Manhattan Project: About the Site

ABOUT THIS SITE
Resources

Project Directors:

Terrence R. Fehner, Chief Historian

F. G. Gosling, former Chief Historian (retired)

Assisted By:

David Rezelman, Glenn T. Seaborg Fellow in Nuclear History

Stephanie Young, Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies

Andrew Mamo, Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies

Emily Hamilton, Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies

Douglas O'Reagan, Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies

James Skee, Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies

Site Designer:

Jennifer Johnson, Archivist

Summary

Words (estimate): 120,000
Total Pages if Printed (estimate): 430

Total Images: 500+

Photographs: 450+
Maps and Diagrams: 64
Total Images (counting varying sizes, etc.): 1,000+

Total Web Pages: 273

Events: 65
People: 43
Places: 50
Processes: 35
Science: 44
Document and Photograph Pages: 35

Terrence R. Fehner and F.G. Gosling conceived the initial outline for this interactive web site on the Manhattan Project, the top-secret World War II atomic bomb program, during summer 2000. The following year, the Department of Energy's History Division, now the Office of History and Heritage Resources (OHHR), appointed David Rezelman a Glenn T. Seaborg Fellow in Nuclear History. Working under the general direction of Drs. Fehner and Gosling, Rezelman, then a Ph.D. candidate in recent United States history at Temple University, designed the initial site and provided much of the content. Rezelman took full advantage of existing scholarship on the Manhattan Project in the drafting of the text for this site, including publications of the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies (such as the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)). In addition, Rezelman conducted a comprehensive search for photographs and other documentary imagery to incorporate into the site that significantly enhanced the educational value of the final product. Drs. Fehner and Gosling edited the draft pages, reworking the existing text and adding new materials, including new pages. Responsibility for content is entirely theirs.

The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History, consisting of the Events and Resources sections, initially went online in July 2005. Since then, Dr. Fehner has directed a series of graduate fellows in drafting, editing, and reworking the People, Places, and Science sections and adding a new section on Processes. These sections are scheduled to go online in mid- 2013. In addition, Jennifer Johnson, Archivist and Web Designer for OHHR, provided a "new look" for the website. The new look is incorporated in the current version as well as the anticipated finished version.

For a general discussion of the sources used, see "A Note on Sources." For details on the exact source of the text and photographs for a particular page, see the page's entry in "Sources and Notes." Some photographs have been "retouched," but in all cases the intention was solely to restore the image to its original form as much as possible. (Click here to see a "before and after" example of retouching.)

The principal mission of the Office of History and Heritage Resources is to produce reliable and useful information on the history of the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies and to disseminate that information to the public and the Department. See "Nuclear Energy and the Public's Right to Know" for a discussion of how this web site fulfills that mission while conforming to national security considerations. This web site has been reviewed by the Department of Energy's Office of Classification and Information Control and confirmed to be unclassified.

The Office of History and Heritage Resources thanks the past Directors of the Office of the Executive Secretariat--Jim Solit, Eric Nicoll, Erica De Vos, and Alison Markovitz--as well as Carol Mathews, Deputy Director of the Executive Secretariat and currently Acting Director, for their leadership in support of this project. Drs. Gosling and Fehner also are grateful to Ingrid Kolb, Director of the Office of Management, for her ongoing support of the history program.

The Office of History and Heritage Resources thanks the Department's Office of Science and National Nuclear Security Administration for providing alternate year funding for the Edward Teller Fellow in Science and National Security Studies. This website would not be possible without their support.

The Office of History and Heritage Resources also thanks the Department's Office of Classification for hosting The Manhattan Project website on the Manhattan Project Resources section of its OpenNet website provided by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information. The Manhattan Project Resources section is a joint collaboration between the Office of Classification and the Office of History and Heritage Resources. In addition to The Manhattan Project website, the two offices are committed to making available on the Manhattan Project Resources site, in declassified or declassified with redactions versions, the entire multi-volume Manhattan District History commissioned by General Leslie Groves at the end of the war.

Questions or concerns about this website should be directed to Dr. Fehner at HistoryDivision@hq.doe.gov. For tips on viewing this website see How to Navigate this Site.

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