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(ATOMIC BOMB.)
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Photos.
Collection of 27 amateur and military photographs related to the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 Aug 1945. Within the collection are three distinct sets of photographs. Set A (each about 75 × 100-104 mm) comprises 13 amateur before-and-after photos of the city, including two before and three after images of the famous Hiroshima Commercial Museum ("Atomic Bomb Dome") and a before image of the Hiroshima Railway Station. There are also three photos showing an overview of the ruined city from a hill at a distance across the river. We have been unable to locate any of these within the historical record. Set B (each 111 × 142 mm) comprises 10 photos taken from within the city ruins, including blasted trees, twisted metal, a church, a burial ground, and the Commercial Museum. Each photo has a label hand-written on the negative in white block capitals "Terrible sight, by Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima". Copies of these photos have appeared for sale in the past, among the papers of a New Zealand army private, and at auction with other ANZAC materials. Set C (117 × 147 mm) comprises four photographs taken by the American military, with professional captioning. Two of these images ("Close-Up Air View of Hiroshima City" and "A White Puff Floats Over Dark Column of Atomic Explosion") were reproduced in Life Magazine on 17 Sept 1945. Photos from sets B & C have handwritten notes on the backs: "Please Return to Visitor Office" and green "TV" ink stamps, and may have been institutional copies held by a military visitor office or press office.
27 photographs. Some light creasing and rubbing along edges, a few small spots, one photo with light markings transferred from an old plastic sleeve that it was housed in.
