Committee for Environmental Information, 1972-1973
A Guide to the Collection of Oral History Interviews at Indiana University
Bloomington
Finding aid prepared by the staff of the Center for
the Study of History and Memory with a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities Division of Preservation and Access, 2000-2002
Overview of the Collection
Repository
Indiana University Center for Documentary Research and Practice
Indiana University
Franklin Hall 0030B
601 E. Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: 812/855-2856
Fax: 812/855-0002
E-mail: ohrc@indiana.edu
https://cdrp.mediaschool.indiana.edu
Creator
Indiana University Center for the
Study of History and Memory
TitleCommittee for Environmental Information, 1972-1973
Project No.
ohrc029
Interviews
4 interviews. Audiotapes, transcripts, and collateral
materials.
Physical Location
Interviews are housed in Franklin Hall, Room 0030B. Copies of interview transcripts are also held by the IU Libraries University
Archives.
Contact archives@indiana.edu for more information. For other locations housing the interviews
from this project, please contact the Center for Documentary Research and Practice office.
Language
Materials are inEnglish
Abstract
The four interviews in the project discuss the creation of the
Committee for Environmental Information. The interviewees talk about how they
became involved in the group and the politics that they had to deal with along
the way. Also discussed are the political and military situations of the
time.
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains four interviews over the course of a year, ranging from forty-five to eighty minutes. All interviews
consist of typed transcripts and audio reels.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Oral history interviews conducted by the Indiana University Center for the
Study of History and Memory from 1968 to the present, with particular focus on the
history of twentieth-century America and the Midwest.
Usage Restrictions
The archive of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice at Indiana University is open
to the use of researchers. Copies of transcript pages are available only when such copies
are permitted by the deed of gift. Scholars must honor any
restrictions the interviewee placed on the use of the interview. Since some of our earlier
(pre-computer) transcripts do not exist in final form, any editing marks in a transcript
(deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked. Audio files may not be copied for
patrons unless the deed of gift permits it, and a transcript is unavailable for that
interview. The same rules of use that apply to a transcript apply to the audio interview.
Interviews may not be reproduced in full for any public use, but excerpted quotes may be
used as long as researchers fully cite the data in their research, including accession
number, interview date, interviewee's and interviewer's name, and page(s).
Preferred Citation
[interviewee first name last name] interview, by [interviewer first name last
name], [interview date(s)], [call number], [project name], Center for Documentary Research and Practice, Indiana University,
Bloomington, [page number(s) or tape
number and side if no transcript; if digital audio and no transcript, cite time when quote occurs].
Interview List
Interviewee
Bauer, Walter
April 27,
1973
Call Number
73-009
Physical Description
18 pages; 1 reel, 3 3/4 ips, 45 minutes; index; photocopy
of picture of interviewee
Interviewer
Peterson, D. Scott
Access Status
Open
Scope and Content Note
Dr. Walter C. Bauer tells about how the Committee for
Environmental Information formed out of concern over radioactivity in the late
nineteen fifties. A non-partisan group, it attracted those who were interested
in stopping arms proliferation and testing, as well as those who were concerned
with radioactive contamination of food, air, and soil. Bauer was one of the
founding members and remained with the group despite its growth.
-
Keywords
-
-
Corporation Names
- Atomic Energy Commission
- Barnes Hospital
-
Bulletin Nuclear
Information
- Committee for Nuclear Information
-
Globe Democrat
- Hardy Salt Company
- Ohio State University
- Washington University
-
-
-
Occupation Names
- surgical pathologist
-
-
Personal Names
- Baumgardner, Walter
- Brodine, Virginia
- Commoner, Barry
- Eisenhower, Dwight David
- Folwer, John
- Gellhorn, Edna
- Hardy, Walter
- Pauling, Linus C.
- Pond, Alex
- Reynolds, J.B.
- Stevenson, Adlai
-
-
Place Names
- St. Louis, Missouri
-
-
Subjects
- atomic energy
- radiation
Interviewee
Brodine, Virginia Warner
May 12,
1972
Call Number
71-012
Physical Description
30 pages; 1 reel, 3 3/4 ips, 70 minutes; index
Interviewer
Peterson, D. Scott
Access Status
Open
Scope and Content Note
Virginia Warner Brodine, born on February 18, 1915, tells about
the creation of the Committee for Environmental Information. She describes what
led her and others to become involved in the organization. She also talks about
the organization's early years and how people reacted to what they were
doing.
-
Keywords
-
-
Corporation Names
- American Association for the Advancement of
Science
- Committee for Nuclear Information
- International Ladies Garment Workers Union
- League of Women Voters
- Metropolitan Church Federation
- Scientists Committee for Radiation Information
- Scientists Institute for Public Information
- St. Louis Committee for Environmental
Information
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- Physicians for Social Responsibility
- Washington University
-
-
Occupation Names
- journalist
-
-
Personal Names
- Abele, Ralph
- Bauer, Walter
- Baumgarten, Judy
- Carson, Rachel Louise
- Commoner, Barry
- Condon, Ed A.
- Fowler, John
- Friedlander, Mike
- Gellhorn, Edna
- Hohenemser, Christoph
- Hohenemser, Kurt
- Malamas, Marcelle
- Mattison, Lin
- Mead, Margaret
- Moog, Florence
- Pauling, Linus C.
- Pesonen, Dave
- Peterson, Malcom
- Reynolds, J.B.
- Wigner, Eugene
-
-
Place Names
- Bodega Bay, California
- St. Louis, Missouri
-
-
Subjects
- 1957 Pauling Petition
- 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
- 1967 Freedom of Information Act
- environment
- McCarthyism
- milk testing
- nuclear fallout
- nuclear power
- nuclear war
- Project Chariot
- Project Plowshare
- radioactivity
- supersonic transport
- unions
Interviewee
Commoner, Barry
April 24,
1973
Call Number
73-011
Physical Description
36 pages; 2 reels, 3 3/4 ips, 85 minutes; no
index
Interviewer
Peterson, D. Scott
Scope and Content Note
Barry Commoner, born in 1915, describes his education and how he
came to be a scientist. He talks about his experiences as a scientist during
World War II and how this prompted his involvement in various scientific
organizations. He describes how the Committee for Environmental Information
came to be and the function it served.
Access Status
Open
-
Keywords
-
-
Corporation Names
- American Association for the Advancement of
Science
- Association of Scientific Workers
- Atomic Energy Commission
- Columbia University
- Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical
College
- Federation of American Scientists
- Federation of Atomic Scientists
- Harvard University
- Scientists Institute for Public Information
- Senate Military Affairs Subcommittee
- Seth Low Junior College
- United States Department of Agriculture
- University of Illinois
- Washington University
- WPA
-
-
Personal Names
- Bauer, Walter
- Baumgarten, Judy
- Brodine, Virginia
- Bronk, Detler
- Bush, Vannevar
- Carson, Rachel Louise
- Condon, Ed A.
- Deutsch, Babette
- Dunn, Leslie C.
- Edman, Irwin
- Fowler, John
- Gellhorn, Edna
- Kilgore, Harley M.
- LeMar, Victor
- Magnuson, Warren G.
- Mead, Margaret
- Metcalf, Robert
- Modell, Walter
- Oppenheimer, Julius Robert
- Pauling, Linus C.
- Stevenson, Adlai
- Thimann, Kenneth
- Weaver, Warren
-
-
Place Names
- Brooklyn, New York
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Patuxent River
- Soviet Union
- St. Louis, Missouri
-
-
Subjects
- 1945 May-Johnson Bill
- atomic bomb
- Cold War
- DDT
- discrimination
- McCarthyism
- New Deal
- nuclear fallout
- radiation
- Russo-Finnish Way
- science
Interviewee
Novick, Sheldon
March 29,
1973
Call Number
73-010
Physical Description
20 pages; 1 reel, 3 3/4 ips, 50 minutes; no
index
Interviewer
Peterson, D. Scott
Access Status
Open
Scope and Content Note
Sheldon Novick, editor of
EnvironmentMagazine and employee of the Committee for
Environmental Information and the Scientists' Institute for Public Information,
tells about the formation of the Committee of Environmental Information. He
especially describes Barry Commoner's role in the creation of CEI and the
national mood which helped lead to the creation of CEI.
-
Keywords
-
-
Corporation Names
- Antioch College
-
Environment
- Federation of Atomic Scientists
- Office of Naval Research
-
-
-
Personal Names
- Brodine, Virginia
- Carson, Rachel Louise
- Commoner, Barry
- Oppenheimer, Julius Robert
- Pauling, Linus C.
- Teller, Edward
-
-
Place Names
- Bodega Bay, California
- England
- Ohio
- San Andreas fault
- San Francisco, California
- St. Louis, Missouri
-
-
Subjects
- conservation
- nuclear fallout
- nuclear testing
- politics
- science
-
Silent Spring
- weapons
