Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Commemorative Japanese Military and Imperial Propaganda Postcards #12025-z, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased in June 2017 from F.A. Bernett with the Bowman Gray Fund (Acc. 103178).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Laura Hart, May 2018

Encoded by: Laura Hart, May 2018

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Taishō, Emperor of Japan, 1879-1926--Pictorial works.
• Airships--Japan--Pictorial works.
• Emperors--Family relationships--Japan--Pictorial works.
• Emperors--Japan--History--20th century--Pictorial works.
• Empresses--Japan--Pictorial works.
• Fighter pilots--Japan--History--20th century--Pictorial works.
• Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, 1901-1989--Pictorial works.
• Japan--Armed Forces--Flags--Pictorial works.
• Japan--History--1912-1945--Pictorial works.
• Japan--History--Meiji period, 1868-1912--Pictorial works.
• Japan. Kaigun--Officers--Pictorial works.
• Japan. Kaigun--Pictorial works.
• Japan. Nihon Rikugun Kōkūbutai -- History--Pictorial works.
• Japan. Rikugun--Pictorial works.
• Meiji, Emperor of Japan, 1852-1912--Pictorial works.
• Postcards.
• Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905--Pictorial works.
• Samurai--Pictorial works.

The postcards were created in imperial Japan, during the reigns of Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor Taishō (1879-1926), and Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989). The illustrations show the expansion of the Japanese empire in Asia during the first third of twentieth century and military victories, particularly against Russia during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).

The collection contains illustrated postcards created in Japan between 1905 and 1935. Photomechanical reproductions, drawings, maps, and other graphics depict Emperor Meiji, Emperor Hirohito, the imperial family, imperial palaces, the Japanese navy, the admiralty, war ships, the Japanese army and cavalry, dirigibles and airplanes, including biplanes, hydroplanes, and fighter planes, and Japan’s war flag and navy ensign. Also pictured are naval victories, naval ports and harbors including Hyogo Harbor, the annexation of Korea, shipping route to Europe, the imperial court, Japanese theater, and samurai. Many postcards appear to venerate the emperors and admiralty and glorify Japanese military victories during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and the First World War (1914-1918).