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Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.
Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.

Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.


Industrial and heavy equipment photographs in Occupied Japan. William S. Vaughan was a technical advisor to General Douglas MacArthur, then the Supreme Commander, Allied Powers. He served as the Chief of Industry from 1948 to 1951 in the Economic and Scientific Section of the Far East Command.

A 1953 Nippon Times clipping reports that Vaughan was honored and awarded a citation by General Doyle O. Hickey of the Far East Command. He was recognized for “economic services” and for contributing “immeasurably to the economic welfare of Japan.”

The first half of the album (25 photo), show Vaughan in the company of a U.S. military officer and/or with Japanese and American civilians and employees intermingled at industrial sites or socializing or posing together.

The album’s second half (another 25 photos) depict Japanese industrial facilities, steel rolling machines with Japanese characters or symbols, and a group of images of conveyor belts and port-side transfer facilities taken for the Hirohata Works of the Fuji Iron & Steel Company. “Fuji Iron & Steel was created in 1950, under the antitrust, anti-zaibatsu edict of the Allied Occupying Forces, as the old semi-government-owned Japan Iron & Steel was split into four entities…” (Wikipedia)

A laid in photographic Christmas card shows the Toto Seiko Kabushiki Kaisha (Toto Steel Mfg. Co. Ltd.) and two fold-out panoramic photographs (the largest being 4½ x 21 inches) detail impressive industrial complexes.

In a modest way, Vaughan’s album documents the new normal of American-Japanese relationships. It also provides good visual evidence of post-WWII Japan re-establishing its steel manufacturing capabilities.


Description: Post-WWII Japanese industrial and travel photographs kept by William S. Vaughan of the Far East Command.

[Tokyo, Himeji, etc., Occupied Japan, c.1953]. 24ff. Quarto. Full, patterned silk cloth, post-bound photo album. 52 Photographs, on average 4½ x 6 inches, and two panoramas. Photographs were mounted along their top edge or using photo-corners. One photograph tear expertly mended on verso; small loss at upper joint; Very Good.

[3731206]

Notes. In September, 1949 the Pacific Stars and Stripes reported that prior to going to Japan, Vaughan “had been a member of president Roosevelt’s commission for the industrialization of Mexico and also aided other government agencies i their Industrial programs for various foreign countries including China and Mexico.” wq10


Price: $1,250.00

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