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Greetings!
Today is a milestone for Manhattan Project history! In a ceremony this morning, Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell signed an agreement that officially establishes the Manhattan Project National Historical Park at Los Alamos, NM, Hanford, WA, and Oak Ridge, TN.
This special issue of our newsletter is dedicated to the new park.
In This Issue
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 Manhattan Project Park Is Established! |
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Dignitaries at the signing ceremony
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We welcome today's official establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. "For more than a decade, the Atomic Heritage Foundation and our partners have been working to preserve Manhattan Project sites and create the park," states the Foundation's President, Cynthia C. Kelly, who attended the ceremony along with the Foundation's staff. "The national park is long overdue and will provide Americans an important opportunity to understand the Manhattan Project and its complex legacy for the world today."
The sites of the Manhattan Project Park "are among the world's most significant places, where work was done that changed the human world forever," affirms Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and a member of the Foundation's Board of Directors.
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DOI Secretary Sally Jewell
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In her remarks, Secretary Jewell discussed how the park "can more widely tell the human story" of the 600,000 people who worked on the Manhattan Project. Emotionally recalling a visit her mother-in-law, an Army nurse, took to Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombs were dropped, she emphasized, "We are a country that strives to tell the complete story."
Secretary Moniz hailed the achievements of the national scientific laboratories that emerged from the work of the Manhattan Project. The new park, he declared, "will provide the platform for our citizenry to understand the roots of this and what it means for our future responsibilities."
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DOE Secretary Ernie Moniz
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Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico also spoke about the significance of the Manhattan Project and applauded the communities of Los Alamos, Hanford, and Oak Ridge for their work to make the park a reality.
Senator Heinrich praised the work of the Foundation and its partners: "I want to especially thank the Atomic Heritage Foundation, which has worked in collaboration with the Los Alamos Historical Society and with the Bradbury Science Museum to preserve and interpret historic Manhattan Project properties in Los Alamos."
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DOE attorney Colin Colverson with author and AHF Board member Denise Kiernan
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The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act, which became law on December 21, 2014, required that the two Departments reach an agreement within a year of enactment to formally establish the park as part of the National Park System.
With the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement today, the Manhattan Project Park becomes one of over 50 national historical parks, including the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in Kentucky, Harpers Ferry in West Virginia, and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
The park will have three units: Los Alamos, NM, Oak Ridge, TN, and Hanford, WA. The National Park Service estimates it will take two more years to complete the planning for the park, and three to five years after that to prepare the sites for public access, but local museums are eagerly awaiting an influx of tourists at each of the three sites. Virtual tours of Hanford and the B Reactor are already available through the Foundation's innovative "Ranger in Your Pocket" website, where visitors can choose from a broad selection of programs.
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AHF President Cindy Kelly with NPS Associate Directors Victor Knox and Stephanie Toothman
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From the dozens of refugee scientists who joined the project at Los Alamos to the "Calutron girls" of Oak Ridge, the people who worked on the Manhattan Project represented the diversity of the American experience. As one of the few national parks to focus on American science, technology, and industry, the Manhattan Project Park is an excellent opportunity to engage the public in learning about innovation in science, engineering and technology.
The park will also enable visitors to reflect on the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan and the Manhattan Project's legacies for today. The Atomic Heritage Foundation looks forward to working with the National Park Service, partner organizations, and the local communities to continue to preserve and interpret this important history.
For more photos from the signing ceremony, please click here.
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The Foundation's Role in the New Park
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We have developed an array of educational resources to help interpret the park. These include:
The "Ranger in Your Pocket" website, where you can view programs on the B Reactor at Hanford, Manhattan Project innovations, and Hanford's early pioneers.
We are now working on tours for Bathtub Row at Los Alamos and cross-cutting programs such as "Espionage." Visitors to the new park will be able to access these tours on their smartphones and tablets and listen to Manhattan Project veterans recount their experiences working on the project that changed the world.
For example, you can listen to General Groves recall choosing Los Alamos for the scientific laboratory: "It didn't take me long to say, 'This is it.'"
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Now it is time to move forward with the park. We need your help to continue to preserve and interpret this history. Your support makes all of this and more possible, so please consider making a donation to support our efforts. Thank you!
Sincerely,
President
Atomic Heritage Foundation
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