English-language Materials in the Gordon W. Prange Collection   Tags: library, special collections  

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 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 during the Occupation of Japan. 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.

Welcome to the guide to English-language materials in the Gordon W. Prange Collection!  Though the Prange Collection is known for its Japanese print publications, it also contains significant gift collections and English-language reports and documents.  The reports and documents were shipped to the University of Maryland in 1949-1950 with the Japanese print publications.  The gift collections have been acquired over the years by the University of Maryland Libraries.  They include manuscripts, photographs and oral histories that document the personal and professional lives of Americans who served in Allied Occupied Japan.