Contributed by Anne Bahde, Rare Books and History of Science Librarian
This final post continues our look at this marvelous new collection, the types of research resources it contains, and potential topics of inquiry supported by it. See last week’s announcement to explore other collection strengths and examples of ephemera.
Box-Folder 1.146: Radioactive Fallout on the Farm, June 1957. Booklet on nuclear fallout effects on people, livestock, and crops. Includes instructions on protecting from fallout and surviving atomic bomb attack. ID: 1957.003 
Box-Folder 1.133: Facts About Fallout, 1955. Booklet on nuclear fallout and the Civil Defense Administration, and safety guidelines for atomic attack. ID: 1955.013 
Box-Folder 3.25: Average Natural Personal Radiation Dose, 1980. Blank form for calculating average radiation dose from low-level background radiation and other sources. ID: 1980.006 
Box-Folder 2.86: Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer, 1962. Handheld volvelle to calculate effects of different types of nuclear bomb, with explanatory leaflet. ID: 1962.008
Increased public awareness about the health and environmental dangers of radioactive fallout from nuclear tests is documented through fallout shelter designs, disaster plans, and guides for the layperson on radiation detection. The Harris materials add further depth to this topical area in SCARC’s collections, which also includes materials in the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, the History of Atomic Energy Rare Book Collection, and the Barton Hacker Papers.
Box-Folder 2.51: Atomic Energy in Action: The Story of the Peaceful Uses of the Atom, 1960. Brochure advertising exhibit in new Union Carbide building. ID: 1960.020 
Box-Folder 1.156: Exhibit guide for Atoms for Peace and Atoms for You, 1957. Guide to dual exhibits at Brooklyn Public Library and Abraham and Straus. ID: 1957.013 
Box-Folder 1.118: Atoms for Peace, November 8, 1954. Edition of Current Events, a national school newspaper, focusing on applications of atomic power as explained by President Eisenhower in Atoms for Peace campaign. ID: 1954.005 
Box-Folder 1.86: Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual: Instructions for Operating Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab, 1950. Booklet of experiments and instructions for Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab. ID: 1950.012 
Box-Folder 3.9: Radiation and Man, 1972. Comic book explaining radiation, protection, and applications in industry and medicine. ID: 1972.004
A number of items relate to educating laypersons and/or students about nuclear energy and science, including school newsletters, curricula, comic books, exhibit guides, and manuals. These materials, with others from SCARC collections, can collectively show how atomic energy was introduced to a generation of children, teenagers, and young people whose lives would be affected by it.
Box-Folder 2.49: 10 Steps to Industrial Survival, 1960. Names measures needed by United States industries to ensure survival and recovery after atomic attack. ID: 1960.018 
Box-Folder 2.17: The Master Profit Guide to 662 Stocks Now in the Atomic Energy Industry, 1958. Booklet prepared by editors of “The Atomic Energy Stock Letter,” a bi-weekly investment advisory service. ID: 1958.017 
Box-Folder 1.47: The Atomic Bomb and Common Sense, 1946. Printed speech and letter from Charles Almy to stockholders describing company interests and involvement in the Bikini bomb tests, including use of stratospheric balloons. ID: 1946.023 
Box-Folder 3.103: Postcards of uranium mines, undated, circa 1950s-1980s. ID: undated.043
The presence of the developing nuclear industries is asserted in the later 1940s through the next two decades, in the form of uranium prospecting materials, investment guides, company booklets, trade publications, and promotional materials. The growth of nuclear power is well represented in the form of brochures, postcards, and training guides.
Box-Folder 3.147: March for Nuclear Disarmament, 1965. Pamphlet advertising march, in Spanish and English. ID: 1965.006 
Box-Folder 2.85: What is CNVA, 1962. Brochure on organization’s activist events, mission, and ways to become involved with projects. ID: 1962.007 
Box-Folder 2.62: To Welcome Home from Russia the San Francisco to Moscow Peace Walkers, October 19, 1961. Flyer advertising meeting to welcome home activists; Co-sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, Catholic Worker, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Student Peace union, War Resisters League, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. ID: 1961.009 
Box-Folder 1.153: The Bomb Tests Can Be Stopped, 1957. Survival Leaflet No. 1, on dangers of atomic and hydrogen bomb testing to health as well as dangers of an atomic war. ID: 1957.010 
Box-Folder 1.78: Outlaw the H-Bomb: Factual and Discussion Material on the H-Bomb and the Fight to Outlaw Atomic Weapons, March 1950. Mimeograph compilations of facts, citations, discussion points, quotes, extracts, and a program of action. Booklet: “Hell-bomb or Peace” by Joseph Clark stapled into packet. ID: 1950.004 
Box-Folder 3.21: National Association of Atomic Veterans New England Meeting, October 11, 1980. Flyer. ID: 1980.002
Materials related to anti-nuclear activism are present from just after WWII and increase in number during the 1950s and 1960s, with organized protests and rallies advertised in posters, flyers, and leaflets. The late 20th century is reflected in ephemera related to nuclear-themed protest art and the space race, as well as satiric posters and postcards.
Box-Folder 3.104: Postcards of nuclear humor and satire, undated, circa 1950s-1980s. ID: undated.044 
Box-Folder 3.104: Postcards of nuclear humor and satire, undated, circa 1950s-1980s. ID: undated.044 
Box-Folder 3.104: Postcards of nuclear humor and satire, undated, circa 1950s-1980s. ID: undated.044 
Box-Folder 1.61: Donald Duck’s Atom Bomb, 1947. Comic book from Walt Disney included in Cheerios cereal boxes. ID: 1947.003 
Box-Folder 3.104: Postcards of nuclear humor and satire, undated, circa 1950s-1980s. ID: undated.044
The Harris Collection of Atomic Age Ephemera provides moving examples of the presence of the atom in our lives, and tells this story from nearly every possible angle. The materials comprise broad coverage of many scientific, religious, cultural, industrial, political, environmental, and other aspects of nuclear history. Rarities and surprises abound in the collection. Particularly notable items include: a program to a lecture by Nicola Tesla lecture on Roentgen rays in 1897; restricted newspapers from Manhattan Project locations; an early offprint of an address to Los Alamos scientists by J. Robert Oppenheimer, dated November 1945; this moving tour map of Hiroshima from 1949; and much, much more! We look forward to seeing how this fantastic collection is used to support research and teaching at OSU.
