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Title: Roger Mansell collection
Dates: 1919-2010
Collection Number: 2001C48
Collector: Mansell, Roger
Collection Size:
35 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 3 phonorecords
(14.5 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: The collection consists of materials collected by Roger Mansell during the course of his research for his forthcoming publication
The Forgotten Men of Guam, as well as his role as director of the Center for Research of Allied POWs under the Japanese and its corresponding online
database, http://www.mansell.com. Included in these materials are memoirs, diaries, photocopies of government documents, rosters,
interview transcripts, correspondence, maps, sketches, notes, printed matter, photographs, electronic records, videotapes,
memorabilia, and sound recordings detailing the experience of prisoners of war held in Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Taiwan,
Singapore, and Netherlands East Indies during World War II.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
English
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Roger Mansell collection, [Box number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2001.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
The collection includes many photocopies and digital copies of government documents permanently housed at different archival
repositories in the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere. Photocopies of diaries and correspondence, as well as original memoirs
and personal narratives, were given to Mansell from the personal collections of former POWs and their families.
Most monographs have been transferred to the Hoover Institution Library and can be found in the catalog using the subject
term "Mansell Coll."
Marie Adams papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Richard A. Arvidson diary, Hoover Institution Archives
Leon Grove memoir, Hoover Institution Archives
Sheldon H. Harris papers, Hoover Institution Archives
William Henry Hastings papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Geoffrey Monument papers, Hoover Institution Archives
George C. Mora papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Alan Asbury O'Guinn papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Santo Tomás Internment Camp, January 4, 1942 to September 27, 1943: typescript, Hoover Institution Archives
Katherine Ream Sobeck papers, Hoover Institution Archives
Wendell Wilcox diary, Hoover Institution Archives
Harold N. Wilson papers, Hoover Institution Archives
| October 8, 1935 | Born, Brooklyn, New York |
| 1953-1959 | Attends Brown University |
| 1959-1962 | Serves in U.S. Army, stationed in Korea and Fort Bliss, Texas |
| 1960s-1970s | Founder, Mansell Advertising, Mansell Graphics, and Mansell Publishing |
| 1990s | Begins researching prisoners-of-war of the Japanese in World War II
Founder, the Center for Research Allied POWs Under the Japanese, Los Altos, California |
| Late 1990s | Publisher, Tameme, nonprofit bilingual literary journal |
| 2006 | Speaks at International Research FEPOW History Conference in Alrewas, United Kingdom |
| 2008 | Fellow at University of Shenyang Research Center on World War II POWs |
| October 25, 2010 | Died, Palo Alto, California |
| Author, The Forgotten Men of Guam; not yet published |
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of materials collected by Roger Mansell during the course of his research for his forthcoming publication
The Forgotten Men of Guam, as well as his role as director of the Center for Research of Allied POWs Under the Japanese and its corresponding online
database, www.mansell.com. Included in these materials are memoirs, diaries, photocopies of government documents, rosters,
interview transcripts, correspondence, maps, sketches, notes, printed matter, photographs, electronic records, videotapes,
and memorabilia detailing the experience of POWs based in Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Taiwan, Singapore, and Netherlands
East Indies during World War II.
The materials reflect years of research devoted to documenting the fates of prisoners-of-war (POWs) in the Pacific theater
of World War II. For this reason, the countless photocopies of government documents obtained from the National Archives and
former POWs were cross-referenced by Mansell and his team with information gathered from correspondence and firsthand interviews,
resulting in a detailed account of enlisted men, nurses, and civilians interned in the Pacific during World War II. Some files
in the register include two date ranges, accounting both for the original documents (or photocopies) and Mansell's research
notes and email correspondence.
The collection is arranged into series based on subject and physical format, as defined by Mansell. Research on individual
POWs appears in the
Prisoner of war file. The files are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the former POW being researched by Mansell and not by the name
of the actual person of contact, although in many cases these names are the same. Also included in this series are Mansell's
records from interviews with POWs and printed materials collected from organizations of former POWs.
Research materials on
Prisoner-of-war camps in Japan and
Prisoner-of-war camps outside Japan make up the majority of the collection. Documents in these series are similar to those in other parts of the collection,
but focus more on the detailed experiences of POWs within individual camps. Maps and sketches provide understanding of the
layout of each camp, while personal narratives of POWs and reports by government offices, including the United States Office
of War Crimes, fill in details about treatment by Japanese guards, diet, living arrangements, and disease. Among these materials
are Mansell's email correspondence and notes, highlighting corrections, clarifications, and areas of interest.
Documentation from civilians interned at camps in Japan and the Philippines appear in the
Civilian prisoner-of-war camps series. Included among these research materials is an apron from Santo Tomás Internment Camp, with the embroidered signatures
of over 100 internees, and a hand colored map of Manila.
The
Combat units' rosters and reports series contains materials from U.S. and Australian combat units stationed in the Pacific, particularly in the Philippines,
during World War II. It consists mainly of photocopies of records from the National Archives as well as original spreadsheets
created by Mansell and colleagues during the course of their research. The series also includes original writings by POWs,
including memoirs and personal narratives.
The collection includes a large number of electronic media in the form of compact discs, floppy disks, and DVDs containing
digitized photographs, films, interview notes, rosters, and scans of original documents. These materials are interfiled with
corresponding paper records. Some folders in the collection contain printed copies of these records in their entirety while
others do not. In addition, some of these records are included in the Center for Research of Allied POWs Under the Japanese
POW camp database, available online at http://www.mansell.com.
The researcher should be aware that Roger Mansell also donated original materials he collected from Geoffrey Monument and
George C. Mora, which are now cataloged separately in their own collections at the Hoover Institution Archives.
The collection is organized into the following series based on original order: Prisoner-of-war file, Prisoner-of-war camps
in Japan file, Prisoner-of-war camps outside Japan file, Civilian prisoner-of-war camps file, Combat unit rosters and reports,
General research file, Videotapes, and Phonorecords.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Concentration camps.
Philippines--History--Japanese occupation, 1942-1945.
Prisoners of war.
Prisoner-of-war camps--Japan.
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps.
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons.
World War, 1939-1945--Philippines.
World War, 1939-1945--Japan.
Santo Tomas Internment Camp (Manila, Philippines).
Videotapes.