This exhibit explores the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but also the medical staff heroes, who during an unprecedented time, treated patients and worked to understand the mysterious medical implications of the bombing. At its center is Hiroshima Diary, which provides a doctor’s perspective on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its immediate aftermath. It is crucial in understanding the horrors of that day, relaying facts and perspectives as they occurred instead of relying on memory after months or years. It also provides details that might otherwise have been forgotten, especially when one considers how few photographs from August 6, 1945, exist. The people of Hiroshima were not only dealing with death, but also the destruction of many of their usual tools that would allow people to provide witness to that day. This was followed by Allied Occupation orders to destroy films and prints, from professional and amateur citizen photographers alike, allowing them to control the narrative, memory, and history of the atomic bomb and Hiroshima, all of which still linger today.
This exhibition was sponsored in part by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
