There’s a new exhibit from the archives of the McGovern Historical Center on display in the main TMC Library. The exhibit, located on the Jones Library Street Level, features cartoons drawn by Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission researcher Akio AWA, Sc.D. To see the exhibit, venture downstairs to the Street Level classrooms or view it from this online exhibit.

AWA joined the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) in Hiroshima, Japan in 1967. Working in the Department of Clinical Laboratories, he was assistant to the Chief and Head of the Chromosome Section. AWA's cartoons capture some of the flavor of life as a researcher with the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.

AWA would doodle in staff meetings and leave his cartoons on the table afterwards. Sometimes other researchers like Arthur D. Bloom, M.D. contributed cartoons, too. Chief of Clinical Laboratories Howard Hamilton, M.D. collected them. Hamilton’s papers (MS 066)—including the AWA cartoons—are part of the extensive ABCC archives at the TMC Library’s McGovern Historical Center.

  1. As a bonus, check out the more than 100 original cartoons digitized and are available online. Or to see the original cartoons in person, plan a visit to McGovern Historical Center.
ABCC Department of Clinical Laboratories Staff
ABCC Department of Clinical Laboratories Staff
Photograph of Katsuji NAGASAWA and Akio AWA
Photograph of Katsuji NAGASAWA and Akio AWA
Images of Work
Images of Work
Images of Daydreaming
Images of Daydreaming