Johnson Space Center History Collection

 

Johnson Space Center History Collection Overview

The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) History Collection was first assembled when the Johnson Space Center opened as the Manned Spacecraft Center in coastal Houston, Texas, in the early 1960s. In 1962, the newly-appointed Historian at the Manned Spacecraft Center began collecting documentation which would eventually be used as source material for chronologies and histories of projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Most of the subsequent publications and reports were published by the U.S. Government Printing Office as Special Publications in the 4000-history series. The archival material collected included office copies (as opposed to record or official copies, required by law to be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration) of correspondence, meeting minutes, NASA and contractor research and development reports, industry proposals, recorded interviews, etc.

Also collected were the research notes and manuscripts of contract historians who prepared histories and chronologies, as well as personal files of NASA and contractor staff involved in various programs. The resulting Johnson Space Center History Office archive became a unique collection of primary resource materials valuable to researchers. Since the collection is a compiled collection, not all of the records in its holdings are the originals used by NASA or Johnson Space Center personnel during work and mission/project preparation. These originals largely are housed by the National Archives and Records Administration. The original JSC History Archive was composed of approximately 950 linear feet of material.

In order to provide public access to this unique source of primary source materials on manned spaceflight history, NASA Johnson Space Center signed a memorandum of understanding in the summer of 1981 with the Norman Hackerman, president of Rice University in Houston, and Johnson Space Center Director Christopher Kraft Jr. This memo provided for the transfer of this accumulated historical materials on a long-term loan to the Woodson Research Center at Rice University Library. The Woodson Research Center is Rice's special collections and archives research facility. The Center and Rice University agreed to provide improved curatorial facilities for the documents, which involved their arrangement and description, inventory, and provision for public reference access to the collection. Rice University began first processing the JSC History Collection in the fall of 1982 through a Higher Education Act Title II-C grant.

The Johnson Space Center History Collection remained at Rice University, until it was determined that the collection would be more beneficial if housed at an archival repository closer to Johnson Space Center in coastal Houston. NASA Johnson Space Center and the University of Houston-Clear Lake Alfred R. Neumann Library to relocate the collection to a NASA-constructed storage location in UHCL's University Archives. A Space Act Agreement for long-term renewable loan was signed by NASA, the National Archives, and UHCL in February 2001. The original collection and additional materials from Johnson Space Center History Office arrived between 2001 and 2002.

Organization and Access for the JSC History Collection

However, the JSC History Collection does contain original period copies or period reproductions of the original documents and records, such as those used in the Mission Control Center during human space flight missions. In keeping with federal records organization practices, the JSC History Collection is arranged in series, then sections and subsections by program or purpose. The collection is organized in the following series: Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), Shuttle, Space Station Freedom, Center Records, General Reference, and the JSC Oral History Project.

The collection series and subsections each have individual series and subsections box inventories, with titles, range of content, and in most cases individual folder titles/dates for materials in each box in the series or subsections. Each subsection has its own number, like "093" that matches that section title. Not all of the thousands of pages of series and subsection inventories have been uploaded in the UHCL Institutional Repository for the JSC History Collection. Print copies are available onsite at the UHCL Archives. To conduct a detailed search of the collection, researchers are encouraged to use the two collection search indexes hosted by Johnson Space Center on their former History Office's website. More information on using and links to the search indexes are available in this UHCL Archives' LibGuides page: https://uhcl.libguides.com/JSCHistoryCollection/AccessPoints

This collection of federal records is housed for public access in the UHCL Archives and Special Collections, through a renewable Space Act Agreement with NASA and the National Archives and Records Administration. The Johnson Space Center History Collection is open to all researchers meeting federal regulations for accessing scientific and technical information under the International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) regulations of the United States government.

[Much of this history was taken from the 1990 revised Guide to the Johnson Space Center History Archives (1952-1980) in the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, compiled by Janet Kovacevich with Nancy Crichlow].

Sub-communities within this community

Recent Submissions

  • Inventory of Charles Teixeira Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    These documents consist of charts, memoranda, notes, drawings, graphs and reports from Charles Teixeira who, in the time period covered by these documents, was an engineer in the Engineering Analysis Division, the Integrated ...

  • Inventory of STS-61-C Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries is a collection of documents related to STS-61-C and arranged in chronological order. They include Mission Reports, Flight Requirement Documents, Mission Reviews and Press Information.

  • Inventory of STS-61-B Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries is a collection of documents related to STS-61-B and arranged in chronological order. They include Flight Requirement Documents, Cargo System Manuals, and Mission Reports.

  • Inventory of STS-35 through STS-39 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    These documents begin with missions STS-35 and go through STS-39. As missions out grow this run, a subseries named for each mission will be created. This subseries consist of flight requirement documents, press information, ...

  • Inventory of STS-32 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries of Shuttle Documents consists of press information, presentations, and mission reports for the STS-32 mission. The material is arranged chronologically and runs from 1988 to 1990.

  • Inventory of STS-31 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries of Shuttle Documents collected primarily from Mr. S. Aldrich/VA5 consists of presentations, maps, photos, reports, press information, and information on the STS-31 mission, which was the Shuttle mission for ...

  • Inventory of STS-30 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This series consists of Mission Reports, Presentations, Press Information and Flight Data, for the STS-30 mission. The material is arranged chronologically.

  • Inventory of STS-29 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    These are documents related to the STS-29 mission and arranged chronologically. They include Mission Reports, Press Information, Flight Data, and Presentations.

  • Inventory of STS-33 and STS-34 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries of Shuttle Documents consists of mission reports, press information, FRR's, presentations and crew photos for the SSTS-33 and STS-34 missions. The material is arranged chronologically and runs from 1988-1990.

  • Inventory of STS-27 and STS-28 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries of Shuttle Documents consist of press information, mission reports, and presentations, for the STS-27 and STS-28 mission. The material is arranged chronologically and runs from 1988 to 1989.

  • Inventory of STS-9 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries consists of air to ground transcripts, press briefings, press kits, FRR, Flight Directors Log and other material related to the STS-9 mission. Documents are arranged chronologically by folder and include ...

  • Inventory of STS-8 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries consists of mission reports, press kits, air to ground transcripts, press briefings, etc.. Transcripts and briefings are on microfiche and the balance in hard copy. The material is arranged chronologically ...

  • Inventory of STS-7 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries consists of memos, mission reports, flight rules, payload analysis, safety summary, photo distribution plan, mission management team minutes, fact sheets, press information, etc. related to STS-7. The material ...

  • Inventory of STS-6 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries consists of documents related to the STS-6 flight. They are arranged in chronological order and include air - to - ground transcripts, flight rules and press information.

  • Inventory of STS-5 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries contains documentation related to the STS-5 mission and it is arranged chronologically. Flight data files, press information, mission reports, and transcripts are among the types of documents found here.

  • Inventory of STS-4 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    These are documents related to STS-4 and arranged chronologically. They include press information, mission reports, and flight data.

  • Inventory of STS-3 Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries is a collection of documents related to STS-3 and arranged in chronological order. They include press information, flight rules, and mission reports.

  • Inventory of STS-61-A Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    This subseries is related to shuttle STS-61-A.

  • Inventory of STS-51-L Investigation Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    The Data Design and Analysis Task Force was established within NASA on February 5, 1986, to support the Presidential Commission investigating the Challenger STS-51-L accident (Rogers Commission). The Task Force grew out ...

  • Inventory of STS-51-L Mission Documents 

    JSC History Collection staff (UHCL Archives staff, 2022)
    Only the first few documents in this subseries are those that are found in most other flight related documents subseries for the STS-51 mission, more commonly known as the Challenger explosion. The press kit, flight plan ...

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