The Phillip Tigges Collection was donated to the Auraria Library Special Collections Department in 1983 by Phillip Tigges of Flint, Michigan.
Property rights in the collection are held by the Auraria Library Special Collections Department. Literary rights are dedicated to the public. There are no restrictions placed on the use of these materials.
The Phillip Tigges Collection consists of thirteen 9" x 7" black and white photographs which represent a return trip by Mr. Tigges in the summer of 1982 to the Amache Relocation Center where he spent three years as a child in the early 1940's.
A number of objects, building foundations and roadways are recorded in various perspectives. Besides the emotional, social, and political significance of these photographs, they help to document a different aspect of the Amache Relocation Center through images of the camp 40 years after its closure.
Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the United States Government issued an executive order which called for the removal of over 110,000 Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast. Although a majority of these people were American citizens, wartime emergency powers were deemed important enough to overrule their constitutional rights and civil liberties. Ten inland relocation centers were established to guard these people. Amache was the relocation center built in Colorado.
Between 1942-1946, 7,550 evacuees were housed at Amache. A farming operation of over 10,000 acres provided most of the food for the center. For several years Ernest Tigges was Farm Superintendent and lived in the relocation center. His son, Phillip Tigges was seven, eight, and nine years old at this time. There Phillip attended school and was one of two caucasian students in a class of 30 or more. From his Japanese friends, Phillip was introduced to Japanese culture, customs and food.
Phillip Tigges is now a professional photographer living in Flint, Michigan. In 1982, Mr. Tigges returned to the Amache Relocation Center to photograph the remains of the camp. Through the photographic images, he attempted to recapture the experience of his childhood days, as well as to produce an understanding in others of the social and political significance of the camp.
The Phillip Tigges Collection
Flint, Michigan
Collection 17
Preliminary Inventory
.25 Linear Feet
July, 1986
Box Photograph Description
1 1 Amache, Colorado: 1982. Main Entrance
2 Japanese Housing
Foundation
3 Foundations
4 Coal Storage Pit
5 Wire Trash Burner
6 Planted Shade Trees
7 Retention Cell
8 Japanese Cemetery
9 Memorial Stone
10 Amache, Colorado: 1984. "Amache Remembered"
11 Camp Flag Pole
12 Stove Ash Tray
13 Tricycle Wheel
SUBJECT TRACINGS
Amache Relocation Center
Granada, Colorado
Japanese-Americans
Photographs
Tigges, Ernest
Tigges, Phillip
War Relocation Authority