Bringing Collections Together for Online Discovery and a Cooperative Digital Exhibit: Walter Orr Roberts, NCAR, the University of Colorado, and a Spirit of Collaboration

Walter Orr Roberts played a significant role in the establishment of a science-oriented community in Boulder, Colorado. Through a series of actions, Roberts helped transform Boulder into a science hub: moving the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) headquarters to Boulder; partnering with the University of Colorado (CU) and founding the Department of Astro-Geophysics; advocating for the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) to move to Boulder¹; and insisting on that location for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) headquarters. Roberts' archival materials are housed separately at NCAR and the CU-Boulder. This has made it challenging for researchers to discover all of the materials related to Roberts' early work in Climax, Colorado in the 1940s all the way through his series of essays, or "Provocations," in the 1980s. It is not uncommon for a person's papers to be divided between organizations, but it can cause difficulty for researchers in need of the totality of materials on a subject or searching for connections among related documents, particularly when online availability is limited. Recognizing these challenges, archivists at NCAR and CU worked together to make sure these collections are easily discoverable and linked to each other to maximize visibility of the materials. This collaboration, in the spirit of Roberts' early collaborative work with CU and NCAR, resulted in complete inventories as well as selected digital collections. In addition, a digital exhibit was created to pull materials from all collections and reunite these related materials in a synthesized exhibit to tell a holisitic story of the Climax Observatory, the High Altitude Observatory, the University of Colorado Department of Astro-Geophysics, NCAR, and Walter Orr Roberts' involvement throughout each institution. These collections include important biographical information about Roberts; records on the significance of solar research during World War II; the history of public and private partnerships and fundraising initiatives; international scientific collaboration in the Cold War era, the development of scientific industry and collaboration in Boulder, as well as the histories of HAO, NCAR, and the University of Colorado-Boulder. These histories are particularly relevant as AMS celebrates its centennial and NCAR marks its 60th anniversary. This presentation will describe the collaboration and highlight the exhibit and materials now available for research.

¹Bassi, Joseph P., 2015: A Scientific Peak: How Boulder Became a World Center for Space and Atmospheric Science, American Meteorological Society, Boston.

https://cudl.colorado.edu/luna/servlet/CUB~16~16

https://opensky.ucar.edu/islandora/search/?type=dismax&collection=archives%3Awor