Dear Miss Breed Summary

Introduction to Miss Breed: “Dear Miss Breed: Letters from Camp”, is a collection of over 200 letters sent to Miss Clara Estelle Breed, also known as ‘Miss Breed’, from Japanese Americans imprisoned in the Japanese Interment Camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prior to World War II, Miss Breed, was the supervising librarian at the East San Diego Public Library (“Dear Miss Breed”). Through this she was able to become aquatinted with many of the Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) children within her community. When the United States made the decision to join World War II, the young Nisei children that Miss Breed had come to care for were being forced from their homes and relocated to internment camps. Outraged by the situation,

The letter was broken up into two sections, both written and dated only twenty-four hours apart from one another (April 13-14, 1942), as the letters were composed during any time Hitasaki had to spare within his day. Hitasaki’s letters to Miss Breed was written in a strikingly formal tone as the purpose of his letter was to inform Miss Breed about the details pertaining to his current whereabouts, health condition, and to request equipment in which he desired. Initially, Hitasaki begins his letter by discussing Santa Anita’s prior reputation as a renowned horse racing track where thousands had gathered to see, “the mighty Seabiscuit won his great duels on the track” (“Dear Miss Breed”). However, he soon takes on a more ‘formalized’ tone as he swiftly transitions to discussing his current health condition and the orders that he recently received from his doctor in relation to treating his arm injury. This ‘formalized’ tone, remains consistent for the remainder of his letter as Hitasaki explains the process in which dorm mates are assigned and as he concludes by asking Miss Breed to send him some of his barber equipment that he had left behind in his old apartment. Towards the beginning of Hitasaki’s first letter dated April 13, 1942, he mentions Santa Anita’s previous status, it being the place, “where once trod the millions of

In her letter, Tsumagari does not implicitly state the location in which she currently resides, however, based upon the locale that she provided (and the implied time period) it can be assumed that she is being hosted at Camp Savage. Camp Savage is the former site of Military Intelligence Service language school operating during World War II, located in Savage, Minnesota whose primary purpose was to teach the Japanese language to American soldiers to aid/abet the war effort (“Camp Savage”). Tsumagari’s letter to Miss Breed was written in a very personalized manner, as Tsumagari describes particularly intimate stories about her entire family (brother, sister, brother-in-law). Being that the purpose of her letter was to catch Miss Breed up on the events that she has missed in her life since they have been separated as, “time flies by so fast and it’s terribly hard to keep track of” (“Dear Miss Breed”). This letter holds a sense of value as through it, an image of the tearing apart of Japanese families during World War II can be unveiled. Towards the beginning of Tsumagari’s letter to Miss Breed she is quick to state that she has been without her family for some time now and to say how much she misses them. From there, she moves onto telling stories about her family; from her brothers aspiration for attending Med School, her sister and brother-in-law’s vacation in