The collection contains material used by Carey McWilliams in writing the book, Prejudice: Japanese Americans, symbol of racial intolerance (Little, Brown, 1944). It includes U.S. War Relocation Authority records, confidential reports, bibliographies, clippings and compilations of articles, legal papers, correspondence between McWilliams and Japanese American evacuees, relocation camp newspapers and other publications, two copies of his book, and five copies of the 1994 videocassette (40 min.), Something Strong Within.

Carey McWilliams, editor of The Nation for 20 years, wrote several books dealing with social injustice and discrimination, such as Factories in the Field, Ill Fares the Land, and Brothers Under the Skin. He was born in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 1905, received a law degree from the University of Southern California in 1927, and published his first book, a biography of Ambrose Bierce, in 1929. He was a labor lawyer in Los Angeles, and was appointed California Commissioner of Immigration and Housing in 1939. Before he died in 1980, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Claremont Graduate School.

38 boxes (18.5 linear ft.) and 27 volumes

All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.

Collection open for research.