20th Century Japan Research Awards

The Center for Historical Studies

& The University of Maryland

The Center for Historical Studies, History Department, and McKeldin Library, University of Maryland, announce a competition for two Research Awards on 20th century Japan. Each is worth up to $1,200 for use of the Prange Collection and East Asia Collection (McKeldin Library, University of Maryland) in research topics related in whole or in significant part to the period of the Allied Occupation of Japan and aftermath, 1945-1960. Holders of doctoral degrees or equivalent, established scholars, and advanced graduate students at the dissertation stage are eligible; historical topics are preferred. The deadline for application is October 15, 2001. Funds may be used at any time up to September 15, 2002. Announcement of successful applicants will be made by November 15, 2001.

Reimbursements up to $1,200 for travel, photoduplication, and living or other related research expenses (not including the cost of computers or software) will require receipts for processing by the University. Competition is open to scholars in all parts of the world; University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students are not eligible.

Send c.v., 2-3 page description of research project, and, if a graduate student, a brief letter from the dissertation adviser, to:

Prange Award Selection Committee
Center for Historical Studies
Department of History
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Email: historycenter@umail.umd.edu

Materials in the Prange Collection include virtually all Japanese-language newspapers, news agency releases, magazines, pamphlets, and books dating from the period of Allied censorship, 1945-1949, in addition to over 10,000 newspaper photos. There are also materials published by Chinese and Korean residents, most of which are written in Japanese. Related collections in English include the personal papers of Charles Kades and Justin Williams. Office correspondence documenting policies and decisions of the Press, Publications, and Broadcast Division, Civil Censorship Detachment, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Japan, are complementary to official Occupation records housed at the National Archives, College Park. Japanese newspapers and magazines from the Prange Collection are available for research on microform; books may be read in the Prange Archives. In addition, the East Asia Collection contains Japanese-language books published during the wartime period, scholarly monographs on Occupied Japan, and a wide variety of reference works.

For further information about the Prange Collection and East Asia Collection, please consult the following websites:

The Gordon W. Prange Collection

The East Asia Collection