Materials related to air raids and war damage in Yokohama

Last Updated May 11, 2022

Overview of the Collections
Lists and catalogs already published
Reference Guide

Overview of the Collections

Photo
About 1,000 points. Photos are collected from the time of the war to the conclusion of the post-war peace treaty and the release of requisition. In addition to photographs taken by citizens, photographs taken by U.S. military photographers in the U.S. Air Force Library and National Archives are also included.
The related photos can also be seen in the archives of the American National Archives of Yokohama City History II. Photographs during the war include images linked to keywords at the time, such as expeditions, metal collection, air defense exercises, and military training.
In addition to photographs of the U.S. military, there are also photographs of the affected areas taken by Japanese. Most of the areas are Naka Ward. On September 2, 1945, when the main forces of the Occupation Army landed, there were many images of Yokohama being seized, including photographs taken by photographers of the Occupation Army in Kannai-District.
At the turning point of the 50th anniversary of the war, Yokohama City held the "50th anniversary of the postwar Yokohama Peace Prayer Exhibition" and published the catalog "Yokohama Air Raid in Photos-Citizen Life during the War-". Most of the photos use materials related to "Yokohama Air Raid and War Damage".
→"The Great Yokohama Air Raid in Photos" web version

Experience report, diary, letter
About 500 points. Character materials such as experience stories, diaries, and letters received from citizens include the first volume "Experience stories" of "Yokohama Air Raid and War Damage" (6 volumes), the second volume "Citizen's Life", and the "Survey. Many of them are printed in the fifth volume of "Aird Experience Report" (9 volumes in total). As a record of the air raid, you can read records of the air raid that damaged the city area, mainly on the Yokohama Air Raid on May 29, 1945. The diary contains records of citizens from various positions, including elementary school studenｔ students and labor mobilization, in addition to the general public.

Paper materials
About 800 points. This includes clothing tickets, passbooks for daily necessities, war savings receivables, certificates of affliction and application forms for the temporary housing. In addition, you can see commemorative tickets related to the 2,600-year-old BC, pamphlets for celebration events and programs. It also has a series of postcards that make military life manga and postcards on the theme of life after guns.
As materials for children, appendixes of the magazine "Shonen Club" and Soroku are also collected as reference materials for learning about life at that time.
In the latter half of the war, the materials related to the Japan Trade Expo held in 1949 are compiled. It has a large collection of unique materials such as various pamphlets, posters, bird's-eye views, guide maps, postcards, matches and tobacco labels.

Cash and cash
About 300 points. It mainly holds materials related to dietary habits such as national clothing, monpe, school uniforms, and handmade bread yaki machines and lunch boxes. As a post-war document, there is a commemorative batch of the Yokohama Port Opening Centennial Festival held in 1958.

Books
About 3,500 points. Materials compiled as a series include "Asahi Graph" (from the first issue of Taisho 12 (1923) to Showa 20 (1945)), "Photo Week Bulletin" (from the first issue of Showa 13 (1938) to Showa 16 (1941) Until the year), "Weekly" (Showa 11 (1936) to 426).
In addition, the "Stars and Stripes" published by the U.S. Army in Japan holds the "Stars and Stripes" from October 1945 to December 1953. Although it is a rare material, you can pick it up directly by copy binding. In addition to records summarizing the status of air raid damage in various places, the book also holds books published during the war, such as air defense reading books.

Other
About 1,000 points. Microfilm accounts for the majority. In the Yokohama City History Archives, in addition to the "Stars and Stripes" paper, the local newspaper "Yokohama Trading Shimpo" (later "Kanagawa Shimbun-sha") and the Yokohama version of the Asahi, Mainichi and Yomiuri editions are copied and bound. In addition, it also holds materials related to Japan in the middle of the war, preserved in the United States today, as well as English newspapers such as BBC and Washington Post from the middle of the war to the 1980s.

Lists and catalogs already published

The published catalog
I “Temporary Catalog of Collection Materials Related to Yokohama Air Raid and War Damage Magazine” (March 31, 1978)
"Yokohama Air Raids and War Damages" are classified and cataloged according to the editorial convenience of all six volumes.
II “Catalog of Lending Materials Related to“ Air Raid and War Damage in Yokohama” (March 31, 1984)
The materials included in the "Yokohama Air Raid / War Damage Magazine Collection Material Temporary Catalog" are re-classified and organized according to their respective forms, themes, ages, etc.
III “Paneled Photo Catalog of“ Air Raid and War Damage in Yokohama” (March 1987)
Catalog of paneled photos (including schedules) (partially posted)
IV “Catalog of“ Air Raid and War Damage in Yokohama ”(March 1990)
Listing materials that have not been included in the list of rental materials related to "Yokohama Air Raid and War Damage"
V “Catalog of Yokohama Air Raid Related Materials” (March 1995)
At present, the classification categories and classification numbers of individual materials are completely different, so we reorganized the catalog and added new materials.

Catalog
"The Great Yokohama Air Raid in Photos: Citizens' Life during the War-" (revised on May 29, 1995, June 30, 1995)
City of Yokohama, Board of Education Secretariat, Yokohama, Japan, held from May 29 to June 4, 1995.

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

Reference Guide

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