Dear Miss Breed: The Children’s Librarian Who Made a Difference

Although the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war is a painful chapter in American history, there are many beautiful stories that come from this troubling time, one of which involves a children’s librarian at the San Diego Public Library, Clara Breed. 

Miss Breed, a graduate of Western Reserve University School of Library Science located in Cleveland, Ohio, later became the City Librarian and Director and of the San Diego Public Library.   

Although Claras Breed is recognized as being among the best public library administrators in the nation, she is remembered chiefly for her support of Japanese American children during the war, the library patrons whom she dutifully served when she was a children’s librarian. 

Miss Breed’s young library patrons were removed from San Diego to remote internment camps where they stayed until the end of the war.  This children’s librarian kept in communication with the children who were sent to the camps, sending reading materials and visiting them regularly, serving as a reminder of the possibility for decency and justice in a troubled world.    

Clara Breed received more than 250 letters and postcards from these children during the time they were incarcerated.  The children’s letters to Miss Breed read like poems.  Join WordStage II in this celebration of Miss Breed and her young patrons, all of whom come to life through words, theater and music.  

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