of 1990, denied further consideration based on the integrity issues of the entire site, and the lack of national historic context against which to evaluate it; NPS staff “…cannot reasonably encourage…” any further effort on NHL nomination • AHPP staff decided to resubmit the nomination with boundary reduced to cemetery only Don Baker, AHPP Historian, with Sen. Dale Bumpers Nomination Timeline (cont.) • Redefined NHL nomination submitted autumn of 1990 • Second NPS response, received in December, questions significance of cemetery as ‘fragment’ of entire camp and again discourages further effort “In light of the foregoing, we must, regretfully, advise against any additional effort directed toward the National Historic Landmark designation of the remaining elements of the Rohwer camp.” • In June of 1991, decision made to appeal NPS decision as provided by NHL regulations • NPS responds with decision to work with us on the appeal and to send NPS historian Jim Charlton in November to meet with staff and conduct site visit NHL Dedication Ceremony, 1992 (Jim Charlton, second from right) Conclusions • One person can make a difference • The intangible, emotional attraction experienced while visiting historic properties – typically dismissed as “nostalgia” – is often something else entirely • The ability of a cultural site to convey the significance of a period of human occupation need not have anything to do with worshiping an idealized version of the past. This is especially well-illustrated by the Rohwer Relocation Camp Cemetery • Stark and unadorned • Simple design • Associated with a less-than-glorious period of history • No historical interpretation at all, not to mention none to gloss over unsavory aspects • Deterioration of monuments, while a separate concern, limits tendency to see site as anything other than what it is Ramifications • Power of place as meaningful preservation tool • Legal protections • Funding • With addition of responsible interpretation to any cultural site – pre-historic or historic – personal impact on public can create the excitement, interest and commitment necessary for actual, meaningful preservation .
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