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Japanese Army aviator photograph album
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
In 1937 Japan invaded the Republic of China, setting in motion the Second Sino-Japanese War, the largest Asian war in the 20th century and the beginning of the larger Pacific War (the Asian theater of World War II). The war was the result of imperialist expansion into China by the Japanese Empire in search of raw materials, including the 1931 invasion of Manchuria, the establishment of the puppet state of Manchuko, and steadily growing military tension between Japan and China in a series of "buffer zones" as the Japanese military expanded its territorial control. While the Japanese army was ultimately successful in controlling most of China's large urban centers, it was unable to control China's rural areas. The United States and its Western allies entered the war in 1941; the combination of this added military pressure and material aid to China, as well as successful advances by the Chinese Revolutionary Army, led to Japan's formal surrender in 1945.
This album contains photographs taken by an aviator of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during deployment in Manchuria and northeastern China. The photos are a mixture of posed, formal shots and candid photos of soldiers in military action and in camp within the steppes of Manchura, including local peoples with horses, yurts, and Bactrian camels. There are also shots of friends and family on the home front; the names of photographic studios suggest that the aviator came from somewhere near Ueno.
Sold by Alexander Historical Auctions, 2019
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Sam Allingham
- Finding Aid Date
- 2021 September 1