Photographs taken the day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and held by a defunct Chicago museum suffered water damage and were eventually thrown out, the court-designated receiver for the museum and county court documents have revealed.
The 60 photos were one of three sets of identical images. American documentary film director Christopher Beaver donated the now lost set to the Chicago Peace Museum in the 1990s. Beaver had worked with Shogo Yamahata, the son of Yosuke Yamahata, an Imperial Japanese Army photographer who captured the images.
Among the photos lost was a famous image of a mother and child waiting for medical treatment. Regarding their disposal, Yamahata told Kyodo News, "all I can say is that I regret their loss." Beaver also expressed his sadness in a statement.