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Abstract PRESERVING THE ORIGINS OF THE SPACE AGE: THE MATERIAL LEGACY OF THE IGY AT THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM David H. DeVorkin In July 1966, the 89th Congress (H.R. 6125) laid out the charge
defining the new National Air and Space Museum: to “ memorialize
the national development of aviation and space flight; collect,
preserve, and display aeronautical and space flight equipment of
historical interest and significance; serve as a repository for
scientific equipment and data pertaining to the development of aviation
and space flight; and provide educational material for the historical
study of aviation and space flight.” Under this umbrella statement,
the Museum has been actively collecting artifacts and documentary
evidence in the area of the earth and space sciences, as well as
in astronomy, that helps to preserve the social, cultural, intellectual
and material legacy of the enterprise. Here we will describe the
holdings pertaining to the IGY era (1957–1960) presently in
the collection, including artifacts, paper and visual records and
oral histories. We will discuss how some of these items were identified,
selected and collected, as a means of offering a preliminary appraisal
of the historical value of the collection. We will highlight a suite
of objects built by James Van Allen’s Iowa group, and discuss
their historical significance.
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