Culture

Ansel Adams’s Lost Internment Camp Photos

Bearing Witness

The photography legend made a series of trips to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in 1943 and 1944—and 50 of the resulting images will be on display in L.A. from Oct. 8 to Feb. 21.

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Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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The legendary photographer made a series of trips in 1943 and 1944 to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, one of 10 Japanese internment camps across the U.S. during World War II. Now, 50 of the resulting images will be on display at L.A.’s Skirball Cultural Center from Oct. 8 to Feb. 21.

At left, a man with a pipe stands atop a bus loading luggage into a rack, while others gather around.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Students seated in a classroom laboratory watching an instructor at the front of the room.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Three men standing in a field, with mountains in the background. According to the caption on the negative sleeve: “The Guayule Project was an important part of the Manzanar enterprise.”

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Catholic church, Manzanar Relocation Center.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Men handling beef carcasses in a butcher shop.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Bunkichi Hayashi, seated at a table with two other men, one pointing to a piece of paper with a pencil.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Birds sit on power lines above buildings, with mountains and setting sun in the background.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Young women singing in a choir.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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Rows of camp housing, covered on the outside with tarpaper, as snow-covered mountains are seen in the distance.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress
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A wooden sign at the entrance to the Manzanar War Relocation Center with a car at the gatehouse in the background.

Ansel Adams/Library of Congress

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