The Gordon W. Prange Collection is the most comprehensive collection in the world of print publications issued in Japan during the immediate
post-World War II years, 1945-1949. The Collection comprises virtually everything published on all subjects during this period - books,
pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, news agency photographs, posters, maps and related archival materials. The Collection includes:
- 18,047 newspaper titles
- 71,000 book and pamphlet titles
- 13,799 magazine titles
- 10,000 news agency photographs
- 90 posters
- 640 maps
The contents of the Prange Collection once constituted the files of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), an operating unit of the Supreme
Commander of the Allied Powers. (SCAP) Press, Pictorial and Broadcast Division. Between 1945 and 1949, the CCD was responsible for reviewing
all Japanese publications to identify violations of the Code for the Japanese Press. When
violations were identified by CCD examiners, censorship action was taken. The Collection contains approximately 600,000 pages of censorship
documents.
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On August 15, 1945 Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces. General MacArthur arrived in Japan on August 30, 1945. Within three weeks, General
MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) issued a ten-point Press Code for the Japanese news
media. The Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), an operating unit overseen by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2), was transferred
from the Philippines to Japan at the beginning of the Occupation. The CCD was to establish censorship of civilian communications (mail,
telephone, telegraph, film, radio and publications). Japanese agencies and private individuals were required to submit their publications to the
CCD, which then determined whether they contained violations of the Press Code. Censorship action, when it occurred, involved additions to or
deletions from texts, suppressions of materials, disapprovals, publishing delays, and changes.
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Gordon W. Prange was born in Pomeroy, Iowa on July 16, 1910. He studied at the University of Iowa, receiving his Ph.D. in 1937. That same
year, he began his teaching career as a professor of history at the University of Maryland. In 1942, he was granted a leave of absence from the
University to embark on a wartime career as an officer in the United States Navy. He was sent to Japan in 1945 as a member of the American
Occupation Forces. He completed his Navy service soon thereafter, but continued in Japan as a civilian from 1946 to 1951 as chief of General
Douglas MacArthur's 100-person historical staff. When censorship of the Japanese media by Allied Forces was lifted in 1949 and the Civil
Censorship Detachment disestablished, Professor Prange, recognizing the historical significance of the CCD material, arranged for its shipment
to the University of Maryland. The materials arrived at the University in 1950. On September 15, 1978, the Board of Regents of the University of
Maryland passed a motion to name the collection the "Gordon W. Prange Collection: The Allied Presence in Japan, 1945-1952." Professor Prange
continued to teach at the University of Maryland until several months before his death on May 15, 1980. He is still remembered by alumni as one
of the University's truly great teachers, and is well known today for major works on the war in the Pacific, particularly Tora! Tora!
Tora!
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The UM Libraries have invested heavily in organizing, processing, and preserving the Collection, and considerable progress has been made. As
a result of severe shortages in the post-war years, Japanese publishers were forced to use poor quality, high-acid content paper, and the
publications from these years are deteriorating rapidly. In 1992, the UM Libraries and the National Diet Library of Japan (NDL) began a joint
project to preserve the 13,799 magazine titles in the Prange Collection. The project was completed in March 1997. The 63,000 microfiche and the
accompanying finding guide are now available to users at the UM Libraries and NDL. In 1993, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
(CGP) awarded the UM Libraries a $1,000,000 grant to begin preparations for the preservation microfilming of the Prange newspaper and newsletter
holdings and related censorship documents. In 1995, the National Endowment for the Humanities furthered this effort with an award to the Prange
Newspaper Project of $531,095. In 1999, the Nippon Foundation and NEH awarded the Prange Collection $477,000 and $300,000 respectively to
complete the Newspaper Project. With the completion of the magazine and newspaper microfilming projects, major progress has been made toward
achieving the UM Libraries' goal of preserving the entire Collection so that it will be fully accessible to scholars.
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In addition to the microform versions of the Prange magazine and newspaper collections that are freely available at the UM Libraries and the
National Diet Library in Japan, Prange Collection staff is systematically cataloging the 71,000 books in the Prange Collection by subject. Without the
bibliographic control that cataloging provides, it is nearly impossible to provide access to these books. In 2001-2002, the Prange
education book collection was cataloged with support from the Nippon Foundation. The economics, political science and sociology books are
currently being organized and cataloged.
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