Murray Johnson collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report
Scope and Contents
The Murray Johnson Collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Reports consists of correspondence, biological data, and publications from Dr. Murray L. Johnson's work as a marine mammal researcher for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, which comprised a series of biological surveys done in anticipation of the Project Chariot nuclear experiment in Alaska. These records show Johnson’s administrative planning and experiment modeling process for his study of marine mammal life as well as his personal relationships with fellow researchers Dr. Burton T. Ostenson, Myron L. Barbour, Don C. Foote, and William O. Pruitt, and correspondence with research institutions and residents of the Alaskan village of Point Hope, near the research site. The biological data generated by Johnson, Ostenson, and Barbour is included, in the form of both rough data and a finished catalogue, demonstrating their biological findings on mainly ringed seals (Pusa hispida), bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus), and harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas), walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), polar bears (Ursus maritimus), and bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus). A small number of documents in the collection contain information on Johnson’s other professional research, including hospital pathology records on mammal specimens, and later, correspondence and research publications for Johnson’s work on a mammalian parasite text with Chris Maser.
Dates
- Creation: 1946-1978
Creator
- Johnson, Murray L. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Collins Memorial Library provides access to its collections in order to support research and education. Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the use or reproduction of some items may be restricted by the terms of the gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, or university policy. It is the user's responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or any other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise disseminating materials found in the collections.
Biographical / Historical
Dr. Murray L. Johnson, M.D., helped establish the mammalian collections at the Puget Sound Museum (now the Slater Museum of Natural History) at the University of Puget Sound in 1948. As a biology researcher, he was contracted by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), along with Dr. Burton T. Ostenson, a Professory fo Biology at Pacific Lutheran University, and Mr. Myron L. Barbour, a recent college graduate, to conduct a study of marine mammal ecology in the region around Cape Thompson, Alaska between 1960 and 1961. This marine mammal study became Chapter 33 of the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, published in 1965. One of the first environmental impact reports conducted in the United States, the Cape Thompson publication developed out of an AEC nuclear experiment called Project Chariot.
The Project Chariot proposal would have entailed the use of several nuclear detonations to create a harbor at the mouth of Ogoturuk Creek, between Cape Thompson and Point Hope, in north-western Alaska. This project was part of Operation Plowshare,
a larger U.S. government initiative developed in order to demonstrate peacetime uses of nuclear weapons. However, faculty members at the University of Alaska and members of the native Alaskan communities were concerned about the biological, ecological, and health-related impacts of Project Chariot, and requested that the AEC fund a series of environmental studies which came to be known as the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report. Eventually, public opposition to Project Chariot grew so great that the AEC put the program on permanent hold.
References
Alcorn, Gordon D. “Puget Sound Museum of Natural History - a History.” History of the Slater Museum of Natural History. 1974. Web. June 12, 2015. /www.pugetsound.edu/files/resources/2343_Alcorn_PSM_history.pdf>
Johnson, Murray L., Clifford H. Fiscus, Burton T. Ostenson, and Myron L. Barbour. “Marine Mammals.” Environment of the Cape Thompson Region, Alaska. Ed. Norman J. Wilimovsky, and John N. Wolfe. United States Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Technical Information, 1966. 877-924. Print.
O’Neill, Dan. The Firecracker Boys. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Print.
Extent
1.8 Cubic Feet (7 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Dr. Murray L. Johnson, M.D., was a Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound and helped establish the mammalian collections at the Puget Sound Museum (now the Slater Museum of Natural History) in 1948. He was contracted by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), along with Dr. Burton T. Ostenson, a Professor of Biology at Pacific Lutheran University, and Mr. Myron L. Barbour, a recent college graduate, to conduct a study of marine mammal ecology in the region around Cape Thompson, Alaska between 1960 and 1961. The Murray Johnson Collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Reports consists of correspondence, biological data, and publications from Dr. Murray L. Johnson's work as a marine mammal researcher for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged by format.
Subject
- University of Puget Sound. Dept. of Biology (Organization)
- University of Puget Sound (Organization)
- University of Puget Sound. Slater Museum of Natural History (Organization)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Murray Johnson collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Kathryn H. Stutz under the supervision of Katie L.B. Henningsen
- Date
- 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Puget Sound, Archives & Special Collections Repository
Collins Memorial Library
1500 N. Warner Street #1021
Tacoma 98416-1021 United States us
archives@pugetsound.edu