Japanese American National Museum

The Japanese American National Museum is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown Los Angeles. It is dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, the museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. It covers over 130 years of Japanese American history, beginning with the first Issei generation. Visitors can view artifacts, textiles, art, photographs, and oral histories documenting the Japanese American experience. The museum’s moving image archive contains over 100,000 feet of 16mm and 8mm home movies from the 1920s to 1950s, made by and about Japanese Americans. The museum collaborates with the Academy Film Archive to preserve and provide access to these films. The JANM Collection at the Academy Film Archive currently includes over 250 home movies and continues to grow.