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Lot 351
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Hiroshima, 32 Superb Photos, Incl. American Missionaries, of a Culture That Would Be Wiped Out by Atomic Bomb a Few Decades Later
Hiroshima, 32 Superb Photos, Incl. American Missionaries, of a Culture That Would Be Wiped Out by Atomic Bomb a Few Decades Later
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Description:

Atomic Bomb
Hiroshima, Japan, ca. 1890s
Hiroshima, 32 Superb Photos, Incl. American Missionaries, of a Culture That Would Be Wiped Out by Atomic Bomb a Few Decades Later
Archive

[ATOMIC BOMB.] Archive of Photographs from Hiroshima, Japan, ca. 1890s. 32 pp., most 5.375" x 3.675" or 2.5" x 4". Twelve on carte-de-visite cardstock; some hand-colored; a few with Japanese and/or English captions. Very good overall.

This archive features photographs of Japanese individuals and groups and a few buildings in Hiroshima, Japan. Western missionaries collected the photographs, and female missionary teachers, including Alice Bryan and Nannie B. Gaines, appear in at least three of the photographs.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 destroyed the school that Gaines had led for 45 years and killed more than three hundred teachers and students. After the war, Hiroshima Jogakuin University (HJU) reopened at a new location, away from the city's center, and remains an educational institution for women today.

Historical Background
After the German Third Reich surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, World War II in Europe was at an end. However, the Allied war against the Empire of Japan continued in the Pacific theater. Although the Japanese had been pushed back from many of its island conquests, the Japanese Empire still controlled Korea, Taiwan, Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and much of mainland China on August 1, 1945.

Even before Germany surrendered, the Allies were contemplating an invasion of the Japanese home islands to begin in October 1945, and the Japanese leadership planned a vigorous defense. Both sides predicted heavy casualties. Throughout the first half of 1945, long-range B-29 Superfortress bombers delivered incendiary bombs to burn Japanese cities, ultimately targeting more than one hundred cities and towns.

On August 6, 1945, a crew led by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the United States Army Air Forces flew the B-29 Enola Gay and dropped an atomic bomb ("Little Boy") on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a port and industrial center. The crew was part of the 509th Composite Group, based on Tinian in the Marianas Islands. Two additional B-29 aircraft accompanied the Enola Gay and carried instrumentation and photographic equipment. The bomb killed from 90,000 to 146,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians over the next two to four months.

Three days later, another B-29 dropped a second bomb ("Fat Man") on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, a major military port and one of Japan's largest shipbuilding and repair centers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on the same day, and after several tense meetings and the suppression of an attempted coup d'état, the Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally on August 15, 1945. Japanese authorities signed the formal instrument of surrender on board the USS Missouri on September 2.

Nannie B. Gaines (1860-1932) was born in Kentucky and graduated from Franklin Female College in 1878. She taught at schools in Kentucky and Florida as a young woman. In 1887, she moved to Hiroshima, Japan, as a missionary teacher under the sponsorship of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. She began teaching at a girls' school organized by a Japanese Christian minister and served as the school's principal for the rest of her life. After a typhoon and fire destroyed the school's buildings in 1891, she supervised its reconstruction. In 1906, it expanded to become an official girls' high school. In 1919, she added a teacher training program, transforming the school into a junior-college-level institution, which by then had more than 700 students. In 1916, the Japanese government decorated her for her work, and she had an audience with the Crown Prince in 1926 to discuss women's education. Her sister joined her in Hiroshima in 1916, and they taught and lived together on the school's campus. She was buried in Hiroshima.

Alice D. Bryan (1864-1946) was born in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and became a missionary teacher in Japan. She initially traveled to Japan in 1894 at her own expense but was later sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. She worked in Hiroshima and Kobe for six years. In 1900, she returned to the United States and settled with relatives in Hillsboro, Texas. She taught in schools in Hillsboro and Paris, Texas, for many years before retiring.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: various, most 5.375" x 3.675" or 2.5" x 4"
  • Medium: Archive

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