We are pleased to announce that the Topaz Stories Exhibit will be available to libraries, schools, and museums in Utah as part of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibit Program through mid-2026.
If your organization in Utah is interested in hosting, check out this link. To view the Topaz Stories Traveling Exhibit page, click here.
Thanks to UA&M and Fletcher Booth for welcoming us into his nomadic “family” of exhibits!
We launched our Topaz Stories website on May 1, 2021. Our physical exhibit at the Utah State Capitol, originally scheduled for June 2020, had been indefinitely postponed by the COVID lockdown, and in the midst of a stunning rise in anti-Asian violence, we felt urgency to share these stories about an entire community that had been unjustly demonized and confined during WWII.
Since launch, we have continued adding new stories and held the long-delayed exhibit in Salt Lake City (Jan-Dec 2022), marking the 80th anniversary of the incarceration. Our website has had over 50,000 page views by people all over the world. Thanks to all who have followed our journey!
The Topaz Stories Team
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
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)