>> I'm Quade Robinson,
a Master's student
in Regional Studies East
Asia at Harvard University.
This summer, I'm interning
as a junior fellow working
with Asian Division on their
Prewar Japanese Serials project.
To summarize my project, I'll
start with the material itself.
What are some of the qualities
of a magazine like this one?
Well typically they're easy
to read, easy to digest,
their audience sometimes
broad sometimes narrow
but their content
is mostly topical
and [inaudible] of
popular culture.
But as my project shows,
many have lasting impacts
for researchers and historians.
Today, I'd like to share a brief
presentation giving an overview
of my project and sharing some
other prewar Japanese serials
I'm working with.
My project involves
analyzing the B collection,
subset of the main Japanese
collection which contains most
of the Library's prewar
and occupation period
Japanese language serials
and periodicals.
We begin seeing an image of the
Adams Building in Washington,
D.C. on the Library
of Congress campus
where the B collection
is stored.
Breaking down the collection,
it spans some 45,000
to 75,000 individual
issues across 14,500 volumes
and consisting of
4,000 unique titles.
These titles include popular
magazines, government reports,
journals, and newsletters
targeting these consumer bases.
A common thread amongst
the periodicals is
that they were used to
bring communities together,
both small and large.
Many periodicals
were requisitioned
by the American Occupation
Forces following Japan's defeat
in World War II and
this is reflected
in the politically-charged
aspect of many
of the publications,
including a political leaflets
and [inaudible] accounts
of the colonies meant
to drive immigration
and investment.
On the opposite end,
[inaudible] of poetry
and literature were not meant to
be distributed for [inaudible]
yet ended up in the B
collection all the same.
Narratives of [inaudible]
and grassroots historical
threads are found throughout
the collection.
Using the metadata
of the collection then we bring
these threads into a scene,
uncovering, identifying,
and categorizing the titles
into groupings helpful
for researchers.
[inaudible] that will help
researchers to quickly
and effectively find and
access relevant material.
Thus far, I have
grouped over 1,000 titles
that are directly related to
a specific geographic region
and dozens of countries
from every continent
except Antarctica.
On the slide, we can
see from left to right,
The Takasaco Times about Taiwan,
Iminchi [inaudible] a
journal about immigration.
This specific issue is
about Brazil; and Ajia,
a journal about East
Asia in general.
Hundreds of titles can also
be thematically linked.
For example, many relate to
the emerging mediums of film
and television or
our newsletters
and journals targeting
members of left
and right-wing political groups
showing both the mainstream
and underlying political
currents present
in prewar and wartime Japan.
On this slide, we see Fujin
no tomo, another journal
of this one is marketed
mostly towards women.
In the middle, we can see an
advertisement from that magazine
and on the far right,
a page from Iminchi
[inaudible] showing routes
of mail ships throughout
Southeast Asia.
Although the nature and scope
of my project have shifted
with the change towards
remote work, I'm appreciative
that I'm able to work
with the junior fellows
in the Asian Division on this
project that is connected
to my own field of studies.
I'm hopeful that the
project will be used
in the future internally by the
Asian Division and externally
to help researchers
better access
and utilize this collection.