Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum updates its Peace Database, adding new content and enabling easier access to archived information
Feb. 2, 2022
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
On February 1, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, finished the update of its online “Peace Database,” which contains lists of about 100,000 materials and images archived at the museum.
The design of the Peace Database home page on the museum website has been formatted to allow easy viewing even on smartphones. A photo taken by photographer Tsuneo Enari of a blouse that belonged to Toshiko Omoto, who died in the atomic bombing when she was 17, adorns the database home page. The photo and the search term box are positioned to optimally adjust to the screen of any device a viewer happens to be using.
New content was also added to the site. “Special Collection” enables viewers to browse documents related to the devastation caused by the atomic bombing. Images of memos and notes donated by the late Hidetsugu Aihara (born Shuji Aihara), producer of a documentary about the atomic bombing devastation filmed in 1945, can also be accessed in the new collection. New materials will be added in the future as they become available. The museum has also started providing information to the site “Japan Search,” operated by Japan’s National Diet Library, which enables the cross-search of materials archived by museums and libraries across Japan.
Using the Peace Database, readers can view information on 18,972 A-bomb related materials, including items left behind by victims. Images and explanations of the materials, photos of the scorched ruins of the city and other scenes, and various publications can be searched using the database. Staff at the museum’s Curatorial Division said, “Amid the museum’s continued closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope people will make use of the updated database to learn more about the reality of the atomic bombing.”
(Originally published on February 2, 2022)
On February 1, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, located in the city’s Naka Ward, finished the update of its online “Peace Database,” which contains lists of about 100,000 materials and images archived at the museum.
The design of the Peace Database home page on the museum website has been formatted to allow easy viewing even on smartphones. A photo taken by photographer Tsuneo Enari of a blouse that belonged to Toshiko Omoto, who died in the atomic bombing when she was 17, adorns the database home page. The photo and the search term box are positioned to optimally adjust to the screen of any device a viewer happens to be using.
New content was also added to the site. “Special Collection” enables viewers to browse documents related to the devastation caused by the atomic bombing. Images of memos and notes donated by the late Hidetsugu Aihara (born Shuji Aihara), producer of a documentary about the atomic bombing devastation filmed in 1945, can also be accessed in the new collection. New materials will be added in the future as they become available. The museum has also started providing information to the site “Japan Search,” operated by Japan’s National Diet Library, which enables the cross-search of materials archived by museums and libraries across Japan.
Using the Peace Database, readers can view information on 18,972 A-bomb related materials, including items left behind by victims. Images and explanations of the materials, photos of the scorched ruins of the city and other scenes, and various publications can be searched using the database. Staff at the museum’s Curatorial Division said, “Amid the museum’s continued closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope people will make use of the updated database to learn more about the reality of the atomic bombing.”
(Originally published on February 2, 2022)
