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SANDIA HISTORY PROGRAM
NEWSLETTER |
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Unlimited Distribution Sand96-2737 |
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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.
WIPP
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
Manager: Anna Nusbaum, 845-9440, e-mail: awnusba@sandia.gov
Corporate Historian: Carl J. Mora, 844-8011, e-mail: cjmora@sandia.gov
Corporate Archivist: Myra O'Canna, 844-6315, e-mail: mlocann@sandia.gov
Research Historian: Rebecca Ullrich, 844-1483, e-mail: raullri@sandia.gov
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