Justice Erima Harvey Northcroft Tokyo War Crimes Trial Collection [MB1549]

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), most commonly known as the Tokyo War Crimes Trial (29 April 1946 to 12 November 1948), was one of the most important trials of the twentieth century.

The IMTFE was charged with bringing the highest levels of Japanese war criminals to trial. The Tribunal consisted of eleven members from eleven nations: Australia, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, India, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America. Justice Erima Harvey Northcroft was chosen to represent New Zealand on the Bench of the IMTFE.

After the trial In January 1949, Justice Northcroft kindly donated his nearly complete set of trial documents to the University of Canterbury (then University of Canterbury College). At the time of his bequest, Justice Northcroft was well aware of the importance of this resource. Since that time, as original copies of the material have dwindled, disintegrated, and been lost, the value of Northcroft’s gift has risen exponentially. This collection is now one of the most complete sets of IMTFE documents in the world. It contains almost 380 volumes and nearly 110,000 pages. Evidence can be found therein for examinations of virtually any topic regarding Asia in the first half of the twentieth century, particularly as it applies to the growth of Japanese imperialism.

The E. H. Northcroft Collection [MB 1549] is part of the documentary archives collection held by the University of Canterbury’s Macmillan Brown Library. Please use the following inventory to fully realise the worth of Northcroft’s endowment. For further information about access to the collection please contact the Macmillan Brown Library.