Access
Use
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Location of Originals
Biographical Note
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Related Materials
Separated Materials
Title: Roger Mansell collection
Date (inclusive): 1919-2010
Collection Number: 2001C48
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
36 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 3 sound discs, 6 optical disks, 2 VHS videocassettes
(18.7 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The collection consists of materials collected by Roger Mansell during the course of his research for his publication
Captured: 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, videorecordings,
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.
source:
Mansell, Roger
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2001.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Roger Mansell collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Location of Originals
The collection includes many photocopies and digital copies of government documents permanently housed at different archival
repositories in the United States, 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.
Biographical Note
1935 October 8 |
Born, Brooklyn, New York |
1953-1959 |
Attended Brown University |
1959-1962 |
Served in U.S. Army, stationed in Korea and Fort Bliss, Texas |
1960s-1970s |
Founder, Mansell Advertising, Mansell Graphics, and Mansell Publishing |
1990s |
Began 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 |
Spoke at International Research FEPOW History Conference in Alrewas, United Kingdom |
2008 |
Fellow at University of Shenyang Research Center on World War II POWs |
2010 October 25 |
Died, Palo Alto, California |
2012 |
Author,
Captured: The Forgotten Men of Guam, edited by Linda Goetz Holmes, published posthumously
|
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of materials collected by Roger Mansell during the course of his research for his publication
Captured: 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, videorecordings,
memorabilia, and sound recordings 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 Library & Archives.
The incremental materials include correspondence, photocopies of letters and newspaper clippings, and VHS videocassettes.
Arrangement
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 Units' Rosters and Reports,
General Research File, Videorecordings, and Sound Recordings.
Related Materials
Marie Adams papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Richard A. Arvidson diary, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Leon Grove memoir, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Sheldon H. Harris papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
William Henry Hastings papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Geoffrey Monument papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
George C. Mora papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Alan Asbury O'Guinn papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Santo Tomás Internment Camp, January 4, 1942 to September 27, 1943: typescript, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Katherine Ream Sobeck papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Wendell Wilcox diary, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Harold N. Wilson papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Separated Materials
Most monographs have been transferred to the Hoover Institution Library and can be found in the catalog using the subject
term "Mansell collection"
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons
World War, 1939-1945 -- Philippines
World War, 1939-1945 -- Japan
Philippines -- History -- Japanese occupation, 1942-1945
Video tapes
Sound recordings
Prisoners of war
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps
Concentration camps
Mansell, Roger