In August 1923, William Dana Reynolds, with his wife Vera Hunt Reynolds and their young daughter Helen embarked from Honolulu on the Japanese steamship Taiyo Maru, bound for Yokohama. While at sea, the ship experienced and survived a tsunami only to arrive, badly damaged, in Yokohama Bay on September 8th as witness to the destruction caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake. Fully aware of the risks involved, eight of the male passengers decided to leave the ship and enter the city. Dana Reynolds was among them. For the next few hours, and later, upon his return several days after the initial quake, he recorded a series of compelling images of the horror and devastation.
The collection is organized in one series: I. Great Kanto Earthquake.
Includes images of Kanto, Japan after the earthquake of 1923 as well as memorabilia from the voyage. Album disbound; 28 leaves with pasted on or mounted photographs, various leaves with no photographs, front and back cover, and one loose photograph (of dog).
The entire photo album has been digitized. An online exhibit which includes the images for each page of the album and additional information about the earthquake are available on the Brown University website:
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
William Dana Reynolds Collection of great Kanto Earthquake Photographs, Ms.2011.015, Brown University
The photo album was presented as a gift to Brown University in 2005 by Lee Stewart, granddaughter of William Dana and Vera Reynolds.
The photographic images of the Kanto earthquake had been compiled into an album, and in early 2005, Lee Stewart, granddaughter of Dana and Vera Reynolds, offered her grandparent's photo album as a donation to any institution that would take care of the artifact itself as well as make it as available to scholars. Containing the photographic record of their encounter with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the album includes some of the earliest photographs of the destruction taken by Americans, and consists of over 100 original photographs taken in Yokohama, Kyoto, Shanghai, and Hawaii, as well as many photographs purchased in Japan that document the devastation.
The album has been fully dis-bound and individual pages sleeved.
The album has been fully digitized and is available at:
The entire photo album has been digitized. An online exhibit which includes the images for each page of the album and additional information about the earthquake are available on the Brown University website: