A note was received recently which stated that we couldn't possibly be making a faithful reproduction of the source documents for a very good reason: "They didn't even have computers during WWII!"

This stunning piece of logic made it evident that some statement, above and beyond that already included, would be needed.

Statement regarding the reproduction of source documents:

Every effort has been made to reproduce the text of the source documents as faithfully as possible. In some rare cases the documents are in such bad shape that an "estimate" of the original wording has to be made until such time as a better copy can be found. (Anyone who wishes to fund trips to the National Archives, British archives, etc., please contact us right away.) In every case where an estimate is required that material is followed by a [?] to indicate to the user that they may wish to check that item against another source. These occurrences have been few and none yet have been, in our evaluation, of a critical nature.

There is, however, the matter of "typos" in the original text. "Manchuokuo" is spelled in at least three different ways in various source documents. In each case we have chosen, as a general rule, to reproduce the original text as it stands. The same goes for "cancelled", "recognised", etc., where spellings vary from country to country. Also, umlauts, accent marks, etc., are followed as in the original. Thus you will see "Fuhrer", "Fuehrer", and "Führer" in these documents. This was done to maintain the integrity of the documents, despite the fact that some viewers may not correctly reproduce the entities.

Finally, if you find an error, notify us. 10,000 pages of text with not a single error would be mind-boggling. We will gladly check any error reports and let you know the status of the original. Be advised however, as noted above, sometimes the error is in the original and we will NOT change the text if that is the case. Doing so would put us in the position of knowing what 'should have been there', and retrofitting these documents is not our mission. Some of the documents have horrid editing, but that's what's on the shelf in the library and to maintain congruence we must reproduce it in the electronic version.

Thank you for your attention, The Pearl Harbor Working Group