US nurse Louise Cavagnaro, far left, looks on during an examination in the physical examination room in Kure, Japan in 1948. Image: McGovern Historical Center, Texas Medical Center Library (photographer unknown)
William Jack Schull, circa 1949-1950s. Image: McGovern Historical Center, Texas Medical Center Library (photographer unknown)
"The material related to the ABCC is not readily available in Japan," Montgomery told me. He noted that while both the institutional and personal archives related to the ABCC in the US are currently open to the public, it is mostly researchers and scientists who sift through the materials. "People just don't know they exist […] but it's important to make the information accessible not just to the Japanese, but the world.""It's important to make the information accessible not just to the Japanese, but the world."
Mothers and children in the ABCC reception area at Hijiyama, Hiroshima, Japan. Image: Taylor H. Grant, 1903-, Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission
Image from MS 155 Hiroshima scrapbook. Image: McGovern Historical Center, Texas Medical Center Library (Photographer anonymous)
"We were dealing with changes over time; the attitudes, moral values, and contributions that could be made from the US and Japan over the years were different each year. The issues that I'm talking about require an understanding of how we as Americans interact with the Japanese and how they interact with us," he said."We've been trying to collect as many papers as possible on the supposition that that information will provide an insight into the ABCC and the RERF that you couldn't get by just looking at official documents," he added."My life has been dominated more by what's going on in Japan than by what's going on in the US."
William Jack Schull in the archive stacks of the Texas Medical Center Library in Houston, Texas, July 2010. Image: Philip Montgomery
