JSC History Collection


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JSC History Collection - Descriptions

The History Collection is divided into program series including Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), Shuttle and Space Station. Aside from the program series, there is a series of non-program specific documents that relate to Center activities such as the development of space suits, management activities, test & simulation facilities and activities, training information, mission control and much more. There is also an Oral History series containing interviews in various media (tape, CD, transcript, etc.) with a great number of people responsible for JSC's human space flight activities over the years. Each series of documents in the collection are briefly described below.

Oral History Series
This series contains information ranging from the Mercury program through the Shuttle and Space Station programs and consists of over 1000 interviews and other audio and/or transcribed data covering all aspects of NASA's human space flight program. The largest part of the series consists of the Oral History Project interviews. These general interviews cover each interviewee's career with NASA. Formats available include audiotapes, audio CDs, transcripts and sometimes VHS videotapes.

The Oral History series also contains a group of interviews pertaining to the history of the Shuttle-Mir Program (Phase 1 ISS) . Other interviews include those done by historians in the process of writing JSC histories. These are primarily on reel-to-reel or audiocassette tapes. Some include hard copy transcripts. A small portion of the series includes radio broadcasts, crew debriefings, air to ground data from selected missions, interviews done by organizations other than JSC and proceedings of anniversaries, symposia and meetings. Oral history items are indexed on the History database by interview, rather than by item. Each citation will include, in the comment field, information about the different formats available for that interview.

Center History Series
Since this series chronicles the activities of the Johnson Space Center from its inception, it crosses program lines and looks at administrative and engineering aspects of the Center more closely than other series. Document dates range from the mid-1950s through the early 1990s. Its subject matter covers everything from the Space Task Group at Langley and its move to Houston to form the Manned Spacecraft Center as well as conceptual design studies for possible future projects. Papers of Max Faget and Christopher Kraft, information on Earth Resources, Space Suits and Food Systems are among the subseries in this collection.

The History Office received these documents from various directorate secretaries, retiring NASA employees and through a number of distribution lists. This series is computer searchable via the Archive database where every folder title can be accessed. Some of the Kraft Reading Files are also indexed on the History database to the item level.

General Reference Series
The General Reference series is a collection of quick reference materials, journal articles, news clippings, brochures, photographs, internal JSC management instructions, announcements and newspaper (The Roundup). They serve to answer a lot of questions that do not require in depth research. The date ranges of material in these files run from the 1960s to the 1990s. Of note in this collection are old biographical files for both astronauts and upper management. There are also a number of papers on various manned space related subjects written by NASA or NASA affiliated personnel. This series is searchable by folder title on the Archive database.

Mercury Series
The Mercury project was the first manned space flight project in which an American orbited the earth. This series consists of the source files used by historians to write the Mercury chronology as well as the history This New Ocean. It is the oldest of the history series.

The Mercury series consists of chronological files, flight related documents, meeting minutes, status reports, and contractor reports, familiarization manuals, photographs and working papers. The dates of the documents in this series range from 1952 through 1968.

This collection is currently housed in the National Archives and Records Administration, Fort Worth Regional Archive. The accession number is A-20-62-1. It is not searchable via the NASA JSC History or Archive databases. To access these documents, contact the Fort Worth Facility.

Gemini Series
The Gemini series documents pre-Apollo test flights of the Gemini program. JSC historians writing the Gemini Program chronology and history collected these files. They consist of correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and mission related documents which include air to ground transcripts of mission activities. The collection contains 94 feet of material ranging in date from 1958-1974.

This collection is currently housed in the National Archives and Records Administration, Fort Worth Regional Archive. The accession number is A-20-64-3. It is not searchable via the NASA JSC History or Archive databases. To access these documents, contact the Fort Worth Facility.

Apollo Series
Over half a dozen historians working on Apollo chronologies and histories over the course of twenty years compiled this collection. Documents in this series, therefore, have been reviewed, culled and added to so that the collection now is as tight and comprehensive a collection on the Apollo program as can be found anywhere.

Documents were collected from various sources at JSC, contractors and other NASA Centers. The historians gathered them as they contacted individuals in the course of researching their books. Therefore, the documents collected related directly to the work at hand. The six books written on the Apollo program by JSC tell a comprehensive story, written from an equally strong series of documents. Items in this series include correspondence, reports, mission transcripts, press kits, presentation charts and more.

All documents in the Apollo collection are searchable at the item level in the History database, making this the most accessible of the series.

Skylab Series
Historians collected Skylab documents from various offices that worked on the Skylab project, much in the same way as in the Apollo collection. History staff created hard copy traditional archival guides for the Skylab collection. The JSC History office built the Archive database and the guides were uploaded into this database and searchable by folder title. Only the Skylab chronological files were indexed to the item level on the History database.

This series consists of correspondence, post Apollo planning documents, requirements documents, mission plans, spacecraft configuration documents, stowage lists, technical summaries, management & design review data, Skylab systems information, air to ground transcripts and mission reports as well as Skylab experience reports. Documents cover not only the Skylab program but also its predecessors the Apollo Extension System (AES) and the Apollo Applications Program (AAP). The Skylab series is arranged and described in about 60 subseries.

ASTP Series
As historians Ed and Linda Ezell did their research for the ASTP history, The Partnership, they created their source files which became the ASTP series in the JSC History collection. There was just the one book written about this project and so this collection was created by only one historian … unlike other collections, which had several historians collecting documents over a number of years. The history was written as the project unfolded and the historian attended many of the working group meetings from which he collected documentation for the book. As in the Skylab collection, History staff initially created an archival guide that was later uploaded into the Archive database.

Since the ASTP project was a cooperative one between the United States and the then USSR, a lot of background information was collected to get a clear picture of the entire project. The collection includes information on Soviet programs and authors, news clippings, public affairs data as well as the chronological files from the program offices and the working group documentation. There is also flight-related data including flight transcripts and mission reports.

As in the Skylab series, the chronological files are indexed item by item in the History database and the balance of the series is described by folder title in the Archive database.

Shuttle Series
The Shuttle Program is an ongoing program begun in the late 1960s at which time it was considered to be a logistics vehicle to support a space station. The shuttle was designed to be reusable and the final design integrated refurbishable solid rocket boosters for launch of a winged orbiter craft that glides to a runway landing. JSC was tasked with the development of the orbiter vehicle, while Marshall Space Flight Center developed the booster system as well as the space shuttle main engines. The Rockwell Corporation in Downey, California won the contract to build the fleet of orbiters for NASA.

Most of the Shuttle collection consists of copies of documents received from various sources and covering the design and development of the orbiter vehicles. Most of the collection was built and organized during 1982-1986 when Rice University had a contract to write a shuttle chronology. Many documents were received on distribution (correspondence, weekly activity reports and some JSC documents) while others were collected by historians to build the source files on which the four-volume chronology was based. A number of interviews done by the shuttle historians have been moved to the Oral History collection.

Since the chronologies covered the earliest design studies for a reusable craft up through the award of the prime contract to design, develop, test and evaluate the shuttle orbiter, the bulk of the collection is dated from about the late 1960's through the late 1970's. However documents from as early as the 1950's but only as late as the late 1980's exist in the collection. Archivists continued to collect and integrate documents into the collection even after the chronology contract ended.

The Shuttle series fills over 700 shelf feet and is divided into about sixty different subseries. About 300 linear feet are the chronological files consisting of primarily correspondence and small reports (meeting minutes, trip reports, etc.). The balance of the collection consists of subseries organized either by subject (Aerodynamic Design Data Books, Cost Documents, Flight Planning Documents, Mission Documents, etc.) or by source (Air Force Reports, Boeing Documents, Craig Papers, Lunney Documents, etc.).

The Shuttle Chronological files through the end of 1979 are searchable by item description on the History Database. The balance of the series can be searched by folder title in the Archive database.

Space Station Series
The early space station files (1952-1984) were collected by and/or given to the history office over twenty-one years. They were received from offices overseeing specific space station studies such as the Advance Spacecraft Technology Division or various short-lived space station offices. Many of the documents for Space Station Freedom were received on standard distribution.

Documents contain information on early space station studies including information on Space Station Freedom, predecessor to the International Space Station. There is a small amount of information on the International Space Station, most dated from 1994 and the mid-1990s. This series has no item level data entry in the History database. All of the information on the current holdings can be found in the Archive database.

JSC History Collection - Background

Information regarding the JSC materials housed at the National Archives and Records Administration

Information on accessing the materials in the JSC History Collection

History Search Index
History Search Index User Guide

Archive Search Index
Archive Search Index User Guide


	Mercury
	Gemini
	Apollo
	Skylab
	Apollo-Soyuz
	Space Shuttle
	Shuttle-Mir
	International Space Station

Curator: Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty

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Updated: 03/08/2006