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The Rand History Project Interviews constitute one of several oral history projects conducted within the National Air and Space Musuem's Department of Space History. The principal investigator for this project was Martin Collins and the following individuals were interviewed: Bruno Augenstein, Robert Bacher (with Lee DuBridge), Edward Barlow, Robert Belzer, Paul Blasingame, Edward Bowles, Frank Collbohm, Merton Davies, Richard Frick, Lawrence Henderson, Charles Hitch, Amrom Katz, Scott King, Burt Klein, David Novick, Malcolm Palmatier, Ernst Plessett, Edward Quade, Arthur Raymond, Ben Rumph, Robert Salter, Bernard Schriever, Gustave Shubert, Robert Specht, Hans Speier, George Tanham, Crawford Thompson, and Albert Wohlstetter.

Identifier

NASM.1999.0037

Creator

Collins, Martin

Date

1985-1990

Provenance

Department of Space History, NASM, Transfer, 1999, NASM.1999.0037, Varies.

Extent

2.35 Cubic feet (12 boxes)

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Related Materials

Similar materials, specifically a series of videohistories on the same topic, are housed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in the The Research and Development (RAND) Corporation Interviews, local collection number SIA 9536.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the compact audio cassettes and transcripts for the Rand History Project interviews, which is a dual institutional study of the RAND Corporation and its military sponsor, the Air Force. This collection covers the period 1945 though the early 1960s and consists of 104 hours of interviews with 29 individuals. The RAND interviews were conceived as another angle of inquiry on the relations between expert knowledge and the military in the early Cold War. RAND drew together engineers, scientists, and mathematicians whose specialties were oriented toward military hardware design and the physical sciences and sociologists, political scientists, economists, psychologists, and other social science and humanities specialists. All were organized within a single institution to study the problem of warfare in the cold War, especially from the perspective of the Air Force.

Arrangement note

The RAND History Project Interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee. Series I (boxes 1-9) contains interviews on audio cassette tapes. Series II (boxes 10-12) contains the transcripts.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.

Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Citation

Rand History Project Interviews, Acc. NASM.1999.0037, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Military art and science
Aeronautics, Military
Astronautics and state
Aeronautical engineers
Astronautics
Aeronautics designers
Cold War
Aeronautics

Type

Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts