ALAO Conference: Peace Resource Collection

The first session I attended at last Friday's much anticipated ALAO Conference was the Curriculum Materials Center Interest Group (CMCIG) sponsored session, Peace Resource Collection: Another Link in the Campus Connection. The session highlighted collection resources available at Wilmington College's Peace Resource Center and the impact it had on one particular student.

"The Wilmington College Peace Resource Center has a long-standing commitment to peace and justice. Since 1975 it has taken an active role in providing peace education materials both locally and throughout the country."

"The Center houses the world's largest collection (outside of Japan) of reference materials related to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Peace education is accomplished through a book purchase service, audio-visual rentals and circulating libraries in both English and Japanese." -- Peace Resource Center

The highlight of this session was viewing a history project created by a high school freshman from Maryland on the Hiroshima Maidens. After locating the Peace Resource Center online via links to their finding guide to the Barbara Reynolds Papers, she created a stunning visual history of the Hiroshima Maidens. I found this session particularly interesting as I had recently finished reading White Sands, Red Menace, a juvenile book by Ellen Klages set in 1946 and features a family dealing with the aftermath of the atomic bomb from a different perspective; the mother and father were scientists on the Manhattan Project.

For more information:

• The Official Homepage of Hiroshima Peace Memorial
• Hiroshima Maidens and a Return to New York

Though not currently available, submitted power point presentations from the conference are to be loaded on the ALAO web site in the near future.