Archives & Special Collections
Cultural Resources at INL
As INL’s historic and cultural resource research component, operating in coordination with INL Records Management and the INL Research Library, INL Archives and Special Collections is responsible for identification, preservation, management, long-term storage and access to the permanently valuable records and historical artifacts relating to the establishment, development and land use of the area, and historic programs and projects of INL.
Purpose of the Archives and Special Collections
INL Archives and Special Collections was established as part of an October 2005 Memorandum of Agreement between the DOE–ID and the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office and represents an additional component of the Cultural Resource Management Program, preserving tangible elements of the history of INL in a manner reflecting its importance at local, regional, and national levels.
To fulfill its mission as INL’s historic and cultural research component, the INL Archives and Special Collections will contain a cultural record of the tangible and intangible development of the lab and surrounding area. This includes the evolution of the landscape and built environment, as well as INL’s corporate culture under various prime and subcontractors as its federal governing body transformed from the Atomic Energy Commission to the Energy Research and Development Administration to the Department of Energy. However, the cultural identity INL’s landscape is not comprised solely of the scientific and technical research that began in 1949. It also encompasses the cultural identity of the landscape in its use by native groups, the industrialized manipulation of trappers, miners, and homesteaders during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and military operations during the mid-20th century. As with any landscape, natural features, such as geology and climate, have also influenced the use of space, both historically and in planning future projects.
Public access
To facilitate public access to the holdings of the INL Archives and Special Collections, the archives staff will process current collections and identify and accept new collections as identified in their scope of collections documents. As collections are processed, in-house reference guides will continue to be developed and will culminate in the production of externally accessible finding aids appropriate to the lab’s security protocols.
