SANDIA HISTORY PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
Unlimited Distribution  Sand96-2737		November 1996

MAKING HISTORY

Due to the budget reductions that have affected all of Sandia, the Corporate History Program did not receive indirect funding for FY97. So, after a momentary "deer caught in the headlights" reaction, we implemented a "history for hire" strategy in which historical documentation would be done for specific projects and funded by the organizations involved. It was gratifying that the organizations listed below agreed with us that Sandia's history is important enough to merit their support.

The Corporate History Program, with the support of the Nuclear Waste Management Programs Center (6800), is initiating a two-year project to document the history of Sandia's participation in the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), the Labs' longest-running and most publicly visible project. It is expected that in 1997-98 WIPP will begin receiving shipments of defense-generated radioactive waste, which will signal the completion of one of the Program's major milestones. From its beginnings in the mid-1970s, Sandia has been the lead DOE contractor for the geologic site investigations, scientific experiments, and conceptual design of the facility. Therefore this is the appropriate time to research and document the history of WIPP and make it available to Sandia employees and the general public. In the next few months, a number of retirees and employees will be participating in videotaped roundtable discussions to exchange recollections of the early days of WIPP. The host/moderator will be "The Sultan of Salt," Wendell Weart, who has been the driving force behind WIPP for over twenty years. A photographic exhibit on highlights of WIPP history will be ready by late winter. The final deliverable will be a history of WIPP to be published in FY 1998.

TECH AREA II

In 1950 Sandia fenced off an area south of and some distance from its original technical area to assemble high explosives in spheres that surrounded and compressed the fissionable material in implosion-type nuclear bombs. With buildings constructed to confine accidental blasts, this part of Sandia was designated Technical Area II to distinguish it from the original site, now known as Technical Area I. Buildings 904 and 907 are considered historically interesting for their role as the primary ordnance site for the assembly and stockpiling of the nation's first nuclear arsenal. They also served as the training site for the personnel who worked at the assembly plants that eventually supplanted Buildings 904 and 907. The Area's buildings have been proposed for demolition and it is necessary to provide the DOE with documentation to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act. Sites Planning (7931) is supporting this project that will result in a published narrative history by the end of FY 1997.

PAPER PRESENTATION

Research historian Rebecca Ullrich presented a paper at the annual History of Science Society meeting in Atlanta on November 7-10, 1996. Titled "Building On and Spinning Off: Sandia National Labs' Creation of Sensors for Vietnam," the paper focused on Sandia's contributions to design of new technologies for jungle warfare.

If your group wants to preserve a significant aspect of its past activities, our alert and enthusiastic
staff is ready to help. Let's talk about it--call Carl Mora, Corporate Historian, at 844-8011.

GOOD IDEA BENEFITS SANDIA'S PHOTO ARCHIVES

An Idea for Improvement submitted by Charlie Greenwood (5711) prompted the Corporate Archives to partner with the Creative Arts Department to develop an Image Cataloging Form SA1400-ICF-4/96, available on internal web Corporate Forms home page). Charlie's concern was that some of Sandia's photo history was being lost or destroyed. We hope this form will encourage departments to share any unindexed and unfiled historical negatives, photos, and images they might have. Visual images that chronicle specific events or projects at Sandia, components or products, sites and facilities are of continuing corporate usefulness.

If you are finished with your photos and negatives, please submit them with the Imaging Cataloging Form to Still Photo, MS 0104, for archiving. The materials will be indexed onto a word searchable database that will allow retrieval by subject as well as number. They will be stored at no charge.

If you are still using the photos or negatives but would like to have them scanned and indexed for your and the Labs' future use, then send them along with the Image Cataloging Form and a service order (there is a charge), to Creative Arts, MS 0409, for imaging and indexing.

Corporate Archives serves as an information center for Sandia's history and would like to know if your Department already has indexed and stored collections of visual materials so that we can access them and refer others.

Our thanks to Charlie for his excellent idea! If you have any questions, call Myra O'Canna, Archive Coordinator at 844-6315.

The Strypi rocket, a workhorse in Sandia's testing efforts, being prepared for launch at the Kauai test site.

NEW EXHIBITS

An extensive exhibit on Sandia, its mission, and its programs has been installed in the 800/802 hallway. The History Program provided text and photos for, appropriately enough, the history section of the exhibit. Creative Arts has done a beautiful job on the exhibit, so stop by and take a look.

The next history exhibit to grace the Labs' display areas will an overview of Sandia's field test experiences ranging from support of atmospheric and underground nuclear detonations to extensive non-nuclear ordnance testing. The exhibit will be ready by the end of November and will be on display at the Credit Union on Juan Tabo and in the north hallway of Bldg. 894.

BUILDING 828 POLL

Remember back in April when opinions were solicited on the fate of Building 828--Sandia's oldest surviving structure? The responses were quite lively, both pro and con, and ranged from comments like, "That building has been nothing but an ugly, high maintenance, firetrap for the last 20 years...and it should have been demolished long ago" to "Please, please, please do not let anyone tear that building down. If it comes to this, you can call me and I will lay down in front of the bulldozers (Just kidding, but not too much so)." Other replies were equally impassioned, but the Sandians who favored saving Building 828 outnumbered those opposed, 22 to 7. Since it is simply not cost effective to renovate it, the building is scheduled for demolition. However, the construction of a replica of historic 828 is under consideration for use as a badge office in the proposed Gateway Complex at the Eubank entrance. The History Program is pleased to have been included in the discussion of the building's fate. We thank all those who responded to the mini-poll and, if it proved anything, it's that Sandians are certainly emotionally committed to their Labs.

Recorded Information Management Department 15102
Mail Stop 0612
Fax: 844-2621