The Gordon W. Prange Collection at the University of Maryland Libraries holds Japanese publications published between Sept. 1945 and Nov.
1949 1 The uniqueness of this collection lies in that all of the holdings had gone through the censorship process which was implemented
by the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), an operating unit of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP). Publishers and individuals who
wanted to publish newspapers, magazines and books had to submit two copies of these publications to CCD before distribution. After being checked
by the CCD one copy was returned to the publisher and other remained with the CCD. I will call these materials kept in the CCD as "CCD materials"
in this paper. These CCD materials were transferred to the University of Maryland in 1950's after CCD was dissolved in late 1949. The collection
was named as Gordon W. Prange Collection, honoring Professor Prange who arranged materials to be sent to the University.
There are over 71,000 books and pamphlet in the Prange Collection and I had an opportunity to place 2,500 books into categories as they
remained unsorted. Among them, I found approx. 300 publications which did not seem to be the CCD materials yet were held in the Prange Collection.
This paper deals with these publications. I initially sorted these materials by: 1) publication years; and 2) existence of writing (stamps/labels)
either in English or Japanese on the book. Under this process, I eliminated over one hundred books without any writing, even they were published
before August 1945 or between August 1945 and November 1949 when the Censorship by CCD ended. I concluded that these books were purchased by
the library or donated to the library by patrons. I also eliminated pre war publications which were submitted to CCD as "galley", when the
publisher wanted to republish the book.
The remaining 200 publications had some type of additional information on the books. They are books and pamphlets published; A) before
August 15, 1945; B) between September 1945 and November 1949; C) between December 1949 and 1952 when the Allied Occupation ended; and D) other
than A) to C).
Type A) are the books and pamphlets published before August 15, 1945. Twenty-two books had English stamp marks which can be read "Shipping
Advice Number". An example of these numbers is "10138-597, and the materials also have "C-97" written on the book cover with a colored pencil.
Fifteen books were originally belonged to Interior Ministry of Japan (内務省) according to the labels attached to the books. There are fifteen
pre-war publications without shipping advice numbers. However these books had some English writings or Japanese police confiscation forms attached.
Most of the dates of confiscation of these books were in 1947.
Type B) are the books and pamphlets published between September 1945 and November 1949 when the censorship operation was in effect. The
standard numbering sequence of CCD materials was English alphabet and numbers (or without alphabet) such as B-123. However these books are numbered
as Japanese syllables and numbers such as ?-123 or just numbers. Red labels were also attached on their spine. It may be possible to presume that
these books were kept in different section of Allied Forces.
I also found some magazines in this category with Library of Congress (LC) duplicate stamps. It also has a pencil marked "Copy 3" with a
circulation number. A "State Department Library" stamp mark can be also read under LC stamp. Although CCD requested publishers submit two copies
for censorship, some publications may have had more than two copies requested.
Type C) are the books and pamphlets published after November 1949 until the end of Allied Occupation in 1952. These materials were most
likely donated by the people who worked for the SCAP.
Type D) was an edited draft manuscript of Japanese Constitution. I am unsure whether this was a draft by Japanese side or the SCAP side.
It has many handwritten changes.
Conclusion: I started this task to return misplaced books and publications back into their correct categories. During the process, I found
that this is not an easy task since the nature, as well as the origins of these materials looked to be different from standard CCD materials. It
reminded me of the Washington Document Center (WDC) materials
2 where after the defeat of Japan, the U.S. military confiscated enormous
amount of Japanese war related documents and publications from Japanese institutions and organizations. They were sent to WDC and later government
documents were returned to Japan, but books were sent to the LC. It is not likely that the materials in the Prange Collection are WDC materials.
I assume that these books and pamphlets were collected and held separately by other Occupation Forces, most likely by CCD or G-2 (GHQ Intelligence)
Although the sample numbers I dealt with are too small, I believe that these materials may support researchers who are interested in CCD/WDC
operations of the time.
Confiscation War Publication Brief Forms were inserted in "満州協和会の発達". In this form "C" was written in the Final Action Column. I am
unsure about the meaning of "C", or this "C" relates to the numbers written on the books described type A.
Samples of magazines. Left is a LC duplicate and right is CCD submitted magazine.
1. http://www.lib.umd.edu/prange/index.jsp 2. Bei Gikai Toshokan shozō senryō sesshū kyū Riku-Kaigun shiryō sōmokuroku : 1992-nen 5-gatsu genzai / Tanaka Hiromi hen = A comprehensive catalogue of publications of the Former Imperial Army and Navy, requisition by the Occupation Forces, and now in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress / ed. by Hiromi Tanaka. Tōkyō : Tōyō Shorin : hatsubai Hara Shobō, 1995. |
