Science, Medicine and Society, Division of (NMAH, SI). Search this
Extent:
4 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Bumper stickers
Videotapes
Photographs
Clippings
Handbills
Signs (declaratory or advertising artifacts)
Posters
Place:
Texas -- Environmental protection
Date:
1985-1992
bulk 1987-1989
Summary:
The collection was assembled by Museum curators and documents the efforts of persons in eight states to have the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), a particle accelerator, built in their state. Also documents efforts in each state to oppose locating the SSC in their state. The collection contains correspondence, press kits, posters, signs, bumper stickers, leaflets, handbills, clippings, photographs, and a videotape.
Scope and Contents:
The collections contains materials documenting the efforts by persons in eight competing states to have the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) built in their state, as well as efforts in each state to oppose locating the SSC within their state. The materials include correspondence, press kits, posters, signs, bumper stickers, leaflets, handbills, clippings, two photographs and one videotape.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into nine series.
Series 1: Arizona (Ian MacPherson), 1988, undated
Subseries 1.1: Ian McPherson, 1988, undated
Series 2: Colorado (Uriel Nauenberg), 1987
Subseries 2.1: Uriel Nauenberg, 1987-1988
Series 3: Illinois, 1987-1991, undated
Subseries 3.1: Fermi National Laboratory Library/Paula Garrett, undated
Subseries 3.2: David L. Gross, 1988, undated
Subseries 3.3: Sharon Lough, 1988-1991
Subseries 3.4: Stan L. Yonkauski, undated
Series 4: Michigan, 1988-1989
Subseries 4.1: Larry Jones, 1988-1989
Series 5: New York, 1986-1990
Subseries 5.1: Gail Adair, 1987
Subseries 5.2: Mary Lou and Jim Alexander, 1986-1990
Subseries 5.3: Bill Herbert, 1987
Subseries 5.4: Doug McCuen, 1987-1988
Subseries 5.5: Brian L. Petty, 1987-1988
Series 6: North Carolina, 1987
Subseries 6.1: Bill Dunn, 1987
Series 7: Tennessee, 1987-1992
Subseries 7.1: Robert and Pat Sanders, 1987-1992
Subseries 7.2: J. Fred Weinhold, 1987
Series :, Texas, 1985-1990, undated
Subseries 8.1: Representative Joe Barton, undated
Subseries 8.2: Jean Caddel, 1986-1989
Subseries 8.3: Coby Chase, 1985-1989
Subseries 8.4: Red Oak Chamber of Commerce, 1990
Subseries 8.5: Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce, undated
Subseries 8.6: Mari Beth Williams, undated
Series 9: Miscellaneous, 1987-1988
Biographical / Historical:
The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), if built, would have been the world's most expensive instrument for basic science. It would have allowed physicists to study the collisions of subatomic particles in conditions approximating those of the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe. The SSC design called for a 10-foot wide tunnel to be laid out in an oval pattern similar to a racetrack, approximately 53 miles in circumference and 14 miles in diameter. The tunnel, buried several hundred feet underground, would have contained nearly 10,000 superconducting magnets. Small clusters of buildings located above the tunnel were planned to house the SSC's offices, laboratories, and control facilities. All of these structures would have made the SSC the largest particle accelerator in the world and, at an estimated cost of between $4.4 and $11.8 billion, one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken in the United States.
Physicists planned to use the SSC's superconducting magnets to accelerate two streams of protons (particles with a positive electrical charge that forming part of the nucleus of an atom) to a velocity of 20 trillion electron-volts (TeV) in opposite directions within the tunnel's parallel beam tubes. They would then deflect the two streams into each other and study the particles that were created in the resulting high-speed collisions. From these events, physicists hoped to detect particles never seen before and learn more about the composition of matter.
In January 1987, President Reagan publicly declared his support for the proposed SSC, to be built under the authority of the Department of Energy (DOE). States were invited to submit site proposals for the project, and from the twenty-five states that responded, eight finalists were selected: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
The huge scale of the SSC meant that it would have a significant environmental and cultural impact on the area selected. The SSC would, one source estimated, "require 16,000 acres of donated land, a flow of between 500 and 2,200 gallons of water a minute and up to 250-megawatts of power, as well as accessibility to a major airport, so the world's scientists can fly in and out."1
In many of the finalist states, opponents of the SSC organized and actively campaigned against the project. They raised issues such as the threat to uproot hundreds of people from their homes or create heavy tax and utility burdens. Opponents attended public hearings on SSC issues, distributed leaflets by mail and by hand, and conducted letter-writing campaigns to local politicians. In New York, Citizens Against the Collider Here (CATCH) was able to force the state to withdraw from the competition. Groups in other states learned from the New York group's experiences and used similar techniques in their own campaigns, sometimes adopting the name CATCH. As one CATCH activist recalled, "opponents were not against the SSC or basic sciences, however they did not believe that they should be forced out of their homes for the SSC."2
Supporters of the SSC, on the other hand, addressed the concerns of the citizens by writing editorials or distributing pamphlets responding to particular issues or questions. Prominent city officials and politicians traveled to the proposed sites to discuss the economic and scientific benefits of the SSC, and cities distributed bumper stickers supporting the project. Scientists rebuffed claims that the SSC would produce large amounts of deadly radioactivity and contaminate the entire area. Supporters promised that, "the SSC project would bring federal funding, international prestige, and jobs—starting with 4,500 construction jobs, and later 2,500 full-time research staff positions."3
In November 1988, the Department of Energy declared the winning site to be Ellis County, Texas, southwest of Dallas near the town of Waxahachie. Full-scale construction began three years later with the building of laboratory facilities for the design and manufacture of the SSC's superconducting magnets. Contractors began boring the main tunnel and several vertical access shafts in January 1993.
The anticipated tremendous costs that dogged the project eventually helped undermine it. In June 1992 and again in June 1993, the House voted to cancel funds for the SSC; both times, the Senate restored funding. However, in October 1993 the House rejected the Senate's second restoration, and President Clinton echoed Congress's decision to cancel further work on the SSC. The project received a small budget to support termination activities through 1996. Once the remaining projects were shut down and the scientists and staff dispersed, only several empty buildings in the rural Texas countryside, and fourteen miles of tunnel underneath it, remained of the once-ambitious facility.
At the National Museum of American History, planning for the Science in American Life exhibit—which would examine how science, technology, and American society have intersected over a hundred-year period—began in 1990, at the same time that preparations were being made in Texas to build the Super Collider. Early in the planning phases, Smithsonian curators decided to dedicate a section of the exhibit to the SSC. This section was intended to be a "work in progress" that would change over time as the collider was built, reflecting the current and ongoing debates over the massive machine.
The exhibition design called for using materials donated by both supporters and opponents of the SSC. Early in the exhibit's development the curators began contacting organizations and individuals who both supported and opposed the SSC, asking if they still had materials related to their efforts. Over a two-year period, the curators collected a wide range of items in more than twenty donations, ranging from bumper stickers, t-shirts and hats, to newspaper clippings, maps, and copies of state site proposals.
The design of the SSC portion of the Science in American Life exhibit became permanent with the closing of the SSC in late 1993. The SSC portion now focuses on the roles that special interest groups, protest, and grass-roots political campaigns play in large-scale scientific endeavors. Many of the donated items were included in the exhibit.
Notes
1 DeMott, John S. and J. Madeleine Nash, "Super Push for a Supercollider," Time, April 13, 1987, p. 19, Box 2, Folder 20.
2 "Alexander Narrative," a brief typescript history of the New York CATCH organization, Box 3, Folder 14.
3 Koszczuk, Jackie. "Anti-SSC Felling CATCH-es On Fast," Daily Star News (Fort Worth, Texas), September 17, 1988, p. 4, Box 2, Folder 5.
Related Materials:
When the Superconducting Super Collider entered its termination phase in 1993, the Records Management Department of the project began grouping the official records of the SSC into five "disposition packages." These packages were in various stages of being assembled, shipped, received, and processed for research use and were dispersed to: the Fort Worth Regional Federal Records Center; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory ("Fermilab") Archives; Niels Bohr Library, Center for History of Physics, American Institute for Physics; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Archives.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by individuals connected in various ways to the Superconducting Super Collider. The items were donated from personal collections, official files, and the project archives of several different institutions. The donors were Gail Adair, Mary Lou and Dr. Jim Alexander, Representative Joe Barton, Jean Caddel, Coby Chase, Bill Dunn, the Fermi National Laboratory Library, David L. Gross, Bill Herbert, Larry Jones, Sharon Lough, Uriel Nauenberg, Doug McCuen, Ian McPherson, Andrea Miller, Brian L. Petty, the Red Oak Chamber of Commerce, Pat and Dr. Robert Sanders, the Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce, J. Fred Weinhold, Mari Beth Williams, and Stan L. Yonkauski. A brief statement identifying donors and their connections to the Superconducting Super Collider accompanies each subseries in the container list.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Unrestricted research use on site. Unprotected photographs must be handled with white cotton gloves.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
1 Item (Color dyes on film, unmounted., 2-1/4" x 2-1/4".)
Container:
Box 119, Sheet 50
Type:
Archival materials
Portraits
Photographs
Color slides
Chromogenic processes
Place:
New Delhi, India
India
Date:
August 1959
Local Numbers:
AC0145-0000064 (AC scan no.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site, except that slides may be in cold storage and require warm-up period. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Boas, Ernst P. (Ernst Philip), 1891-1955 Search this
Names:
Montefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases. Search this
Goldschmidt, Ernst F. (Ernst Friedrich), b. 1892 Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (2 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Technical literature
Reprints
Date:
1927-1946
Summary:
The papers document Dr. Ernst P. Boas and his work with Benjamin Liebowitz and Dr. Ernst F. Goldschmidt to develop the cardiotachometer (US Patent 1,816,465), a device to measure patients' heart rates for long periods of time. Materials include Dr. Boas's correspondence, patient experiment data, articles, and reprints of journal articles authored by Dr. Boas and with others that relate to the development of the cardiotachometer.
Scope and Contents:
The papers document Dr. Ernst P. Boas and his work with Benjamin Liebowitz and Dr. Ernst F. Goldschmidt to develop the cardiotachometer (US Patent 1,816,465), a device to measure patients' heart rates for long periods of time. Boas and Liebowitz were also assisted in their work by by Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith, Julius Weinberger, Theodore A. Amith, and George Rodwin of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). The RCA team was able to work out the theoretical and practical solutions for the amplifier, an important aspect for the device.
The papers include Dr. Boas's correspondence, patient experiment data, articles, and reprints of journal articles authored by Dr. Boas and with others that relate to the development of the cardiotachometer.
Series 1, Cardiotachometer Materials, 1926-1948, consist of the US patent issued to Boas, correspondence and writings that relate to the development of the cardiotachometer
Subseries 1, Correspondence, 1926-1934, consists of correspondence, invoices, receipts, and business cards, that relate to the development of the cardiotachometer and responses from physicians about its use. The majority of the correspondence relates to the development of the cardiotachometer and documents Boas's communications with companies who supplied parts (relays, wiring, contact devices, counters) such as the Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation, Veeder Manufacturing Company, A. Wittnauer Company (watchmakers), C.H. Stoelting Company, and Radio Corporation of America.
Subseries 2, Writings, 1928-1935, consists of articles written by Boas and with others related to the cardiotachometer and heart issues. Most of the articles are reprints from medical journals such as American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Archives of Internal Medicine, American Medicial Association, Journal of Clinical Investigation, The American Heart Journal, and the Journal of Mount Sinai Hospital.
Series 2, Patient Experiment Files, 1928-1929, consists of cardiotachometer experiments Dr. Boas conducted at Montefiore Home and Hospital in New York. The documentation consists of data for 48 patients, but the experiment numbers which were assigned to each patient in the study indicate more patients participated. The majority of patients are male, and the series is arranged by experiment number.
The files contain an overall health history (name, occupation, education, marital status, hobbies, sex, birth date, family history, habits and hygiene (sleep, diet, bowels, and menstruation), and past illnesses; physical examination (addressing teeth, tonsils, heart, joints, liver, spleen, lungs, etc.); diet sheet (types of foods eaten along with average pulse rates); measurements (height, arm length, leg length), cardiotachometer data (time, counter reading, rate, body position, room temperature, and remarks), cardiotachometer tape readings, and in some instances correspondence. A follow-up survey form was sent to patients by Dr. Boas, who participated in the experiment. The survey questions included issues such as mental work, dreaming, morning wake time, and preferences for staying in bed.
Ernst Philip Boas was born on February 4, 1891 in Worcester, Massachusetts where his father, Franz Boas, held a docentship in anthropology at Clark University. Later, the family (including Ernst Boas's mother, Marie Krackowizer Boas; his three sisters, Helene, Gertrude, and Franziska; and his brother, Henry, moved to the New York City area.
Boas attended the Ethical Culture School through high school and then went on to receive his B.S. from Columbia University in 1910. He remained at Columbia to receive his M.A. in 1912 and his M.D. in 1914, the latter from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he graduated first in his class.
After some trouble finding an internship, apparently because of anti-Semitism, Boas became an intern at The Mount Sinai Hospital from 1914 to 1916. In 1917, he was appointed Instructor in Pathology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. On August 6, 1917, he was drafted into the Army as First Lieutenant in the Medical Section of the Officers' Reserve Corps and was appointed Captain on April 20, 1918. While in the Army (including some duty in France), he served as a cardiovascular specialist.
When Boas was honorably discharged from the Army on 24 May 1919, he began his first private practice from an office in his home on West 96th Street in New York City. He practiced there until 1921 when he joined the staff of the Montefiore Hospital for Chronic Diseases as Medical Director. From 1920 to 1921, Boas was Instructor in Physiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Later, from 1926 to 1951, he taught post-graduate courses in diseases of the heart at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
In 1929, Boas left the medical directorship of Montefiore Hospital but retained the position of Attending Physician there for one year, from 1929 to 1930. Also in 1929, Boas moved to The Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was Associate Physician until 1951, at which time he became a consultant to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Boas resumed his private practice in 1929 (he was certified as a cardiovascular disease specialist by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1941), opening an office at 41 West 83rd Street. He later established a permanent office at 1185 Park Avenue, where he entered into a partnership with Hyman Levy in 1949. One of Boas's sons, Norman F. Boas (also a physician), was his assistant from 1949 to 1951. Some of Boas's famous patients included William Laurence, science editor of the New York Times; Charles C. Burlingham, New York lawyer and politician; Sidney Hillman, President of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; Henry A. Wallace, a United States cabinet official and presidential candidate; Karl Menninger, founder of the Menninger Clinic; and Dr. Felix Adler, founder of the Ethical Culture Society.
From 1937 to 1943, Boas was a Special Lecturer at the Teacher's College of Columbia University where he specialized in the education of the handicapped. From 1938 to 1951, he was Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Boas was a prolific writer of articles and books on scientific topics (such as cardiology), as well as on topics in the popular media, such as geriatrics and chronic illness. Many of his publications advocate compulsory national health insurance. He served as Associate Editor of Modern Hospital from 1923 to 1929. Some of his books include Treatment of the Patient Past Fifty, The Unseen Plague--Chronic Disease, and The Heart Rate. This latter book grew out of Boas's research with Ernst F. Goldschmidt in developing the cardiotachometer, an electronic device that measures the heart rate continuously over many hours. Other research included his discovery of the calcification of the pineal gland; studies of neurocirculatory asthenia in soldiers in World War I; studies of the physiology of capillaries; and studies on cholesterol and its role in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis.
Boas also served as a medical consultant to numerous organizations and health care institutions, including Beth Israel Hospital of Passaic, New Jersey; the Group Health Cooperative, Inc.; the New York Guild for the Jewish Blind; the Sidney Hillman Health Center (where he directed a large research program on atherosclerosis); Irvington House; Lexington Hospital; Long Beach Hospital; Moosehaven; the New York Metal Trades Council and Hotel Association; and the Workmen's Circle.
Boas was involved with city, state, and federal organizations that dealt with health care. He was Chairman of the Committee on Chronic Illness of the Welfare Council of the City of New York. His work with this committee encouraged the construction of the Municipal Hospital for Chronic Diseases (now called Goldwater Memorial Hospital) on Welfare Island, as well as the elimination of many of the almshouses there. He also served on the Advisory Council of the New York City Department of Health and on the General Advisory Committee for the Cardiac Program of the New York State Department of Health. He was a consultant to the Social Security Board of the United States Federal Security Agency. He also testified in compensation hearings to show that heart attacks may result from unusual effort or trauma.
Besides his purely medical work, Boas was deeply involved in social causes. He worked with such agencies as the China Aid Council, Inc.; the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Medical Scientists (serving as Secretary in 1945); the Committee of Physicians for the Improvement of Medical Care, Inc.; the National Committee for Resettlement of Foreign Physicians; the Physicians Committee of the National Refugee Service (serving as Chairman in 1943), and the United Service for New Americans, Inc. He founded The Physicians Forum, Inc., in 1939, to study and discuss health care issues, resist McCarthyism, and counter the American Medical Association's opposition to national health insurance. He also continued to work against discrimination in any form and was instrumental in the appointment of African-American physicians and nurses to hospital staffs.
He was a member of the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Society for the Study of Arteriosclerosis (founding member), the Authors' Guild, the Child Study Association of America, the Committee for the Nation's Health, the Committee of Citizens Against the Feinberg Law (a law to eliminate subversives from the New York state public school system), the Harvey Society, the Medical Society of the County of New York, the National Medical Committee of the NAACP, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York Heart Association, Inc. (founding member and Chairman), the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association (Chairman of the Heart Committee), and the United States Committee, Inc. (founding member), an organization created in support of the World Medical Association. He also belonged to the honorary societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Phi Beta Kappa, and Pi Gamma Mu.
Boas died on March 9, 1955 in New York City of pancreatic cancer. He was survived by his wife, Helene Tuthill Sisson Boas, and his children, Donald P. Boas, Norman F. Boas, and Barbara G. Crutchley.
References
Biographical note courtesy of the Ernst Boas Papers, American Philsophical Society.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Del Mar Avionics Holter Monitor Records (AC1249)
Materials in the Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession #1984.0638.04.
Materials in Other Organizations
American Philosophical Society, Ernst P. Boas Papers, circa 1907-1955
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Norman F. Boas on December 14, 1974.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Washington (D.C.) -- Small business -- 20th century
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Shaw (Washington, D.C.)
Date:
undated
Summary:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.1 includes black and white silver gelatin negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Scope and Contents:
Subseries 4.1 includes black and white silver gelatin negatives. The majority of the negatives, not all, have been scanned.
Arrangement note:
The negatives are not arranged in a clear order, and the negatives document clients and subjects. Researchers will need to look in two different box sizes for negatives of different sizes that were originally housed together in freezer boxes but are now housed separately according to size. A number of freezer boxes are missing, this is the reason for box number gaps, and contain varying numbers of negatives. The physical number of boxes was condensed during rehousing but the original freezer box numbers were retained in combination on the new boxes. The beginning and end of a freezer box are indicated inside the new box by blue dividers.
Biographical/Historical note:
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, DC. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). More...
Forms Part Of:
Subseries 4.1 forms part of Series 4, within the Scurlock Studio Records group.
Scurlock Studio Records
Series 1: Black and White Photographs
Series 2: Color Photographs
Series 3: Framed Prints
Series 4: Black-and-White Silver Gelatin Negatives
Series 5: Color Negatives
Series 6: Color Transparencies, Slides, and Other Formats
Series 7: Black-and-White Color Separation Negatives and Matrices
Series 8: Scurlock Studio Business Records
Series 9: Custom Craft Business Records
Series 10: Capitol School of Photography
Series 11: Washington Stock
Series 12: Background Materials and Publications
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
African Americans -- History -- 20th century Search this
Commercial photography -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C) Search this
African American entertainers -- 20th century Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs -- 20th century
Matrices, color separation
Dye transfer process
Studio portraits
Color separation negatives
Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
