Research Guides: HIST 296: Post-War Pacific: Kwajalein

Selected books

Coral and Concrete : Remembering Kwajalein Atoll between Japan, America, and the Marshall Islands by Dvorak, Greg
Call Number: Electronic Book
ISBN: 0824855248
Publication Date: 2018
"Coral and Concrete, Greg Dvorak's cross-cultural history of Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, explores intersections of environment, identity, empire, and memory in the largest inhabited coral atoll on earth."
Suburban Empire by Lauren Hirshberg
Call Number: Electronic Book
ISBN: 9780520289154
Publication Date: 2022
"Suburban Empire takes readers to the US missile base at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands ... Tracing how Marshall Islanders navigated US military control over their lands, Suburban Empire reveals that Cold War-era suburbanization was perfectly congruent with US colonization, military testing, and nuclear fallout."

Government Documents & Technical Reports

Ebeye : report and recommendations to the District Administrator by Alexander, William J.
Call Number: Electronic document
Publication Date: January 14, 1977
"Report concerning living and social conditions on Ebeye, Republic of Marshall Islands."
"The availability of wage employment and consequent urbanization have seriously affected Marshallese life, both on Ebeye and in the outer islands. Values have changed, traditional customs and skills have been lost, and there is increasing dependence on the money economy, but there is not yet a full awareness of the implications of what is happening. Ultimately the most significant cause of the changes taking place is the U.S. Army's Kwajalein Missile Range, and its military predecessors." (Quoted from report abstract.)
Ebeye-Kwajalein report by Tobin, Jack A.
Call Number: Electronic document
Publication Date: July 19, 1972
"The above committee asked the DistAd Marshalls 'to prepare a report indicating the nature and severity of the existing problems on Ebeye, projected problems that are anticipated through 1978, and possible alternative solutions to those problems.'" (Quoted from introduction.)

Digital Image Collections

Images in the below collections document various aspects of Kwajalein (from various points of view) during World War II, the Trust Territory era and into the mid-1980s.

Jack Tobin Marshall Islands Anthropology Collection
Images taken by Tobin from 1950-1985 in the Marshall Islands. Includes numerous images of Kwajalein from the early post-war period.
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Dr. Jack A. Tobin (1920-2010) first went to the Marshall Islands in 1950 as a student of Dr. Len Mason, to work on the Pacific Science Board's Coral Atoll Project (CAP) -- an initiative meant to study the needs of atoll dwellers with limited resources and growing populations. Arno Atoll was chosen as the first CAP research site, and the first 225 photos in this online collection derive from Dr. Tobin's time there. Later in 1950, Tobin was hired as an anthropological field consultant by the Civil Administration Unit of Naval Operations. Dr. Tobin extensively documented his time in Micronesia, both in written and photographic form. The photos in this collection date from 1950 through 1985, with the majority taken between 1950 and 1972. These images include not only the Marshalls, but also various atolls and islands throughout what was then the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In addition to his own photographs, Dr. Tobin also amassed a large collection of military images, most of which deal with issues surrounding nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.
Margo Duggan Collection
Images of Micronesia and Hawaiʻi taken in 1949-1954 by Duggan. Includes a relatively small number of images from Kwajalein.
Nuclear Diaspora: Bikini and Enewetak
Images taken from 1946-1988 throughout Micronesia (but mostly of the Marshall Islands) by Leonard Mason and Robert Kiste. Contains numerous photos of Kwajalein and Ebeye.
Pacific in Wartime
Images from multiple collections/authors about the Pacific during World War II (1940's). Contains several images of Kwajalein.
Trust Territory Archives Photograph Collection
Images that document the history of the American period in Micronesia (1947-1988). Includes photos that document signing of Kwajalein land agreements between Marshallese and U.S. government.

Selected films

Home on the range by Horowitz, Adam
Call Number: Streaming Video
Publication Date: 1991
Features the relocation of Marshall Islanders from Kwajalein Atoll to Ebeye Island and the conversion of Kwajalein Atoll into a top-secret U.S. missile and Star Wars test site. Highlights the wretched living conditions of the Marshallese on Ebeye Island and their attempt to regain their lands on Kwajalein Atoll.
The Marshall Islands : a matter of trust by Greco, Paul
Call Number: Streaming video
Publication Date: 1988
"Tells of the devastating effects of militarisation, economic dependence and Westernisation. The tragic results of nuclear bomb testing, particularly on the people of Rongelap are also documented. Finally the current United States military uses of Kwajalein Atoll for missile testing and its effects on the people of Ebeye are explored."

Maps

Ground-water resoures and contamination at Kwajalein Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1990-91 by U.S. Geological Survey
Call Number: Electronic document
Publication Date: 1996
"Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll."
Includes text, location map, 3 tables, 5 sections, and 12 diagrams.
Includes bibliographical references.
The master plan of Kwajalein Missile Range, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands : Kwajalein Island basic information maps by R.M. Towill Corporation
Call Number: Maps (Library Use Only) ; G2932.K8 R57 1981
Publication Date: 1981
"29 June 1965. Rev 18 July 1978. Rev 30 July 1981."

Newspapers and Magazines

There are numerous newspaper and magazine accounts related to a wide array of issues related to Kwajalein -- the above comes from an article in the September 1, 1982 issue of the magazine Pacific Islands Monthly, using the database TROVE (see below). The three databases below (Chronicling America, Papers Past and TROVE) can all be searched using the simple keyword Kwajalein. The Kwajalein Hourglass is an online newspaper that covers life on the atoll. Note that there is at times a marked difference in tone or point-of-view between papers published in the United States and those published in either Australia or New Zealand.

Chronicling America
Searchable full-text newspapers from throughout the U.S., primarily in English language. Coverage related to Kwajalein reaches up to the late 1960s in this database.

Papers Past
The National Library of New Zealand hosts this site, which includes New Zealand papers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Coverage related to Kwajalein can be found up into the 1980s.
TROVE
Hosted by the National Library of Australia, TROVE searches across a vast array of digital content produced by numerous Australian institutions. Coverage related to Kwajalein can be found up into the 1980s.

Kwajalein Hourglass by U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll
This online newspaper includes issues from 2014 through the present.

HIST 296: Post-War Pacific: Kwajalein