About the Collection
Images of Korean War
Korean War, conflict between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal participant, joined the war on the side of the South Koreans, and the People’s Republic of China came to North Korea’s aid. After more than a million combat casualties had been suffered on both sides, the fighting ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states. Negotiations in 1954 produced no further agreement, and the front line has been accepted ever since as the de facto boundary between North and South Korea.
Topics of the Army photographs include, but are not limited to: personnel, facilities; leisure and recreation activities; The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) Tours. It also includes images of the residents and scenes of the village.
Photographer: Mr. Edward (Ed) Matayoshi.
Dates: June 25,1950~Aug 01,1951
Donor: Herbert Kobayashi
Memo from donor:
12/2/2023
To whom it may concern:
These photos were given to me Herb Kobayashi by Edward (Ed) Matayoshi.
I am passing it on to the Hamilton Library, UHM. Ed is someone I have known since 1943 and we enlisted together in 1949 after High School.
He was a combat photographer with the 2 nd Signal Co., 2 nd Inf. [Infantry] Division and I was a morse code radio operator with the 25 th Signal Co., 25 th Inf. Division.
That’s his photo on the 1 st page of the albums. I echo what he said about being accepted by others
when he was the only AJA among Caucasians. (Me too).
Enjoy: Herb Kobayashi
Note: Ed died 3/7/2012, interred at Koganji Temple, Manoa
Collection Provenance & Arrangement
The images in this collection were scanned photos donated to the Korea collection in 2023. Herb Kobayashi, a Hawaiian Korean War veteran, donated a photo book of Manta Yoshi, a war correspondent. The 134 photos were taken by him while he was a war correspondent. The donor granted digitization and public access.
The collection contains sensitive photographs, including of corpses. Please be careful.
Physical Storage
All the originals are securely stored in the Korea Collection Special Collections Room at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library.
Permission to Use the Images of the Collection
If images are used for non-commercial educational purposes such as use of the images in class lectures, students’ presentations, and academic conference presentations, no permission is necessary. Please credit the images with the sentence: “From the Images Of Korean War, courtesy of "the UHM Library Korea Collection” However if the images are planned to be used in books, newspapers, documentaries, films, and other forms of media and print, the users must write to the UHM Library Korea Collection to request permission. In the request, please explain the topic, image reference number, and the type of media/print.
Digitization Procedures
Digitization: Captured using a Phase One iXH 150MP, 72mm MkII lens; 600ppi, 16-bit TIFFs for preservation; derivatives generated for access.