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Show United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE P.O. Box 37127 Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 IN REPLY REFER TO: - H34(418) Honorable Robert T. Matsui House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 NOV, 'i .77.) r-RF~~P\'41lON OfFICE Dear Mr. Matsui: Thank you for your letter of October 27, 1993, urging the designation of the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah as a National Historic Landmark. I regret that I cannot promise immediate action on your request. The National Park Service identifies and recognizes properties of national significance through the National Historic Landmarks Program. The stringent criteria of this program, described in an enclosure, require that the properties have a high state of historic integrity. Elements of two other internment camps, the Manzanar Center and the Rohwer Internment Camp Cemetery, have been designated National Historic Landmarks, Manzanar as the result of a theme study of World War II history conducted during the early 1980s and Rohwer through a study prepared by the Arkansas State Historic Preservation Office. Both properties possess intact historic evidences from the internment period. Manzanar has subsequently become a unit of the . National Park System. The Topaz War Relocation Center was examined during the World War II theme study cited above, but was not nominated for Landmark designation because the evidences of its existence on site are limited to a few foundations and the road pattern. No buildings survive. As the result of the passage of P.L. 102-248, however, the National Park Service will need to reexamine the internment camp sites and study for possible National Historic Landmark designation other historic resources associated with the Japanese American experience during World War II. (In that regard, I should note that, as part of a study of ethnic history, the Little Tokyo Historic District in Los Angeles has been proposed for Landmark designation; its nomination is pending review by the National Park System Advisory Board.) The Service's capacity to conduct this extensive study on staff is limited at present and it is highly unlikely that a cooperating organization will perform the study gratis, for it will necessarily address a fairly large number of properties in many States. It is not practical to conduct this study without the funds authorized by the legislation, which have not been appropriated. • |
