The Hanford History Project and Washington State University Press are soliciting papers for a collection of essays on the March 2017 conference theme, “Legacies of the Manhattan Project at 75 Years.” The collection is NOT a “conference proceedings” but rather an effort to gather recent, cutting-edge research that reflects current scholarship on any aspect of the Manhattan Project/Cold War inheritance. We would be delighted to consider for inclusion any work you are presently engaged in pertaining to that theme. See the flyer here for submission information and deadline.
Well over 100 people registered and participated in the March conference. There were outstanding panel discussions, informative updates regarding the evolution of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, and a round-table discussion that concluded the formal program. The Park’s Hanford unit was visited as well as its crown jewel, B Reactor.
The conference in March also underscored the need to continue to expand the scope of historical inquiry and interpretation, to encompass those stories that have yet to garner the attention they deserve: the stories of often-overlooked groups (African-American and domestic laborers, for instance) without whose efforts the Manhattan Project would have remained a thing of whimsy, a pipe-dream; the stories of the Native American tribes-people and the pre-1943 farming families who were peremptorily uprooted, abruptly divorced from their traditions and ways of life, in order to make way for the government’s massive undertaking; the stories of the tragic human and environmental impacts that were the unintended consequences of an arms race conducted with a war-time sense of urgency; and, more positively, the stories of scientific and technological innovation and advancement developed to remedy those consequences.
The Hanford History Project will be hosting another conference at a date yet to be determined (spring or fall 2019). A series of events is also planned for Fall 2017…more information forthcoming.
