Newswise — The University of Maryland's unique - and world-famous - Gordon W. Prange Collection has a new home - moving from the basement of McKeldin Library to spacious and newly renovated facilities on the fourth floor of Hornbake Library on campus. (See a slide show of the new facility)
The Prange Collection - named after beloved history professor and author Gordon Prange - holds virtually all printed materials from occupied Japan following World War II. Copies were kept because they were collected by the Allied Civil Censorship Detachment in Japan- which had to approve each publication - whether it was a newspaper, newsletter, magazine or children's publication.
Prange, who served as General Douglas MacArthur's historian in Japan, saved the collection from certain destruction when censorship ended after four years. He obtained permission in 1950 to have the materials crated up and shipped by boat to California, and then by train to College Park. Other universities in the U.S. wanted the collection, but Prange used his influence to have it sent to the University of Maryland. The university named the collection after Prange on May 6, 1979.
Manager Amy Wasserstrom says there are two aspects of the Prange Collection that make it both significant and unique, since the collection is the record of Allied policy regarding print publications in post-war Japan. "It's comprehensiveness first and foremost - it represents almost the entire publishing output of Japan for four years. The occupation was a unique situation in that all the materials - from newsletters of a sixth grade class through the major daily newspapers - were all collected by the Civil Censorship Detachment. They were all in one place. They were all sent to the University of Maryland."
She says, "The second aspect of the Prange Collection that makes it unique is the censorship of these materials. These are the only copies of censored materials from this period that exist anywhere in the world. So these materials don't exist even in Japan."
The web release offers an extended interview with Wasserstrom and additional audio and photo offerings.
High resolution photos taken of the Prange Collection's new home are available.
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