Tag Archives: World War II

New Accession: Atomic-bombed Roof Tiles from Hiroshima University

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The Uni­ver­sity Archives was recently given the honor and respon­si­bil­ity of pro­vid­ing a home for seven roof tiles that sus­tained dam­age in the atomic bomb­ing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.  The roof tiles were col­lected in a river bed near ground zero of the atomic bomb explosion.

3 of the 7 tiles.

3 of the 7 tiles.

Along with the roof tiles, the dona­tion includes pho­tographs of the loca­tion where the tiles were recov­ered; book­lets and pam­phlets on the bomb­ings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and doc­u­ments related to the artifacts.

Hiroshima Uni­ver­sity was dec­i­mated in the atomic bomb attack— most of its stu­dents and fac­ulty mem­bers per­ished and its build­ings were demol­ished.  In the post-war period, Hiroshima University’s pres­i­dent Tat­suo Morito reached out to uni­ver­si­ties world-wide to help to renew the insti­tu­tion by send­ing books for its library and saplings to bring its grounds back to life.

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Prince­ton was among the schools that responded in 1951 by pro­vid­ing both a book for the library’s col­lec­tion and a mon­e­tary dona­tion for the pur­chase of a native tree for the cam­pus; and now, in cel­e­bra­tion of its 80th anniver­sary, Hiroshima Uni­ver­sity is rec­i­p­ro­cat­ing by donat­ing these artifacts.

The roof tiles are dis­trib­uted by Hiroshima University’s Asso­ci­a­tion for Send­ing Atomic-bombed Roof Tiles in order to per­pet­u­ate aware­ness of the dev­as­tat­ing effects of the atomic bomb­ings in Japan, and to oppose the use and pro­lif­er­a­tion of nuclear weapons.  In a let­ter that accom­pa­nies the dona­tion, Toshi­masa Asa­hara, Pres­i­dent of Hiroshima Uni­ver­sity, explains:

The threat of nuclear weapons still exists in many areas of the world.  It is our earnest desire, how­ever, that the pain and sad­ness expe­ri­enced in Hiroshima not be re-created any­where else in the world.

This wish is not only the wish of those of us liv­ing today but rep­re­sents the silent voices of the 240,000 Hiroshima cit­i­zens who per­ished from the atomic bomb.  We believe it is also the will of oth­ers such as your­selves who will work together with us to build a peace­ful future for the world.

See the Atomic-bombed Roof Tiles from Hiroshima Uni­ver­sity Find­ing Aid

 

 

 

 

 

Lobby Case Exhibition on Moe Berg

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Update — Back by pop­u­lar demand! The Moe Berg Lobby Case Exhi­bi­tion can be once again viewed in the lobby of the See­ley G. Mudd Man­u­script Library through August 31st, 2012.

Pri­mar­ily known as a Major League catcher and coach, Mor­ris “Moe” Berg was also a spy for the Office of Strate­gic Ser­vices (OSS) in World War II, as well as a lawyer, lin­guist, and Prince­ton grad­u­ate. As a mem­ber of the class of 1923, Berg excelled scholas­ti­cally and ath­let­i­cally by grad­u­at­ing with hon­ors in Mod­ern Lan­guages (he stud­ied Greek, French, Span­ish, Ital­ian, Ger­man, and San­skrit), and play­ing first base and short­stop for the Prince­ton Tigers. While his bat­ting aver­age was low– Berg inspired a Major League scout to utter the phrase, “Good field, no hit”- he was known at Prince­ton for his strong arm and sound base­ball instincts.

The exhibit high­lights the var­ied roles of Berg in its pre­sen­ta­tion of Prince­ton mem­o­ra­bilia from the class of 1923, Berg base­ball cards, and other mate­r­ial culled from Mudd’s two col­lec­tions on Moe Berg: The Moe Berg Col­lec­tion (1937–2007), and the newly acquired Dr. and Mrs. Arnold Bre­it­bart Col­lec­tion on Moe Berg (1934–1933). Also on dis­play is a 1959 base­ball signed by Berg and other Major League play­ers, on loan from Arnold Bre­it­bart. The Moe Berg exhibit can be located in the lobby of the See­ley G. Mudd Man­u­script Library, and was orig­i­nally on dis­play until August 31, 2011.

[i] Daw­id­off, Nicholas. The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mys­te­ri­ous Life of Moe Berg. New York: Pan­theon, 1994.

Bronze Memorial Stars

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Dear Mr. Mudd:

What is the ori­gin of the stars on Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity build­ings? Is there any data­base list­ing the loca­tion of each star?

The bronze stars on win­dow sills of Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity dor­mi­to­ries com­mem­o­rate the University’s stu­dents and alumni who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and in the Viet­nam War. An addi­tional 13 bronze stars hon­or­ing those who died on Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001 are located in a memo­r­ial gar­den between East Pyne and Chan­cel­lor Green.

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Let­ter from the Soci­ety of the Claw to mem­bers seek­ing fund­ing for the ini­tial stars.

The orig­i­nal 140 stars, hon­or­ing stu­dents who lost their lives in World War I, were placed in 1920. These stars were donated by mem­bers of the Soci­ety of the Claw, an orga­ni­za­tion of mem­bers of the Class of 1894 who, as a sign-on con­di­tion, promised to either attend the next five reunions or every reunion through­out their lives. The Soci­ety also inducted hon­orary mem­bers who had done an “unusual ser­vice” or “brought excep­tional honor” to Prince­ton, such as Woodrow Wil­son ’1879. The Soci­ety of the Claw raised $431.65 for these stars, which were then placed on the win­dow sill of each dorm room last occu­pied by a Prince­ton stu­dent who lost his life in the war.

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