Dec. 30, 2023: “The Lost Sketches of Topaz”

We close out the year with a new story two years in the making: Two years ago Utah resident Cynthia Wright saw our Topaz Stories Instagram posts and became interested in her family’s Topaz history. Her grandparents were Ella Honderich, a Swedish immigrant, and her husband, Walter, the manager of the Topaz Co-op.

(L): A young Caucasian woman sits outside with a sketch pad on her lap, surrounded by a black dog and young child on a makeshift toy vehicle. In the background is an old car and a some barracks. (R): A sketch of a Japanese American couple in a barrack apartment. The woman is sitting at a simple table, bent over a book. The man sits near a pot-bellied stove. — ^{(L): Ella sketching in Topaz while Valerie plays. Courtesy of Valerie Honderich. (R): English lesson. © Ella Honderich. Copy of photo. Courtesy of Valerie Honderich and the National Archives #210-CT-12-T-705 (not yet digitized), Still Picture Branch, MD.}

Ella was an artist, and from 1942-1945, while living in Topaz, where she gave birth to Cynthia’s mother Valerie, she created about 80 drawings of Topaz life. Thus began Cynthia’s quest to rediscover her grandparents’ story and her grandmother’s lost sketches.

We are honored that Cynthia has shared her grandmother’s story with us, along with photos of 25 of Ella’s sketches that she has managed to track down. Read “The Lost Sketches of Topaz” and see Ella’s artwork on our website.

The Topaz Stories Team

Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)

Dec. 30, 2023: “The Lost Sketches of Topaz”

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