Materials related to air raids and war damage in Yokohama

Last Updated May 11, 2022

Outline of the holdings
Existing catalogs and catalogs
Related literature guide

Outline of the holdings

Photograph
About 1,000 points. Photos have been collected from the war to the conclusion of a peace treaty after the war and the release of requisition. In addition to photographs taken by citizens, it also includes photographs taken by American military photographers in the US Air Force Library and the National Archives.
Related photos can also be seen in the collection of the American National Archives of the United States National Archives in the "Yokohama City History II". As photographs during the war, it contains images linked to the keywords of the time, such as expedition, metal recovery, air defense exercises, and military training.
In addition to photographs of the U.S. military, there are photographs of the affected areas taken by Japanese people. The region is mostly Naka Ward. During the occupation period, there are many photographs taken by photographers of the Occupation Army, around the Kannai-District on September 2, 1945, when the main forces of the Occupation Army landed.
At the 50th anniversary of the postwar period, Yokohama City held the "Yokohama Peace Prayer Exhibition" and published the catalog "Yokohama Air Raid by Photos: Citizens' Life during the War". Most of the photographs use materials related to "Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage".
→Web version of "Yokohama Air Raid by Photos" web version

Experiences, Diary, and Letters
About 500 points. Character materials such as experiences, diaries, and letters received from citizens are included in the first volume of "Experience Report" of "Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage" (6 volumes in total), Volume 2 "Citizen Life", Many of them are printed in the fifth collection of "Survey Report" (9 books in total). As a record of the air raid experience, you can read records of air raids that affected the city area, centering on the Yokohama raid on May 29, 1945. The diary contains records of citizens from various positions, such as elementary school studenｔ students and labor mobilization.

Paper materials
About 800 points. These include clothing tickets, daily necessities purchase passbooks, war savings receivables, certificates of affliction and application forms for temporary housing. In addition, there are commemorative tickets related to the 2600 AD, pamphlets and programs for celebration events. It also holds a series of postcards that make military life cartoon and postcards on the theme of life after guns.
As materials for children, appendixes of the magazine "Shonen Club" and Souroku are also collected as reference materials for knowing the life of those days.
In the latter half of the war, materials related to the Japan Trade Exposition held in 1949 are compiled. It has a large collection of unique materials such as various brochures, posters, bird's-eye view, guide maps, postcards, matches and tobacco labels.

In-kind goods
About 300 points. The collection focuses on clothing such as national clothing, monpes, school uniforms, and other materials related to eating habits such as homemade bread baking machines and lunch boxes. After the war, there is a commemorative batch of the Yokohama Port Opening Centennial Festival held in 1958.

Books
About 3,500 points The materials compiled as a series include "Asahi Graph" (from the first issue of Taisho 12 (1923) to 1945) and "Photo Weekly Report" (from the first issue of Showa 13 (1938) to Showa 16 (1941)) and "Weekly Report" (from the first issue of Showa 11 (1936) to 1945).
In addition, the "Stars and Stripes" paper published by the U.S. Army in Japan has been in its collection from October 1945 to December 1983. Although it is an unusual material, it can be viewed directly by copying and bound. In addition to records summarizing the situation of air raids in various places, the books published during the war, such as air defense reading books.

Others
About 1,000 points. Microfilm accounts for the majority of them. In the Yokohama City History Archives, microfilms such as the "Stars and Stripes" paper, the local newspaper "Yokohama Trade Shimpo" (later "Kanagawa Shimbun-sha") and the Yokohama editions of Asahi, Mainichi and Yomiuri. In addition, it also holds Japanese-related materials in the United States today, as well as English-language newspapers such as the BBC and Washington Post from the middle of the war to the 1920s.

Existing catalogs and catalogs

Listed catalog
I “Temporary Catalog of Collection Materials Related to Yokohama Air Raid and War Damage Magazine” (March 31, 1978)
"Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage" Category and cataloged for all six volumes.
II “Lending Materials Related to“ Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage ”(March 31, 1984)
The materials included in the "Yokohama Air Raid / War Damage Magazine Collection Material Temporary Catalog" are reclassified and organized according to their form, theme, age, etc.
III “Patrol Photo Catalog of“ Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage ”” (March 1987)
Catalog of panelized photographs (including schedules) (part of photos)
IV “Location of Documents Related to“ Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage ”” (March 1990)
List of rental materials related to "Yokohama Air Raids and War Damage" "
V “List of Yokohama Air Raid Related Materials” (March 1995)
Since the classification and classification numbers of individual materials are completely different at present, the catalog has been reorganized and newly accepted materials have been added.

Catalogue
"Yokohama Air Raid in Photos: Citizens' Life during the War II" (revised on May 29, 1995 and June 30, 1995)
This catalogue was edited mainly from the materials exhibited at the Yokohama Peace Prayer Exhibition (sponsored by Yokohama City and City of Yokohama, Board of Education Secretariat, Date: May 29-June 4, 1995).

The web version of "Yokohama Air Raid by Photos" has been released.

Related literature guide

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