MUSEUM
Visit the Museum
- The Topaz Museum is located at 55 West Main, Delta, Utah
- Reach us by phone: (435) 864-2514
- Hours are Monday – Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Admission by donation
- Sign up here to bring a school class or group.
- Request a docent-led tour of the Topaz Historic Landmark site here.
- Address of the Topaz National Historic Landmark: 11000 W 4500 N Rd, Delta, UT. Please enter this address into your GPS instead of simply typing “Topaz.”
- ADA Accessibility Information
- Pilgrimages
About the Museum
The idea for a Topaz Museum actually began in journalism classes at Delta High in 1982, led by teacher Jane Beckwith. She assigned her students to interview Delta residents who had worked at Topaz during World War II. The assignment began a community dialogue in Delta for the first time since the war. People then brought artifacts to Jane that they had been keeping, resulting in a trunk of artifacts that were shown during presentations about Topaz. A conference at the University of Utah in 1983 sparked a connection and conversation between the Delta High School students and Japanese Americans attending the conference.
The Topaz Museum shares the stories of the 11,000 people of Japanese descent who were unjustly accused of threatening the nation’s security, and then confined at Topaz during World War II through a collection of hundreds of artifacts, photographs, and oral histories, including 150 pieces of original artwork.
The core exhibit explores the complex story of the World War II Japanese American incarceration experience. The exhibit begins with the racist laws that marginalized early Japanese immigrants leading to the mass incarceration of the Japanese American community during World War II, extends into the traumatic impact of their exile, and concludes with an examination of the Constitutional violations that the incarcerees were forced to endure.
Through powerful artifacts, photographs, and first-person accounts, visitors engage with the personal stories of Japanese Americans who lived through the experience of mass incarceration by the U.S. government. The Topaz Museum emphasizes that the World War II American confinement sites and the protection of our civil liberties is a shared history and that the objects and photographs from Topaz can encourage Americans to connect to our shared past and to better understand how to create a more just future.
Exhibits
Some of our collections are featured in these online galleries:
Delta Driving or Biking Tour
A tour including some of the remodeled barracks and hospital wings moved from Topaz to Delta, as well as other points of interest representing the history of Topaz.
Historic Site of the Topaz Camp
Photo: Brian Buroker
Help Support Our Museum
MUSEUM
Visit the Museum
- The Topaz Museum is located at 55 West Main, Delta, Utah
- Reach us by phone: (435) 864-2514
- Hours are Monday – Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Admission by donation
- Sign up here to bring a school class or group.
- Request a docent-led tour of the Topaz Historic Landmark site here.
- Address of the Topaz National Historic Landmark: 11000 W 4500 N Rd, Delta, UT. Please enter this address into your GPS instead of simply typing “Topaz.”
- ADA Accessibility Information
- Pilgrimages
About the Museum
The idea for a Topaz Museum actually began in journalism classes at Delta High in 1982, led by teacher Jane Beckwith. She assigned her students to interview Delta residents who had worked at Topaz during World War II. The assignment began a community dialogue in Delta for the first time since the war. People then brought artifacts to Jane that they had been keeping, resulting in a trunk of artifacts that were shown during presentations about Topaz. A conference at the University of Utah in 1983 sparked a connection and conversation between the Delta High School students and Japanese Americans attending the conference.
The Topaz Museum shares the stories of the 11,000 people of Japanese descent who were unjustly accused of threatening the nation’s security, and then confined at Topaz during World War II through a collection of hundreds of artifacts, photographs, and oral histories, including 150 pieces of original artwork.
The core exhibit explores the complex story of the World War II Japanese American incarceration experience. The exhibit begins with the racist laws that marginalized early Japanese immigrants leading to the mass incarceration of the Japanese American community during World War II, extends into the traumatic impact of their exile, and concludes with an examination of the Constitutional violations that the incarcerees were forced to endure.
Through powerful artifacts, photographs, and first-person accounts, visitors engage with the personal stories of Japanese Americans who lived through the experience of mass incarceration by the U.S. government. The Topaz Museum emphasizes that the World War II American confinement sites and the protection of our civil liberties is a shared history and that the objects and photographs from Topaz can encourage Americans to connect to our shared past and to better understand how to create a more just future.
Exhibits
Some of our collections are featured in these online galleries:
Delta Driving or Biking Tour
A tour including some of the remodeled barracks and hospital wings moved from Topaz to Delta, as well as other points of interest representing the history of Topaz.
Historic Site of the Topaz Camp
Photo: Brian Buroker