Joseph H. Smart papers

Joseph H. Smart (1900-1993) was born November 12, 1900 to William and Anna Smart in Ogden, Utah. He worked within the Justice Department, National Recovery Administration, and Resettlement Agency. He joined the War Relocation Authority in 1942, and his offices supervised Japanese internment camps incuding Heart Mountain, Minidoka, and Grenada (Amache). In 1944 he was appointed director of the Fort Ontario Emergency Shelter established in Oswego, New York, to house refugees of various nationalities, most of whom were Jewish, brought to the United States from Europe. In 1945, Smart resigned his position to head the Friends of Fort Ontario Guest Refugees, an organization that mounted a successful campaign by Shelter residents to gain permission to remain permanently in the United States. He died November 21, 1993 in Salt Lake City.