2024/10/03

illustrated postcards of Japan & Empire mid-1945 into 1946


... Originally, Digital Scholarship Services at Lafayette College scanned, annotated, and posted only the illustrated cards, or less than ten percent of the collection. Thereafter, a digital copy of the whole collection was sent to the National Showa Memorial Museum in Tokyo. Their staff researched the conditions of their production and circulation, transcribed them, and also translated all of them into English. The "Pacific War Postcards" were subsequently the subject of an NHK feature, which aired in December, 2023 (https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20231220/k10014293911000.html). 

They are now available in an open-access format, as the latest subcollection of the East Asia Image Collection (https://ldr.lafayette.edu/collections/dz010q56p).

2024/10/02

Ruins of Ichijodani from 1500s frozen in time

Book review: Medieval Ruins is an important contribution to the English-language field of medieval history and archaeology. It is very readable—I have already used excerpts in my undergraduate classes-and provides a much-needed spotlight on some of the lesser known perspectives of common people during the Warring States period.
Citation: Michelle Damian. Review of Pitelka, Morgan. Reading Medieval Ruins: Urban Life and Destruction in Sixteenth-Century Japan. H-Japan, H-Net Reviews. October, 2024.