Welcome to the student digital exhibition on “Narratives of World War II in the Pacific” at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. Here you will find research essays on select topics in the timeline of the Pacific Theatre. These research essays came out of an assignment from the upper division history course, “Narratives of World War II in the Pacific,” taught by Dr. Chrissy Yee Lau in the Fall of 2018. This class partnered with Digital Librarian Edward Warga to learn how to use Omeka to build a digital exhibit at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library.
The course and the exhibition “Narratives of World War II in the Pacific” is not a history from the victors’ perspective. Rather, it is a perspective from the losers’ point of view. This perspective brings to the fore stories from the margins, including women, children, survivors, and more, to bring exposure to other lesser-known parts of the Pacific Theatre. This digital exhibition provides research essays on select topics we have covered throughout the course, including the Occupation in China, Korean Comfort Women, Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Pearl Harbor, Japanese American Internment, Homeland, Latinx in the Pacific, Okinawa, Hiroshima and the Unresolved War. Students were assigned to choose their research topics, utilize primary and secondary sources, write proposals and drafts, conduct peer reviews, locate a historical image, summarize an oral history, and finally, curate their Omeka webpage.
This digital exhibition could not have been made without the help of many archivists and librarians. Special thanks to Dr. Lila Rakoczy at the Texas Historical Commission for providing primary sources on the Crystal City Internment Camp. Thank you also to Ann Hodges and Amanda Kowalski for giving a tour of the Special Collections in the Mary and Jeff Bell Library.