I am extremely grateful to have been awarded the 2026 Elisha and Elizabeth Atkins Memorial Research Travel Fellowship. The fellowship has allowed me to conduct vital research at the Japanese American National Library in San Francisco. The archive holds the Japanese American Citizen Leagues’ (JACL) records on both the history of the organisation and the redress movement. The documents at the archive are essential for my thesis which examines the interconnection between foreign policy and domestic activism in the US Government’s decision to provide reparations to Japanese Americans interned during the Second World War.

I spent a week in San Francisco at the archive and was able to photograph thousands of documents that will be of great importance to each of my thesis chapters. As a community archive, staffed by volunteers who were themselves involved in the redress movement, the opportunity to visit the archive was invaluable. Through conversations with Rita Takahashi, I was able to navigate the archive with ease, learning more about the redress movement and the inner workings of the organisation. This information will assist me in my analysis of the documents. Without these conversations and the kindness offered by Rita during my visit, including extending the archives opening hours as I had travelled such a long distance, my research would not be as rich as it is now. I owe both the APG and the JANL archivists my deep gratitude for making my research trip the success that it was.

Outside the archive I had the opportunity to explore San Francisco visiting Japantown and spending many evenings and early mornings exploring the Bay and making some aquatic friends. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Phil Davies for not only funding the award but for sharing memories of Elisha and Elizabeth Atkins for whom the award honours.