The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation announced Monday the Interpretive Center has been designated a Smithsonian Institute affiliated museum, becoming only the second Wyoming museum to receive the honor.

As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Foundation will have the opportunity to collaborate on unique educational programs and workshops, participate in professional development, co-develop youth programs, host traveling exhibitions, and other opportunities offered in collaboration with the Smithsonian, said Interpretive Center Executive Director Aura Sunada Newlin.

“This speaks to what we have built at Heart Mountain over the decades since our grand opening in 2011, with the upcoming grand opening of the Mineta-Simpson Institute and all of the extraordinary community support that we've had over the years, both from the Japanese American community and from the local communities,” Newlin said.

The affiliation gives the organization an “extra stamp of approval” from the most highly respected museum organization in the country. The Foundation is thrilled and honored by the designation, said Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Heart Mountain board.

“Our world-class museum has attracted interest, both nationally and internationally, signifying the impact of the power of place. With our new Mineta-Simpson Institute opening this summer, we will enhance our ability to educate the public and continue to tell our incarceration story,” she said. “We hope that our museum and campus will inspire this country to learn more about what happened at this site in 1942.”

Smithsonian Affiliations establishes and maintains the Smithsonian’s long-term relationships with museums, educational organizations, and cultural institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico and Panama. Affiliates are collaborators on many of the Smithsonian’s strategic priorities, adding content and expertise to national initiatives to amplify the power of the stories we tell and reach broader and more diverse audiences.

Through Smithsonian Affiliations, millions of people have been able to experience the Smithsonian in their communities and have access to the Smithsonian’s educational programs, inspiring exhibitions and diverse collections.

The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation is dedicated to telling a dark but important part of our nation’s history, said Myriam Springuel, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service | Smithsonian Affiliations director.

“With a mission that so thoroughly matches the work of the Smithsonian, we are honored to welcome the Foundation into the Smithsonian Affiliate family and look forward to working together to share these important stories with audiences around the world,” Springuel said.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is the only other Smithsonian affiliate in the state among about 200 Smithsonian Affiliates in nearly every state, plus Puerto Rico and Panama. They assisted the Foundation in being designated as an affiliate, according to Foundation Director of Communications and Strategy Ray Locker.

Heart Mountain improvements

The news arrives during a flurry of good news for the center. Work at the interpretive center was featured in the season premiere of the Discovery Channel’s Hidden America. It highlights the new Mineta-Simpson Institute, as well as work on the internment camp’s original root cellar, the barracks and the hospital.

The Mineta-Simpson Institute is dedicated to the friendship of former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and former Republican U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Cody. The facility will offer space for workshops and programming specifically designed to foster empathy, courage and cooperation among our nation’s next generation of leaders. More than 300 people, including former incarcerees and a slew of high-powered politicians, celebrated the groundbreaking of the Mineta-Simpson Institute during the organizations 2022 Pilgrimage celebration.

“It’s a physical building that we are constructing, but it’s much more than that. It’s the expansion of our ability to reach a national and international audience with the story of our past here, but also the dynamism of our present and the vision that we have for the future,” Newlin said during the groundbreaking.

Mineta and Simpson met while they were Boy Scouts in the 1940s. Mineta, who is of Japanese heritage, was incarcerated at the site with his family for more than two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The two continued their friendship until just before the Pilgrimage, when Mineta passed away at 90 from heart failure on May 3, 2020.

During World War II, the United States, by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, forcibly relocated and incarcerated at least 125,284 people of Japanese descent in incarceration sites. At the Heart Mountain camp's peak, 10,767 people were confined in the Park County facility. During the 1,187 days the camp was open, more than 14,000 prisoners passed through the gates protected by armed guards.

“The work we do every day is celebratory,” Newlin said. “It is joyous for me as somebody whose relatives were incarcerated at Heart Mountain. There's definitely a lot of sadness; it was a very dark mark on our country's history. But the fact that we are building something to honor my family and all the other families who were there gives hope for the future.”

The work is near the end on the Mineta-Simpson Institute and the finished product will be unveiled July 27 at this year’s Pilgrimage.

The center was also named a finalist in the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Medal in late March after being nominated for the award by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).

“The 30 National Medal finalists from across the United States showcase the tremendous abilities of libraries and museums to serve as trusted, dynamic public spaces that meet the needs of their communities,” said IMLS Acting Director Cyndee Landrum. “The Institute of Museum and Library Services is honored to recognize these outstanding institutions. We congratulate them on their collective effort to respond to community needs, preserve diverse history and culture, and create a sense of belonging for all Americans.”

National Medal winners will be announced in late May. Representatives from winning institutions will be honored for their extraordinary contributions during an in-person National Medals Ceremony in Washington, D.C. this summer.

Newlin was quick to point out the organization’s donors.

“A big thank you from me personally, and from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation to the people who have been so generous with their time and their interest over the years from our local communities. We couldn't exist without them. And so I look forward to doing more to engage the local community as we move forward,” she said.

The Foundation joins the affiliate network at a critical time. The Foundation will have the grand opening of its new Mineta-Simpson Institute during its annual Pilgrimage on July 25-27, 2024.