These records document the operations of CSLP under Citron. They include budget and personnel records, applications for grants in support of CSLP projects, publicity,
and event reports documenting specific short-lived phenomena. There are also some records dealing with the Smithsonian Environmental Alert Pilot Program in 1972.
For additional administrative and operational records of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena, see Office of International Programs, Record Unit 274.
Historical Note:
The Center for Short-Lived Phenomena (CSLP) was created in January 1968 to assist Smithsonian scientists in studying short-lived phenomena and to provide a reporting
and information service for use by the scientific community. Its focus was on meteoritics, vulcanism, earthquakes, and sudden changes in biological and ecological systems.
In 1971 and 1972 CSLP broadened its scope to include an information service for high school and college students. In 1973 the Center formed a new National Environmental Alert
Program which became part of the United Nations Earthwatch Program.
Robert Citron was appointed Director of CSLP and served from 1968- . Policy was formulated by a committee of Smithsonian scientists, chaired by Sidney Roland Galler, Assistant
Secretary for Science. The Center was operated from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
