{"id":227721,"date":"2026-03-20T00:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/227721\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T00:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T00:43:08","slug":"heroic-librarian-clara-breed-brought-light-to-children-in-internment-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/227721\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroic librarian Clara Breed brought light to children in internment camps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Clara<\/a>Clara Breed speaks during the dedication of the Oak Park Library. (Photo courtesy San Diego Public Library)<\/p>\n

San Diego is quietly celebrating the birth of one of its historical heroines \u2014 a former city librarian, who became a key figure in California\u2019s history through work that still resonates strongly today.<\/p>\n

Clara Breed, who was born in Iowa on March 19, 1906 (although some places have it as 1909) was instrumental in bringing to light California\u2019s internment camps for Japanese-Americans and forcing the public to reckon with the children the United States forced to live in them.<\/p>\n

Breed began as the children\u2019s librarian<\/a> in 1929 at the old East San Diego branch fresh out of library school, and remained in that position for years. She loved and was beloved by the library children, who called her \u201cMiss Breed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of those children were of Japanese descent, which was not remarkable \u2014 until Dec. 7, 1941, when the bombing of Pearl Harbor not only dragged the U.S. into World War II, but also ignited a wave of xenophobic hysteria within the country and changed everything for Japanese-Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack on Pearl Harbor not only drew the United States into war, but within six months resulted in the detention of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry by the United States government,\u201d noted a 1992 article<\/a> in the Journal of San Diego History.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf this number, 70,000 were citizens of the United States by virtue of\u00a0jus soli, a status they had acquired by being born in the United States of America.\u201d Many of those were children. A not-insignificant number of those children attended Miss Breed\u2019s library. <\/p>\n

Overnight, those same children began to be treated as though they were criminals or potential threats to the United States, and many of her patrons were moved to camps.<\/p>\n

Breed, outraged by the government\u2019s actions, met the families at Union Station and offered<\/a> self-addressed stamped envelopes to the children as they were shepherded onto trains, encouraging them to write to her from wherever they ended up.<\/p>\n

And they did. <\/p>\n

They told her about the conditions there, the treatment, what they were eating, how they felt. In turn, she sent them books, checked on their friends and family members, and \u2014 most memorably \u2014 urged others to do the same. She also wrote articles and letters to editors to hold elected officials accountable for the actions that she never stopped regarding as an outrage and a profound betrayal. She stayed in contact with the children until they were able to return.<\/p>\n

After the war, Breed remained on as San Diego\u2019s city librarian for 25 years. She stayed in touch with many of her \u201cchildren<\/a>,\u201d and in 1991 she was honored at a reunion of Japanese-Americans who had been incarcerated in Poston, Ariz. <\/p>\n

She saved the children\u2019s letters and gave them to one of her correspondents, Elizabeth Kikuchi Yamada, who, in the introduction to\u00a0a book about Breed\u2019s actions called \u201cDear Miss Breed<\/a>,\u201d wrote: \u201cEvery book that Clara Breed sent me was an affirmation that we were not the enemy \u2026 Every book was hope.\u201d <\/p>\n

Recognizing their historical value, Yamada eventually donated them to the Japanese American National Museum.<\/p>\n

Many of the letters those children sent Breed still can be seen at the museum, where they are part of a permanent collection<\/a> that can be read online.<\/p>\n

According to the San Diego History Center<\/a>, Breed, who died in 1994, also was instrumental in opening branch libraries in San Diego and established the Serra Cooperative Library System<\/a>, which enables library patrons to borrow books from different libraries throughout San Diego and Imperial counties.<\/p>\n

Breed\u2019s legacy may not be well known, but it resonates in the lives of San Diegans every day. <\/p>\n

\u201cClara Breed was dedicated to the library and the San Diego community during her lifetime and this dedication still informs the mission of the San Diego Public Library today,\u201d said San Diego Public Library Director Misty Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer legacy lives on through our commitment to inclusion and equity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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