NASA oral history project records

Collection

Identifier: 2011-001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The NASA Oral History Project is a record of the university's partnerhsip with NASA to obtain oral histories from former NASA employees living in Central Texas. Records consists of administrative files related to the project, recordings and transcripts of interviews, and reference materials related to the history of the space program. Organized into three series: Series 1. Project planning and administration; Series 2. Oral history interviews; Series 3. Publications.

Box one contains project planning and administrative records, as well as introductory and supplementary material on the SWT/JSC Oral History Project. It includes the copies of the initial project plan, correspondence between the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and SWT people and documentation of project expenditures. There are also photographic materials and documents donated by some of the interviewees.

Boxes two through nine contain print copies of each interview transcript as well as digital audio (on CD) of the interview. Interviews are arranged alphabetically by the interviewee’s last name.

Boxes ten through fifteen contains audio cassette recordings of each interview, arranged alphabetically.

Box sixteen contains the video cassettes of the interviews recorded by Chris Elley as part of his documentary project, as well as copies of the documentary, titled In the Shadow of the Moon: People of the American Space Program.

Box seventeen contains the project library, consisting of publications relating to the history of the Space Program. These publications were acquired by Dr. Ron Brown and made available to his students as background information for their interviews. Of note are two CD-ROMs, one containing full mission transcripts for every NASA mission from Mercury 3 to Apollo 17. The other CD is a digital book about the Shuttle-Mir joint missions.

Dates

circa 1974-2001, undated
Majority of material found within 1999-2001

Creator

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (Organization)
Southwest Texas State University. Department of History (Organization)
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

Historical note

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) began the JSC (Johnson Space Center) Oral History Project in 1996 in an effort to document the experiences of everyone involved in the American quest for the moon. In 1999, NASA entered into a cooperative effort with Southwest Texas State University to interview NASA retirees living in the Texas Hill Country. Interviewees were chosen based on proximity to San Marcos.

During the three years of the project, Texas State Graduate students conducted approximately sixty interviews with NASA retirees. Most of the interviewees were engineers, but there were also doctors, lawyers, accountants and administrative personnel interviewed. While each interview was unique, the students were working from a set of common questions. The questions covered topics including the interviewees’ perception of the space race, the long work hours maintained during the major projects, the changes in the Clear Lake (Houston, Texas) area resulting from the population influx caused by the Gemini and Apollo programs and the interviewees’ thoughts on the future of the space program.

For three semesters, graduate students in Dr. Ron Brown’s Oral History class conducted these interviews. Each interview was approximately one hour long and was recorded on audio cassette. The students then transcribed the interviews, following guidelines provided by NASA. Copies of the audio were transferred to compact disc. During the 1999 session, some of the interviews were also recorded on video by SWT Mass Communication graduate student Christopher Elley. Copies of the video are included in the project material.

Extent

7.38 Linear Feet (10 manuscript boxes, 7 cassette cases and 16 cataloged books (books are not included in linear feet extent). )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) began the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project in 1996 in an effort to document the experiences of everyone involved in the American quest for the moon. In 1999, NASA entered into a cooperative effort with Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) to interview NASA retirees living in the Texas Hill Country.

Records consists of administrative files related to the project, recordings and transcripts of interviews, and reference materials related to the history of the space program. The transcripts and recordings can be access through the NASA JSC history portal.

Physical Location

Materials may be stored off-site. Advance notice may be required for use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Three separate transfers were combined to create this accession. One set was donated to special collections prior to 2006, but it appears there is no transfer form or accession file. One set was received from Lynn Denton and another set from Ron Brown during the summer of 2011. Two copies of each transcript was retained, duplicates were discarded, and the remaining materials were arranged and rehoused into acid-free folders. Addtional photographs added in 2019 from Ron Brown.

Small amount of materials that note they were donated by Leon Ballinger and Andrew Patnesky.

Existence and Location of Copies

NASA's Johnson Space Center has a complete set of all oral history materials held in this collection. Please visit the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Oral History Project page to view transcripts for all of the interviews conducted for this project, including those competed by SWT (Texas State) students. The JSC Oral History Project page allows researchers to identify content by a specific project, search by name of interviewees, or see a list of all oral history interviews conducted to date.

See: https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/

Related Materials

Complete records of the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project (JSC OHP) are held by the University of Houston-Clear Lake in the JSC History Collection. The NASA JSC history portal provides online access to transcripts.