The Horrors and Heroes of Hiroshima

Michihiko Hachiya to Warner Wells, 30 June 1955, box 1, folder Hiroshima Diary correspondence and photographs, 1945-1955, Warner Wells collection, 1945-1972.

Frances Gray Patton, a short story writer and novelist from North Carolina, read an early draft of Hiroshima Diary and introduced Dr. Wells to Lambert Davis, the director of the University of North Carolina Press. The pair met in late 1954, and it was decided that UNC Press wanted to publish the book and have it released on the 10-year anniversary of the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima. The University Archives at the University of North Carolina goes into more detail of the quick turnaround of the book’s publication, including many letters between Lambert Davis, Dr. Wells, and Dr. Hachiya. This letter, from the Warner Wells collection at Duke University, is from Dr. Hachiya to Dr. Wells and is dated June 30, 1955, a little less than a week before the August 6^th publication. Both men consistently credited the other for the Diary’s writing, publication, and success, and Dr. Hachiya says it here again, giving himself more credit than usual by recognizing the shared nature of their efforts: “It is not my own. It is yours and mine forever.”

The letters span years and include weather updates, family news (including Dr. Hachiya commenting on a letter he had received from Dr. Wells's young son), vacation tales (including Lambert Davis and Dr. Wells being neighbors on mountain retreats), pictures, and a close camaraderie. They also include the decision on what to do with the book's profits, as neither Dr. Hachiya nor Dr. Wells needed or wanted them. It was eventually decided to create a scholarship fund for children affected by the atomic bombing.

Another letter in this exhibit takes the form of the Hiroshima Scroll.