History of Atomic Energy Collection, 1872-2014

Add to Shelf

The History of Atomic Energy Collection is the largest collection related to nuclear history in SCARC. All topics related to the nuclear era appear in this collection across a range of material types.

ID: MSS Atomic

Extent: 2.61 cubic feet

More Extent Information

Scope and Content Notes

Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.

Statement on Description:

We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.

Some materials in this collection use derogatory language to describe ethnic groups. We acknowledge the racism represented by the use of these phrases and the harm they may cause our users. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein.

[Date of acknowledgement: April 2022]

An online finding aid was created for the original Laudamus accession in 2002. That finding aid (RB Energy) is archived and available here as a crosswalk to the original catalog numbers. This finding aid was updated in 2022 to bring into compliance with current descriptive practices and standards. The current guide supercedes the earlier finding aid and incorporates material that had been added to the original accession but did not appear in the earlier finding aid.

Arrangement

Preferred Citation: History of Atomic Energy Collection (MSS Atomic), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Acquisition Note: The bulk of this collection was purchased in 1990 from dealer Leif Laudamus of Amherst, Massachusetts.

Acquired: 1990. Since 1990, publications and ephemera have been added to the original accession through gift and purchase. Since 2012, purchases have been primarily publications.

Languages of Materials

English
French
German
Dutch;Flemish
Swedish
Russian
Danish
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Chinese
Polish
Czech
Afrikaans

Other

Container List

Series 1: Publications, 1872-2014 Add to Shelf

Publications includes all cataloged materials from the Laudamus catalog, including books, scientific offprints, magazines, journals, and other printed material. In the earlier version of the collection, items were listed in numerical order, and included call numbers for items cataloged up to 2012. The Laudamus catalog also included many annotations describing items.

A current list of cataloged materials included in the collection can be found in 1Search here. These records do not include Laudamus catalog annotations, but do include item numbers. New materials added to the original Laudamus accession include publications from the libraries of Barton Hacker and Leonard Maki, as well as publications from the Robert Dalton Harris, Jr. Collection of the Atomic Age.

Series 2: Ephemera, 1945-1989 Add to Shelf

Series 2: Ephemera includes all uncataloged materials from the original Laudamus accession, including stickers, posters, brochures, mailers, fliers, clippings, and other materials. Original Laudamus catalog numbers and annotations have been included. Materials related by organization have been grouped at the folder level.

Box-Folder 1.1: Clamshell Alliance, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures. Includes Laudamus 1488.
Box-Folder 1.2: Council on Economic Priorities, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.3: Environmental Defense Fund, 1988 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.4: Greenpeace, 1987-1988 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.5: Massachusetts Ballot Question 4, 1986-1987 Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 0399, 2992, 2993, 2994, 3039 (2 items). Pamphlets, fliers, brochures, postcards and other ephemera related to the proposed shutdown of Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim plants.
Box-Folder 1.6: National Mobilization for Survival, 1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.7: Natural Resources Defense Council, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.8: Physicians for Social Responsibility, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.9: SANE, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 3037; newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.10: Traprock Peace Center, 1988-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.11: Union of Concerned Scientists, 1987-1989 Add to Shelf: Newsletters, mailers, brochures.
Box-Folder 1.12: U.S. Council on Energy Awareness, 1990 Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 3086, 3087, 3088, 3089, 3091, 3092.
Box-Folder 1.13: Baker shot photographs, Operation Crossroads, 1946 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1070. Group of 5 original photographs of the blast. Each photo is about 9-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches. Originally mounted together in a 16 x 47 inch frame, numbered 1-5 in the mat from left to right. "Lookout Mountain Laboratory, Air Proving Ground, Los Angeles, California" was lettered in black ink in the lower right corner of the mat, now removed.
Box-Folder 1.14: Baker shot photograph, Operation Crossroads, 1946 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1109. Untitled original panoramic photograph of the "Baker" shot taken from near-ground level on the shore of Bikini Atoll. 16 x 30 inches, mounted to stiff board.
Box-Folder 1.15: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Pilots, undated Add to Shelf: Laudamus 0352. Glossy black-and-white 7-1/2 x 7-1/2 inch photograph depicting Charles W. Sweeney, pilot of the "Bock's Car," and Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the "Enola Gay" shaking hands, mounted in mat with inset autographs of Sweeney and Tibbets; undated.
Box-Folder 1.16: Trojan Nuclear Electric Plant, 1990 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 3094. Brochure.
Box-Folder 1.17: Shelter Guide: Facts You Should Know, undated Add to Shelf: Laudamus 3090. Brochure.
Box-Folder 1.18: "Star Wars: Defense or Death Star?" Speaker: Dr. Robert Bowman, undated Add to Shelf: Laudamus 3035. Flier.
Box-Folder 1.19: Clippings, 1945-1990 Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 2961, 2962, 2967, 2972, 2981, 2990, 3014, 3027, 3030, 3036. Collection of miscellaneous newspaper and magazine clippings on atomic topics.
Box-Folder 1.20: Anti-nuclear stickers, undated Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 3037.
Box-Folder 2.1: Anti-nuclear bumper stickers, undated Add to Shelf: Includes Laudamus 3037 and 3039.
Box-Folder 2.2: The Atomic Kid. An Explosion of Laughs. Mickey's Radio Active., 1955 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 2756. Complete set of 8 color lobby cards for the movie, starring Mickey Rooney, Robert Strauss, and Elaine Davis. Each about 11 x 14 inches. Republic Pictures. 1955.
Box-Folder 2.3: The Most Dangerous Man Alive: In the Heart of an Atomic Testing Area It Takes Only 10 Seconds to Turn a Human Into the. . ., 1961 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 2871. Complete set of 8 color lobby cards for the movie, starring Ron Randell, Debra Paget, and Elaine Stewart. Each about 11 x 14 inches. Columbia Pictures. 1961.
Box-Folder 2.4: Peter Sellers. George C. Scott in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. The hotline suspense comedy., 1964 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 2841. Original poster for the movie. 41 x 27 inches, in red, white, blue, and black ink. Columbia Pictures. 1964. Missing as of 2022.
Box-Folder 2.5: Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. The classic comedy from the maker of 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange., 1972 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 2842. Original poster for a return tour of the film. 41 x 27 inches. Columbia Pictures Industries. 1972. Missing as of 2022.
Box-Folder 2.6: Class of Nuke’em High." A Lloyd Kaufman/Michael Herz Production, Torma Entertainment., 1986 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 3038. Missing as of 2022.
Folder-Item 5.1: "Gone with the Wind." The Film to End All Films. The Most EXPLOSIVE Love Story Ever., 1982 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 2808. Satirical poster, showing Ronald Reagan carrying Margaret Thatcher in a romantic pose in imitation of Clark Gable and Betty Davis, with mushroom cloud in the background. 34 x 23 inches. Hampton, Ct.: Donnelly/Colt. circa 1982.

Series 3: Sound Recordings, 1961-1979 Add to Shelf

Series 3: Audio includes LPs of retrospective programs, as well as tape and CD use copies for 2 items.

Box-Folder 2.7: Century of the Atom: told through the voices of the scientists who created the nuclear age, 1971 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1167. Presented by the United States delegation to the Fourth International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Boxed set, comprising two 12-inch l.p. records, a 75-page illustrated text pamphlet, and a large color folding chart of "Nuclear Research, Development & Application: A chronology, 1895-1971," housed together in the original pictorial box. Washington, D.C.: USAEC. 1971. Narrated by Chet Huntley and Glenn T. Seaborg, this set features the actual recorded voices of J.J. Thompson, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Otto Frisch, Otto Hahn, Herbert Anderson, Enrico Fermi, and other notables. With cassette tape and CD transfer.
Box-Folder 2.8: To Fermi With Love, 1970 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1168. The various voice recordings heard in this album were drawn from the archives of the Argonne National Laboratory, the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and the American Institute of Physics. The script was written by James Chimbidis; jacket design by Leo Vartanian; narration spoken by Jay Andre; and produced by Argonne National Laboratory. This set features the actual recorded voices of Herbert Anderson, Laura Fermi (Mrs. Enrico Fermi), Emilio Serge, Arthur Holly Compton, Crawford Greenewalt, John Wheeler, George Weil, Walter Zinn, Norman Hilberry, Leslie R. Groves, Dale Babcock, Henry DeWolfe Smyth, Leona Woods Libby, Frank Matthias, Gus Knuth, and Otto Hillig. With CD transfer. 2 12-inch l.p. records. DuPage County, IL: Argonne National Laboratory. 1970s.
Box-Folder 2.9: The Quick and the Dead, 1950 Add to Shelf: Volume 1. The Story of the Atom Bomb * Volume 2. The Story of the Hydrogen Bomb. Featuring Bob Hope & William L. Laurence. Set of nine 45 RPM records, in the original two pictorial boxes with slipcase, each box with accompanying text pamphlet. Camden, N.J.: RCA Victor. 1950. Comprises recordings of the series of broadcasts aired by NBC on national radio in the Summer of 1950, featuring Bob Hope as "Everyman." The program was written and directed by Fred Friendly, and features actual interviews with Leslie Groves, William S. Parsons, David Lilienthal, Bernard Baruch, and many others.
Box-Folder 2.10: The Complacent Americans, 1961 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1016. With: Robert Connelly as the American, who failed, both himself and his Country. And Jack F. Fuller, Office of Civil Defense, Coordinator City of Los Angeles. 12-inch long-playing phonograph record, in the original pictorial jacket. Los Angeles: Cee Dee Records. 1961. A "mirrorphonic" recording on transparent red vinyl. The first side is a fictional nuclear attack on Los Angeles, with attendant sound effects. Side 2 comprises an extended plea for a stepped-up civil defense effort. Missing as of 2022.

Series 4: Artifacts, 1954-1965 Add to Shelf

Series 4: Artifacts includes two Geiger counters, a game, and commemorative memorabilia for Operation Crossroads.

Box-Item 3.1: "Atomic Bomb.", 1945 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 0292. By The A. C. Gilbert Company, New Haven, Conn. Children's puzzle-game, comprising a map of Japan with holes for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, housed in a glass-topped cardboard box with 2 metal "bombs" to shake into holes. Approximately 4 x 3 x 1 inches. New Haven: Gilbert Co. circa late 1945. Glass is broken, metal missing.
Box-Item 3.2: Geiger counter, Atomic Research Corporation, 1954 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1219. Fine professional grade counter, approximately the size of a small car storage battery, with the atomic logo of the manufacturer in chrome and black on two sides. Housed in original leather case, with associated text brochures, several radioactive samples (removed), etc. Colorado Springs: Atomic Research Corporation. circa 1954. The "Raytomic S-100 Scintillation Counter." This is an attractive, near-professional grade instrument, "the best scintillation counter you can buy in this price range."
Box-Item 3.3: Geiger counter, "The Snooper", 1955 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1220. Geiger Counter Model 108. A Precision Product. Plastic geiger counter, embossed with logo of atom and vernier caliper on the sides, with headphone, housed in original pictorial cardboard box. Los Angeles: Precision Radiation Instruments. n.d. (circa 1955). Typical of the inexpensive counters produced in response to the "uranium rush" of the early 1950's. The box is lettered with the blurbs "Safe to Use. Find Uranium Ore Deposits. Earn $35,000 Gov'nt Rewards. No Experience Required," etc. The "Radioactive Sample" is not present.
Box-Item 3.4: Neutron irradiated dime, 1964 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1312. 1964 U.S. Dime, set into a circular plastic holder, with schematic design of an atom on reverse of holder. 1-3/4 inches in diameter. New York World's Fair: Atomic Energy Commission. 1964-1965. A souvenir of the USAEC exhibit at the New York World's Fair
Box-Item 3.5: Neutron irradiated dime, 1965 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1142. A 1941 U.S. dime, inset into a circular plastic and aluminum holder, lettered as above. 7/8 inch in diameter. (Oak Ridge).
Box-Item 3.6: Kwajalein Test Site Commemorative Spoon, 1960 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1093. Accounted. Sterling silver spoon, lettered "TEST SITE KWAJALEIN" and with a miniature map of Kwajalein in bas relief. 4 inches x 1 inch (maximum dimensions). N.p. circa 1960.
Box-Item 4.1: Commemorative tray for Operation Crossroads Atomic Bomb Experiment. Bikini Atoll, 1946 Add to Shelf: Laudamus 1108. Framed print, in the form of a tray, depicting the test shot at Bikini Atoll, with a photograph of the ship USS Merapi inset into the mushroom cloud in the center. 15 x 22 inches overall. (Bikini Atoll). 1946. This framed memento was apparently constructed from a wooden tray by "Gerard R. Seeney SK 3/c USS Merapi A.F. 38," who has signed the print in the mat.

People, Places, and Topics

Forms of Material

Related Materials