About This Project
In August 1923, William Dana Reynolds, with his wife Vera Hunt Reynolds and their young daughter Helen embarked from Honolulu on the Japanese steamship Taiyo Maru, bound for Yokohama. While at sea, the ship experienced and survived a tsunami only to arrive, badly damaged, in Yokohama Bay on September 8th as witness to the destruction caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake. Fully aware of the risks involved, eight of the male passengers decided to leave the ship and enter the city. Dana Reynolds was among them. For the next few hours, and later, upon his return several days after the initial quake, he recorded a series of compelling images of the horror and devastation.
These photographic images had been compiled into an album, and in early 2005, Lee Stewart, granddaughter of Dana and Vera Reynolds, offered her grandparent's photo album as a donation to any institution that would take care of the artifact itself as well as make it as available to scholars. Containing the photographic record of their encounter with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the album includes some of the earliest photographs of the destruction taken by Americans, and consists of over 100 original photographs taken in Yokohama, Kyoto, Shanghai, and Hawaii, as well as many photographs purchased in Japan that document the devastation.
The collection also serves as a unique glimpse into the culture of Americans traveling to Asia in the early 20th Century, including newspaper clippings (describing what the Reynolds witnessed in great detail, being transcribed from letters written home from Mrs. Reynolds herself), photographic portraits of the Reynolds family, telegrams, postcards, and travel keepsakes, including ship passenger lists, itineraries, programs and menus.
When Kerry Smith, Associate Professor of History, who was writing a book on the Kanto earthquake, learned of the album, he contacted the library to seek support in securing this gift. In the summer of 2005, the library received the photo album and began conceiving the project that culminated in this website. The goal of the project, and our commitment to Ms. Stewart, was to provide the widest possible access to these materials and to offer access to both scholars and the general public alike.
Working with Ms. Stewart to digitize family mementos and to write an introductory essay, the library's Center for Digital Initiatives began developing the site — digitizing and describing the materials in fall of 2005. Students in Professor Smith's "History of Modern Japan" class were brought into the project to assist in the cataloging process, and to write additional narrative materials to support use of the collection. Much of what you encounter on this site is representative of their commitment and hard work.
Project Participants:
- Kerry Smith, Associate Professor of History
- Lee Stewart
- Students enrolled in HI0156 (The Social History of Modern Japan):
- Mai Denawa '08
- Jennifer Magalong '08
- Keiko Seno '07