Records of the Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]
(Record Group 326)
1923-75
Table of Contents
- 326.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
- 326.2 HEADQUARTERS RECORDS 1942-75
- 326.2.1 Records of MED Headquarters (Oak Ridge,
TN)
- 326.2.2 Records of AEC Commissioners
- 326.2.3 Records of the Office of the Chairman,
AEC (David E. Lilienthal, 1946-50)
- 326.2.4 Records of the Office of Information
Services, AEC, and its predecessors
- 326.2.5 Records of the Washington Production
Division
- 326.3 RECORDS OF THE OAK RIDGE OPERATIONS OFFICE
1942-75
- 326.3.1 General records
- 326.3.2 Records of staff organizations
- 326.3.3 Records of operating units
- 326.4 RECORDS OF OTHER OPERATIONS OFFICES 1942-73
- 326.4.1 Records of the Savannah River Operations
Office (Aiken, SC)
- 326.4.2 Records of the Chicago Operations
Office
- 326.4.3 Records of the Idaho Operations Office
(Idaho Falls, ID)
- 326.4.4 Records of the Nevada Operations Office
(Las Vegas, NV)
- 326.4.5 Records of the New York Operations
Office
- 326.4.6 Records of the San Francisco Operations
Office
- 326.5 RECORDS OF CONTRACTORS 1923-74
- 326.5.1 Records of Holmes and Narver, Incorporated
- 326.5.2 Records of Columbia University
- 326.5.3 Records of Linde Air Products
- 326.5.4 Records of the Tennessee Eastman Company
- 326.5.5 Records of the General Electric Company
- 326.5.6 Records of E.I. Du Pont de Nemours
and Company
- 326.5.7 Records of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory,
Berkeley, CA
- 326.5.8 Records of Rockwell International
- 326.6 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
- 326.7 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL) 1950-71 200
reels
- 326.8 TEXTUAL RECORDS (GENERAL) 1946-75
- 326.8 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL) 1952-74
- 326.10 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL) 1947-72
Established: As an independent agency, by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 755), August 1, 1946.
Predecessor Agencies:
Manhattan Engineer District (MED), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1942-47)
Functions: Controlled development and production of atomic weapons. Directed research and development of civilian uses of atomic energy. Regulated privately owned nuclear fuels and production facilities, pursuant to Atomic Energy Act amendments of 1954 (68 Stat. 919), August 30, 1954, and amendments of 1964 (78 Stat. 602), August 26, 1964.
Abolished: By the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 1237), October 11, 1974.
Successor Agencies: Energy Research and Development Administration (research, development, and production, 1974-77); Department of Energy (same, 1977- ). Nuclear Regulatory Commission (licensing and regulation, 1974- ).
Finding Aids: Partial inventory in National Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories.
Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.
Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Atomic
Energy Commission in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.
Records of MED, in RG 77, Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers.
Records of the Defense Nuclear Agency, RG 374.
Records of the Energy Research and Development Administration, RG 430.
Records of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, RG 431.
General Records of the Department of Energy, RG 434.
326.2 HEADQUARTERS RECORDS
1942-75
History: Manhattan Engineer District (MED) established, effective August 16, 1942, by General Order 33, Office of the Chief of Engineers (OCE), August 13, 1942, with mission to develop atomic bomb. MED property and personnel transferred to AEC, pursuant to Section 9 of Atomic Energy Act of 1946, by EO 9816, December 31, 1946. MED abolished, effective August 15, 1947, by General Order 14, OCE, August 8, 1947. SEE 326.1.
326.2.1 Records of MED Headquarters (Oak Ridge, TN)
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Formerly security-classified central files, 1942-47 (228 ft.). Unclassified central files, 1942-49 (226 ft.). Issuances, 1942-46. Records of the Washington Liaison Office, 1942-48.
326.2.2 Records of AEC Commissioners
Textual Records: Security-classified minutes with accompanying indexes, 1946-61. Security-classified and unclassified official files of Commissioners Robert F. Bacher, 1947-49; Mary I. Bunting; 1964-65 ; John F. Floberg, 1957-61; Sumner T. Pike, 1946-51; Harold S. Vance, 1955-59; T. Keith Glennan, 1947-52; John H. Williams, 1959-60; and William W. Waymack, 1947-48.
Related Records: Oral history interview of David E. Lilienthal (Chairman, 1946-50), in Johnson Library. Papers (portions closed), 1914-74, and oral history interview of Lewis L. Strauss (Chairman, 1953-58), in Hoover Library; and oral history interviews (closed) in Truman and Eisenhower Libraries. Papers, 1958-61, and oral history interviews of John A. McCone (Chairman, 1958-60), in Eisenhower Library. Papers (closed) of Glenn T. Seaborg (Chairman, 1961-71), 1961-63, in Kennedy Library. Papers of Sumner T. Pike (Commissioner, 1946-51), 1920-61, in Truman Library. Oral history interview of Eugene M. Zuckert (Commissioner, 1952-54), in Truman Library. Papers (closed) of John G. Palfrey (Commissioner, 1962-66), 1940-79, in Kennedy Library. Papers of James T. Ramey (Commissioner, 1962-73), 1952- 72, in Kennedy Library.
326.2.3 Records of the Office of the Chairman, AEC (David E. Lilienthal, 1946-50)
Textual Records: Security-classified and unclassified central subject correspondence, 1946-50. Central reading files, 1946-50. Correspondence with White House officials; Members of Congress; the Joint Atomic Energy Committee (of Congress); and other Federal Government agencies, 1947-50. Copies of semiannual reports to Congress, with related correspondence, 1947-50. Copies of minutes and other records of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 1946-49. Chairman's daily diary, 1947-50. Press clippings, 1938-52.
Related Records: Oral history interview of Kenneth D. Nichols (General Manager, 1953-55), in Eisenhower Library. Papers, 1940- 73, and oral history interview of Richard W. Cook (Deputy Manager, 1947-49, and Manager, 1949-51, Oak Ridge Operations Office; and, at headquarters, Director of Production, 1951-54; Assistant General Manager for Manufacturing, 1954; and Deputy General Manager, 1954-58), in Eisenhower Library. Papers of Lawrence R. Hafstad (Director of Reactor Development, 1949-55), 1940-63, in Truman Library. Oral history interview of Richard E. Neustadt (Consultant to AEC, 1962-68), in Johnson Library. Papers of Gordon Gray (Member, Personnel Security Review Board, 1954), 1946-76, in Eisenhower Library.
326.2.4 Records of the Office of Information Services, AEC, and
its predecessors
Textual Records: News releases, 1947-75. News releases relating to private industry, 1959-68, with summaries, 1958-68. Copies of speeches of chairman, commissioners, and general manager, 1947- 74. Transcripts of press conferences given by chairman and commissioners, 1962-73. Security-classified correspondence and related records, 1944-53.
326.2.5 Records of the Washington Production Division
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Official correspondence, 1942-48.
326.3 RECORDS OF THE OAK RIDGE OPERATIONS OFFICE
1942-75
Textual Records (in Atlanta, except as noted): Central correspondence, 1943-50, including correspondence relating to the K-25, X-10, and Y-12 Plants, 1943-48. Security-classified central correspondence, 1942-72 (in Washington Area). Reactor development correspondence of the Reactor Division, 1955-62. Community Affairs Division city management correspondence and related administrative records of the Oak Ridge community, 1946-48 . Daily diaries of MED and AEC officials, 1943-72 (in Washington Area). AEC official issuances, 1954-66. Project files relating to the experimental gas cooled reactor, 1962-66. Copies of The Oak Ridge Journal, 1945-48. Unique procurement files, 1944-55. Contractor correspondence files, 1963-65; 1969-73.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (300 items, in Atlanta): City of Oak Ridge, TN, used for zoning, planning, and other municipal purposes, 1950-60. SEE ALSO 326.6.
Motion Pictures (1 reel): Isotopes, produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with accompanying script and descriptive materials, 1959. SEE ALSO 326.7.
Related Records: Papers, 1940-73, and oral history interview of Richard W. Cook (Oak Ridge Operations Office Deputy Manager, 1947-49, and Manager, 1949-51), in Eisenhower Library.
326.3.2 Records of staff organizations
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence of the Assistant Manager for Public Education, 1944-68; Office of Community Affairs, 1943-75 (274 ft.); Organization and Personnel Division, 1946-72; and Security Division, 1950-62.
326.3.3 Records of operating units
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence of the Construction Branch, 1947-49; Feed Materials Division, 1943-71 (276 ft.); Production Plant Construction Division, 1947-50; Research Division, 1944-66 (253 ft.); Research and Development Division, 1947-68; and Research and Medicine Division, 1944-50. Engineering and Construction Division directives, 1947-66. Research and development files of the Reactor Division, 1946-66.
326.4 RECORDS OF OTHER OPERATIONS OFFICES
1942-88
326.4.1 Records of the Savannah River Operations Office (Aiken,
SC)
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence of the Technical Production Division, 1950-73. Records of the Budget and Finance Division, 1950-68. Records of the Projects Branch, Civilian Reactor Division, 1958-61. Records of the Contracts and Procurement Branch, 1954-62. Unique procurement files, 1954-69.
326.4.2 Records of the Chicago Operations Office
Textual Records (in Chicago, except as noted): Records of the Argonne National Laboratory, including central reading files, 1949-57; administrative correspondence, 1954-55; correspondence of the Reactor Safety Review Committee, 1951-70; records relating to the metallurgy program, 1948-64; statistical records of experimental core piles, 1953-54; monthly research reports on the CP-5 reactor, 1954-55; requests for samples of material to be exposed to radiation, 1953-59; reports on the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor, 1956-64; records relating to the Fast Reactor Test Facility, 1962-66; and minutes of the Personnel Recruitment Committee, 1963-68. Laboratory Director's program correspondence, 1945-53; Information Services Division's program correspondence, 1942-1988; Project Planning and Design Division records, 1949-63; project case files of the Metallurgy and Chemistry Divisions, 1943-69; and technical reports files from the Metallurgy Division,1942-56. Correspondence of the Reactor Development Branch relating primarily to the nuclear powered aircraft program, 1950-61 (in Atlanta).
Architectural and Engineering Plans (749 items, in Chicago): Exterior and interior laboratory construction, Argonne National Laboratory, 1942-68. SEE ALSO 326.6.
Sound Recordings (1 item): "Atomic Year 25," 1967, commemorating 25th anniversary of controlled nuclear chain reaction achieved December 2, 1942, at University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory, precursor of Argonne National Laboratory. Records of the Information Services Division, 1952-68. SEE ALSO 326.10.
Still Pictures: Photographic records of the Information Services Division, 1942-72.
326.4.3 Records of the Idaho Operations Office (Idaho Falls, ID)
Textual Records (in Seattle): Environmental contamination records, 1951-62. Radioactive waste disposal records, 1953-67. Personnel records relating to toxic substance exposure, 1958. Significant litigation files, Kellogg incident, 1955-68. Unique procurement files, 1960. Legal files, 1963. Technical report files, 1959. Environmental radiation records, 1952-72. Correspondence, 1949-61. Project specifications, contracts, and completion reports, 1951-57; 1963-66. Maintenance job releases, 1972-73. Records relating to shutdowns, 1967-71. Letter files, 1959-71. Papers cleared for presentation, 1967-68. Miscellaneous speeches and presentations, 1963-72. Emergency core cooling systems hearing records, 1971-73.
326.4.4 Records of the Nevada Operations Office (Las Vegas, NV)
Textual Records (in Los Angeles): Subject file, 1967-71. Management directives, 1962-67.
326.4.5 Records of the New York Operations Office
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence, 1942-49. Correspondence of the New York Area Office, 1943-46.
326.4.6 Records of the San Francisco Operations Office
Textual Records (in San Francisco): Correspondence, reports, and other records relating to reactor research and development, 1957- 65.
326.5 RECORDS OF CONTRACTORS
1923-74
326.5.1 Records of Holmes and Narver, Incorporated
Textual Records (in Los Angeles): General correspondence, planning files, construction records, and field notebooks, with interfiled drawings and photographs, 1942-71.
Motion Pictures (16 reels, in Los Angeles): Facilities in Hawaii and on U.S.-controlled Central Pacific islands, used by Pacific Test Division of Holmes and Narver, Inc., 1958-67. SEE ALSO 326.7.
Aerial Photographs (13,000 items, in Los Angeles): Nevada test sites, prior to and following nuclear detonations, documenting ecological damage and mass earth movements, 1952-64. SEE ALSO 326.6.
Photographs (17,785 images, in Los Angeles): Facilities on Johnston Island and site T of Johnston Atoll, 1962-65; Eniwetok- Bikini, 1958; Christmas, Fanning, and Palmyra Islands, 1967. SEE ALSO 326.9.
326.5.2 Records of Columbia University
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Formerly security-classified technical files, 1942-47.
326.5.3 Records of Linde Air Products
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Formerly security-classified technical files, 1942-47.
326.5.4 Records of the Tennessee Eastman Company
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Correspondence, 1943-47 (205 ft.). Formerly security-classified technical files, 1942-47.
326.5.5 Records of the General Electric Company
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Formerly security-classified technical files, relating primarily to the NMPO plant, Cincinnati, OH, and to General Electric's role in the nuclear aircraft propulsion program, 1955-62.
326.5.6 Records of E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
Textual Records (in Atlanta): Records of the Dana (IN) Plant as administered by Du Pont as part of its contract with the AEC to operate the Savannah River Plant, 1950-57 (325 ft.).
326.5.7 Records of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
Textual Records (in San Francisco): Records of Director Edwin McMillan, consisting of subject files, 1958-72; general correspondence, 1933-74; and laboratory and scientific conference files, 1948-74. Research, development, and administrative records of nuclear physicists, including the High Energy Accelerator Study Group, 1948-68; meson experiments of Eugene Gardener and the Gardener and Barkas research group, 1945-55, and the Trilling-Goldhaber research group, 1957-62; and bevatron experiment proposals collected by Edwin McMillan, 1958-72. Log books of the Segre-Chamberlain antiproton study utilizing the bevatron, 1947-64. Physics and radiation protection research records of Burton Jones Moyer, 1946-70. Research records of nuclear chemist Wendell M. Latimer, 1940-55. Sherwood Project records of William Brobeck, 1953-56. Emilio Segre Collection of Fermi Manhattan Project reports and related records, 1941-53. Records relating to design, construction, and operation of nuclear physics research equipment, including the 60-inch cyclotron, 1939-62, the 300-MEV synchrotron, 1947-66, and the 88- inch cyclotron, 1959-70. Reactor development reports of the Operations Office, 1957-65. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory histories, 1930-74. Records collected by Donald Cooksey, 1934-64. Case files relating to laboratory construction and subcontract work, 1940- 65. Index to mechanical engineering drawings of laboratory equipment, 1936-65.
Architectural and Engineering Plans (7,548 items and 77 rolls of microfilm, in San Francisco): Technical drawings collected by Edwin McMillan, 1923-47 (60 items). Mechanical engineering drawings of the 184-inch cyclotron, 1946-65 (488 items). Plans and drawings of the 300-MEV synchrotron, 1947-66 (7,000 items). Microfilm copy of electrical engineering drawings of significant buildings and equipment, such as cloud chambers and linear accelerators, ca. 1940-50 (9 rolls). Microfilm copy of designs and plans for calutron and related equipment, including plans relating to the Oak Ridge electromagnetic separation process, 1942-64 (68 rolls). SEE ALSO 326.6.
Motion Pictures (16 reels, in San Francisco): Argonne National Laboratory, collected by Edwin McMillan, 1962 (1 reel). Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory buildings, research equipment, and medical research, 1950-70 (15 reels). SEE ALSO 326.7.
Sound Recordings (47 items, in San Francisco): Prominent Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory officials and scientists, collected by Edwin McMillan and Donald Cooksey, 1939-72. SEE ALSO 326.8.
Photographs (39,900 images, in San Francisco): Historical photographs of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1944-74 (39,400 images). Photographs and related records, collected by Daniel Wilkes, 1927-69 (500 images). SEE ALSO 326.9.
Photographs (11 rolls of microfilm, in San Francisco): Donald Cooksey Collection, 1933-64. SEE ALSO 326.9.
326.5.8 Records of Rockwell International
Textual Records (in Seattle): Labor negotiations correspondence, Hanford Operations Office, Hanford, WA, 1947-54.
326.6 CARTOGRAPHIC RECORDS (GENERAL)
SEE Architectural and Engineering Plans UNDER 326.3.1, 326.4.2, and 326.5.7. SEE Aerial Photographs UNDER 326.5.1.
326.7 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)
1950-71
200 reels
Research and development activities at field installations, with accompanying card catalog, subject matter lists, and script notes, 1950-53 (122 reels). AEC and foreign nuclear agency films on peaceful uses of atomic energy, 1964-71 (78 reels).
SEE UNDER 326.3.1, 326.5.1, and 326.5.7.
326.8 TEXTUAL RECORDS (GENERAL)
1946-75
Office of the Secretary security-classified general correspondence (Secretariat Files), 1946-58, and unclassified memorandums, letters sent, citations, awards and other administrative records, 1954-74. Security-classified records of the Division of International Affairs relating to the formation of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1954-57. Security-classified director's "reading file", Division of Reactor Development, 1959-69. Security-classified records of the Reactor Safeguard Committee, 1947-53. Security-classified and unclassified records of the Division of Biology and Medicine's Technical Analysis Branch relating to biological and environmental effects of nuclear war, 1962-71, and fallout monitoring and other studies, 1946-73. Records of the Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, including central subject files, 1947-75; and general correspondence files, 1956. Division of Military Application security-classified semiannual project histories of the Iowa Plant and the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, 1954-71. Division of Military Application security-classified reports relating to Operation Sandstone, 1948-49. Correspondence of the Division of Research relating to High Energy Physics, 1956-68. Security-classifed correspondence of the Division of Research relating to physical research programs and policies, 1947-57. Records of the Security Division, including transcripts with indexes of formerly security-classified testimony in J. Robert Oppenheimer's 1954 security clearance hearing before the Personnel Security Board, together with additional security-classified records pertaining to the hearing's aftermath and espionage cases involving Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, 1943-75. Records of the Production Division relating to the Dixon-Yates Controversy, and the Portsmouth, Ohio electric power supply, 1952-56. Office and Division of Special Projects bound and unbound transcripts of Geneva Conference on a Nuclear Test Ban meeting proceedings, 1958-62. Records relating to the fourth Geneva Conference, 1962-71. Security-classified minutes, committee chairman's reports with a topical index, and historical reports relating to General Advisory Committee meetings, 1947-75. Security-classified microfilm copies of transcripts of AEC meetings, 1954-57. Security-classified records of the Division of Raw Materials, 1947-69. Security-classified correspondence, plans, reports, and other records relating to the Operations Coordinating Board and its working groups and committees, 1953-61. Security-classified General Counsel's Office legal opinions on patents, 1936-62, and related subject files, 1942-73. . Security-classified correspondence and related records of the Missile Projects Branch, Reactor Development Division, 1956-62. Security-classified drafts of Commission reports, and related correspondence, Division of Plans and Reports, 1947-65. Security-classified correspondence of the Chalk River extension office, Division of Research, 1944-56. Division of International Affairs security-classifed correspondence of the Asian-American-Latin-American Branch, 1964-66; the Special Assistant for Military Arrangements, 1959-65; and technical exchange and liason programs with the United Kingdom and Canada, 1953-63. Historical records relating to disarmament and arms control, 1953-63.
326.9 SOUND RECORDINGS (GENERAL)
1952-74
Commissioners' speeches, interviews, and press conferences, 1952- 74 (38 items), with accompanying transcripts, 1959-74. "Century of the Atom," 1971 (2 items).
SEE UNDER 326.4.2 and 326.5.7.
326.10 STILL PICTURES (GENERAL)
1947-72
Photographs: Facilities, equipment, personalities, and activities, with accompanying numerical caption list, 1947-72 (G, 3,600 images). Individual and group photographs of commissioners and other dignitaries, 1950-71 (COM, 37 images). Photographs of the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb detonations, 1945 (HN, 21 images). Photographs of the Hanford (WA) nuclear facility, 1974-79 (HR, 16 images). Photographs of the nuclear-powered ship, N.S. Savannah, 1962 (NS, 76 images). Photographs used in AEC publications, 1964-70 (PV, 800 images). Photographs of artists'renderings and interior details of the nuclear-powered ship, N.S. Savannah, 1961 (NSA, 141 images).
Lantern Slides (225 images): Black and white lantern slides of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb attacks on those cities, 1946 (AB, 225 images).
SEE Photographs UNDER 326.5.1 and 326.5.7.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
Blogs
Facebook
Flickr
RSS Feeds
Twitter
YouTube