Talk: Bob Richard, Heart Mountain Internment Camp Story

The Story of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp

A free talk by Bob Richard

Thursday, September 15, 2022
Noon–1 p.m.

Join us for the September presentation in our “Local Lore with Bob Richard” series of free talks hosted by the McCracken Research Library.

Bob relates the story of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp between Cody and Powell, where more than 14,000 Japanese-Americans were confined during World War II. He illustrates the talk with many photographs by his father, Jack Richard, whose 1942 images from Heart Mountain number nearly 100 in the McCracken’s Research Library’s Jack Richard Photograph Collection. Bob also shares excerpts from the book No Longer Silent: World-wide Memories of the Children of World War II.

Following the illustrated talk, Bob signs copies of his books, for sale in the Center’s Points West Market, which will also have copies of No Longer Silent for sale.

With a wealth of knowledge about the Cody and Yellowstone National Park areas, Bob has a lifetime of stories to share with future generations. The “Local Lore with Bob Richard” series continues monthly throughout the year.

The talks in this series are gathered in this YouTube playlist.

View from hillside above Heart Mountain Relocation Center, as construction workers build barracks, 1942. PN.89.111.21236.17

Sets Murakami and her son Richard at Heart Mountain Relocation Center, 1942. PN.89.111.21237.8

Japanese-American internees arrive by train at the stop for Heart Mountain Relocation Center, 1942. PN.89.111.21236.15

Guard standing at top of one of nine guard towers at Heart Mountain Relocation Center, 1942. PN.89.111.21236.14

Japanese-American women walk to their barracks at Heart Mountain Relocation Center, 1942. PN.89.111.21238.3

Yamano family, with son home on leave from the Army, in front of their barrack, 1942. PN.89.111.21236.21

About the speaker

A lifelong Wyoming resident, Richard’s varied experiences are pure West. He worked at guest ranches, guided horse and hunting trips, ranched, and for 37 years owned and operated Grub Steak Expeditions, personally touring thousands of visitors from around the world through Yellowstone and its ecosystem.

Educated at the Universities of Wyoming, Arizona, and California (Fresno), Richard has served as a teacher and school administrator, a decorated United States Marine Corps pilot in Vietnam, and, for 21 years, helped coordinate American Red Cross service and relief activities in the western United States.

Richard is the author of several books on the Cody and Yellowstone area, as well as his own family’s deep roots in the region. They feature his own photographs and often those of his father Jack Richard and uncle Ned Frost. For information on Bob’s photography and his published books, visit bobrichardphotography.com.

Upcoming Local Lore talks

• October 20: The History of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West
• November 17: Women in the Early Days and Other Old-Timers
• December 15: Sunlight / Crandall Country