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Title: Joseph C. Trainor papers
Date (inclusive): 1933-1980
Collection Number: 72022
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
77 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 2 envelopes, 1 album box, 1 sound tape reel
(40.0 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Writings, memoranda, reports, surveys, handbooks, maps, photographs, and printed matter relating to education reform in Japan
during the Allied occupation. Includes sound recording of interview of J. C. Trainor by Harry Wray, 1980. Also available on
microfilm (66 microfilm reels).
Creator:
Trainor, Joseph C.
Creator:
Wray, Harry
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1972.
[Identification of item], Joseph C. Trainor papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Also available on microfilm (66 microfilm reels).
Jospeh C. Trainor was made a lieutenant commander of the United States Army in May of 1946. For one year, until May of 1947,
he served as a member of the Education Division of the Civil Information and Education Section of the General Headquarters
of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Tokyo. He returned in July of 1949 in the capacity of Deputy Chief of the
Education Division. The occupation authorities in Japan were committed to a program of democratizing Japan. One important
facet of this program was educational reform. Occupation authorities rigorously pursued a program of restructuring administrative
machinery, reorganizing schools, and reforming curricula. As a staff member of the Education Division for one year in 1946
to 1947, Trainor became familiar with this endeavor. As its Deputy Chief and second-in-command from July of 1949 until the
American authorities left Japan in 1952, he was intimately involved at the policy and implementation levels.
The Joseph C. Trainor papers reflect and document the program of democratization American authorities pursued vis-a-vis the
Japanese educational system. Rather than an arbitrary assemblage of an individual's papers, the Trainor papers comprises archives,
possibly incomplete, of American governmental and other agencies. The three series -- Ministry of Education File; Supreme
Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). General Headquarters (GHQ). Civil and Information Section (CIE) File; and Subject
File -- conform to the arrangment of the collection when it arrived at the Hoover Institution Archives. Within the series,
the original arrangement of files has been maintained to as great an extent as possible while still insuring a logical and
accessible organization. Within the three series are found many types of material ranging from handwritten notes to reprints
of American journal articles. The series description which follows gives a more detailed inventory of the types of documents.
The
Ministry of Education File consists primarily of copies of documents, typescripts usually, which were generated either by the Japanese Ministry of Education
or by other administrative or legislative bodies, such as the Diet. These documents usually define, but occasionally establish,
the functions of the Ministry.
The second series, the
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Headquarters, Civil Information and Education File, comprises over 80% of the collection. This series is then further broken down into subseries, the largest and most important
of which is titled
Education Division. The subseries represent distinctions found within the collection when it arrived at the repository. Throughout the Supreme
Commander for the Allied Powers... series, the researcher will find reports, memoranda, statistics, studies and a host of
other material relating to the effort of reorganizing Japanese education.
The last series is the
Subject File. It, too, contains a variety of forms of documents. To a limited extent, documents from sections of the Supreme Commander
for the Allied Powers, General Headquarters other than Civil Information and Education are to be found in this series. Some
documents pertain to education. The majority of documents in this file, however, are unrelated to education, and concern a
variety of topics.
In all of the series, files are arranged alphabetically by subject or title, following closely the original arrangement of
the collection when it was received. If materials are dated, the dates are given at the end of an entry. A dash between two
dates indicates there is material in the file covering that time span. A comma, however, is used to indicate materials form
two different days, months or years, with no material from the intervening period in the file. Single items missing a date
are listed with "undated" at the end of their entry. Folders with dates given may contain material which is undated, in which
case that material has been placed at the back of the folder. If under a single entry with large quantities of material, enough
material was undated to warrant its own folder, it is listed as the last subheading of that entry as "undated." The purpose
behind the positioning of undated material at the end of a file, or files, was to give the researcher a better chance of understanding,
if not actually placing, undated materials after reading through the sequence of dated material.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Education -- Japan
Japan -- History -- Allied occupation, 1945-1952
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers