JSIS 495 - Winter 2022: Task Force D: Nuclear Decolonization and the UW

The particular strength of the Lauren R. Donaldson papers lies in its extensive set of project files on radiation projects carried out by the University of Washington's Applied Fisheries Laboratory, as well as logbooks, reports, notes, photograph albums, scrapbooks and other materials from the radiological resurveys of Bikini Atoll and nearby islands after atomic and hydrogen bomb tests in the 1940s and 1950s. Project files on trout and salmon research are also present. Correspondence makes up approximately one third of the collection and includes both intradepartmental correspondence within the University of Washington College of Fisheries and correspondence with Donaldson's colleagues outside the University. Major individual correspondents include: Clinton E. Atkinson, Wilbert McLeod Chapman, John M. Haydon Neal O. Hines, and Allyn Henry Seymour. Among those organizations represented in the correspondence are: the American Fisheries Society, Seattle Aquarium, United States Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Biology and Medicine, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Washington State Department of Fisheries, and the Washington State Department of Game. Also included is material relating to Donaldson's service on the Washington State Oceanographic Commission, particularly concerning planning for the Seattle Aquarium. The collection also contains a substantial number of Donaldson's speeches and writings, his Shinkishi Hatai Medal, as well as award plaques and commemorative pins and coins.

Materials relating to his books, "Proving Ground", "Fish of Rare Breeding", and "Denny's Knoll"; correspondence, photographs, diary, writings, reports, audio tape recordings, maps, and publications concerning atomic testing at Bikini Atoll in 1946 and its aftermath; publications and maps concerning the Marshall Islands and background material concerning the University's Metropolitan Tract.

The Richard H. Fleming papers include correspondence, speeches and writings, reports, project files, teaching materials, oceanographic charts, photographs, and other materials. Included are materials relating to oceanography education, particularly the administration and growth of the University of Washington Oceanography Department; the Northern Pacific Survey (NORPAC), 1955-1956, the first comprehensive synoptic survey of the northern Pacific Ocean; Project Chariot, 1959-1962, which investigated exploding nuclear devices to create a harbor in Alaska; a report on the oceanography of the southeastern Chukchi Sea; and other research activities. There are also items relating to professional activities, particularly with the National Science Foundation, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Council on Wave Research, the United States Hydrographic Office, the United States Office of Naval Research, the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, and the National Research Council.

The Jackson papers are open to all researchers with the following exceptions:
The case files in accessions 3560-1 (pre-congressional papers), 3560-6 (FPD papers), 3560-8 (House case files) and 3560-14 (Senate case files) as well as any individual case files in other accessions are restricted to use by graduate students, university faculty members, and others doing similar serious research. These users must sign a statement indicating an understanding of the restrictions on the dissemination of information contained in these files. These conditions also apply to the microfilm of outgoing letters in accession 3560-19, which includes correspondence from constituent case files.
The Joel Merkel subgroup in box 330 of accession 3560-5 (Senate papers) is closed until an undetermined date before 2011.
Some material stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

This record group documents the administration and research projects of the Applied Fisheries Laboratory, later known as the Laboratory of Radiation Biology and then the Laboratory of Radiation Ecology, at the University of Washington. Records include documentation of studies of the Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls, the larger Marshall Islands area, the Columbia River, and Fern Lake, among many other locations. Included are correspondence, reports, writings, subject files, logs, photographs and slides, trip files, convention and conference files, and ephemera.