In the spring of 1942, people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast were forcibly removed by the US Army into temporary "assembly centers" while permanent incarceration camps were built. The Puyallup Assembly Center, euphemistically named “Camp Harmony," was hastily constructed at the Washington State fairgrounds, and temporarily housed over 7,000 residents of Seattle, Tacoma, and Alaska.

The spartan quarters of the Camp Harmony assembly center were made more livable with fabrics, bedding and curtains. Note shiplap floor panels sealing the apartment against the ground located a few inches away.

This photograph was printed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on May 25, 1942 with the caption "Comforts of home -- Mrs. Robert Hosokawa, recent Willamette coed, laying out a new apron in the cozy apartment which she and her husband have contrived to make out of their bare barracks. Her husband constructed the furniture out of scrap lumber and his bride of two months achieved the rest with a few draperies."

A framed photograph of Robert Hosokawa, husband of the woman pictured, is seen on the table at right.
Handwritten on sleeve: PUYALLUP, Wash., Japanese colony, Camp Harmony.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): June 12, 1942.