By Chief Librarian Mott Linn
National Security Research Center
Los Alamos National Laboratory

• A recent large-scale restoration project conserved the badge photos from more than 1,400 Manhattan Project workers.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a recent large-scale restoration project yielded about 1.4 million – not to mention a lot of refreshed faces.

The badge photos of more than 1,400 of the Lab’s Manhattan Project workers – including our most-famous scientists J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emilio Segrè and others – had 75-plus years of built-up grime on them. Adhesive tape residue, bits of mounting materials, and environmental filth, like dust, had caused many of these historic images to discolor.

So, the National Security Research Center (NSRC), Los Alamos National Laboratory’s classified library, executed its first large-scale restoration project to repair and further preserve these valuable pieces of Los Alamos history. Had the restoration work not been performed, the badge photos would have continued to deteriorate.

The photos are part of the collections in the NSRC. The NSRC also houses many unclassified pieces of the Lab’s history, which are also curated by its team of specialists.

“These photos are an important part of the Lab’s past,” NSRC Senior Historian Alan Carr said. “The Manhattan Project was the start of the Lab we know today. Plus, that workforce was the first to dedicate themselves to our national security mission.”

NSRC Director Riz Ali added, “This project is just one example of our preservation work. The NSRC has millions of materials in almost every medium imaginable, so whether it’s pictures of staff, films of test shots or blueprints of engineering drawings, we’re working to ensure the Lab’s legacy materials are accessible now and always.”

Restoring, preserving

The badge photos were taken in batches to a conservator, Roger Joyce, in Santa Fe. Joyce cleaned each photo, removed stains and placed them in protective archival sleeves. It takes anywhere from about 10 to 30 minutes to clean each badge photo, most of which are about 1-and-a half-inches by 1 inch.

The badge photo that was most transformed was of Emilio Segrè, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and Manhattan Project Group Leader. Part of Segrè’s forehead was torn off and stuck to a piece of tape. Joyce was able to repair it to its near-original state. The badge photos will now be protected indefinitely from future damage.

Before photo of Emilio Segrè. Courtesy/LANL                   After photo of Emilio Segrè. Courtesy/LANL

Part of Segre’s forehead was torn off and stuck to a piece of tape. Conservator Roger Joyce was able to repair it to its near-original state.

High standards, proven protocol

This photo restoration project will serve as a model going forward for other valuable materials that may need to be restored, preserved and used by the Lab, Ali said.

The NSRC’s houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of nuclear weapons and national security materials dating back to the Manhattan Project. The tens of millions of materials are in a variety of media, including microfiche, microfilm, video, cassettes and notebooks; staff makes them accessible to Lab staff in support of their mission work.

“We want to ensure our history doesn’t literally disappear,” Ali said, “be it badges photos or weapons data.”

Meanwhile, the next time you see Segrè, Oppenheimer or others from the original staff, they will look better than they have in decades.

Before photo of Robert Oppenheimer. Courtesy/LANL        After photo of Robert Oppenheimer. Courtesy/LANL

Robert Oppenheimer’s restored badge photo. The only thing missing from the photo is his trademark porkpie hat!

About Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is managed by Triad, a public service oriented, national security science organization equally owned by its three founding members: Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), and the Regents of the University of California (UC) for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.