Translations and the Air Force Cambridge Research Labs at Hanscom: Discoverability in a Digital Age

Many researchers and librarians in the earth and physical sciences know the fine reputation of the geophysical laboratories that grew from the Cambridge Field Station to the Air Force Geophysical Laboratory based at Hanscom AFB in Bedford Massachusetts. Decades ago, their labs and research groups made significant contributions in science and technology, including hundreds of technical reports. Many of these were translations which their staff did or contracted with other groups to do; one of these was the American Meteorological Society.

Given today’s explosion of databases and publicly accessible materials, how discoverable are the translations Hanscom did or funded today?  This paper will investigate what happens when you crowdsource boxes of these translations from the 1950s-1960s. Which ones do today’s scientists want, and how easy are they to find?