View XML QR Code

Murray Johnson collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, 1946-1978

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Johnson, Murray L.
Title
Murray Johnson collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report
Dates
1946-1978 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.8 cubic feet, (7 boxes)
Collection Number
MSS.056
Summary
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 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. 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.
Repository
University of Puget Sound, Archives & Special Collections

Collins Memorial Library
1500 N. Warner St.
CMB1021
Tacoma, WA
98416-1021
Telephone: 2538792669
archives@pugetsound.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open to researchers by appointment.

Languages
English
Return to Top

Historical Note

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

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.

Return to Top

Content Description

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.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on 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.

Preferred Citation

[Name of document, date.] Murray Johnson Collection on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, Mss.056. University of Puget Sound Archives & Special Collections. Tacoma, Washington.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

Collection is arranged by format.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

  • I: Correspondence, 1946-1970

    The Correspondence series consists of letters written by Murray L. Johnson and his friends and professional associates, both before, during, and after his work on Project Chariot.

    • Description: General

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and Eileen M. Bloom; Wayne H. Bohl, a research biologist for the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife at Utah State University; Gary J. Brusca, a researcher at the University of Southern California; Marian C. Fox, an employee of the Editorial Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Division of Technical Information Extension; Ian A. McLaren, an employee of the Arctic Unit of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada; R. W. Meininger, on behalf of Naval Company, Doylestown, PA; Raymond L. Metter, the assistant extension manager for program services in the Atomic Energy Commission’s Division of Technical Information Extension; Robert E. Lewis, on behalf of the American University of Beirut; Robert L. Rausch, a researcher at the Arctic Health Research Center and member of the Zoonotic Disease Section of the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report (also included: two letters between Robert L. Rausch and Ford Wilke, the laboratory director at the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries for the Washington Fish and Wildlife Service, and several letters between Robert L. Rausch and Clifford Fiscus); Ian Stirling, a professor in the Zoology Department at the University of Canterbury; Andrew Starrett, a professor in the Department of Biology at Northeastern University; Milton Swan, a reverend in Kivalina, Alaska; Robert Traub, a research professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine; Francis S. L. “Willie” Williams, on behalf of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare at the Alaska Bureau of State Services; and John. N. Wolfe, the chairman of the Committee on Environmental Studies for Project Chariot at the Atomic Energy Commission. Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and James W. Brooks, the Director of Game at the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game, as well as between Murray Johnson and Sam Harbo, a biological researcher and employee of the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game.

      Dates: 1959-1969
      Container: Box 1, Folder 1
    • Description: Alaska State Department of Fish and Game

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and James W. Brooks, the Director of Game at the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game, as well as between Murray Johnson and Sam Harbo, a biological researcher and employee of the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game.

      Dates: 1960-1961
      Container: Box 1, Folder 2
    • Description: Myron L. Barbour

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and Myron L. “Ron” Barbour, a graduate student researcher in the Marine Mammal Program for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, as well as medical records concerning Barbour’s contraction of hepatitis during his employment at Point Hope. There is also correspondence between Barbour and Robert Rausch. One of the pieces of correspondence from Barbour to Johnson is written in code.

      Dates: 1961-1965
      Container: Box 1, Folder 3
    • Description: Canada Department of Agriculture

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and the members of the Division of Entomology at the Canada Department of Agriculture, including G.P Holland, the head of Insect Systematics and Biological Control; Evert E. Lindquist, on behalf of the Taxonomy Section of the Entomology Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario; and B.V. Peterson, also on behalf of the Taxonomy Section of the Entomology Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario.

      Several letters between B.V. Peterson and G.M. Kohls, and between Evert E. Lindquist and Conrad E. Yunker, are also located in this folder.

      Dates: 1955-1970
      Container: Box 1, Folder 4
    • Description: Don C. Foote

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and Don C. Foote, another researcher employed for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, as well as personal communications between the Johnson and Foote families.

      Dates: 1959-1962
      Container: Box 1, Folder 5
    • Description: Burton T. Ostenson

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and Burton T. Ostenson, one of the primary researchers in the Marine Mammal Program for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report, as well as personal letters written by Mrs. Sherry Johnson and Mrs. Nancy E “Betty” Ostenson. There is also professional correspondence between Ostenson and Robert Rausch, Myrl F. Smith, and Dale W. Rice.

      Also included in the folder is a telegram from Myrl F. Smith to Murray L. Johnson, to which Ostenson responded.

      Dates: 1960-1961
      Container: Box 1, Folder 6
    • Description: Point Hope Residents

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and residents of the Point Hope Village, including Andrew Frankson, Amos Lane, John Oktollik, Seymour Tuzroyluke, and Antonio Weber, hunters under contract to obtain specimens for the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report; David Frankson, the president of the Point Hope Village Council in 1961; Keith Lawton, the reverend at St. Thomas’ Mission in Point Hope; and Dan Lisburne, the president of the Point Hope Village Council in 1958.

      Dates: 1959-1965
      Container: Box 1, Folder 7
    • Description: William O. Pruitt

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and William O. Pruitt, a biological researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who was also hired to work on the C ape Thompson Environmental Impact Report. Also included is a copy of an article by Pruitt titled, T " he World of the Arctic Wolf."

      Dates: 1959-1961
      Container: Box 1, Folder 8
    • Description: Rocky Mountain Laboratory

      Correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and members of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, including James M. Brennan, a senior medical entomologist; William L. Jellison, a parasitologist, on behalf of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Glen M. Kohls, an entomologist and sanitarian, on behalf of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Betty Locker, assistant to Jellison; R.R. Parker, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory; Conrad E. Yunker, a senior scientist in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare

      Also included are correspondence between the Rocky Mountain Laboratory and Douglas J. Gould, the acting chief of the Department of Entomology at Army Medical Service Graduate School of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center; and Allen McIntosh, the Principal Research Parasitologist at the Beltsville Parasitological Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland; as well as a letter to Johnson from the Rocky Mountain Laboratory of the Public Health Service from 1956, which includes a black and white photograph of a mole’s lungs.

      Dates: 1946-1968
      Container: Box 1, Folder 9
  • II: Published Materials, 1958-1965

    The Published Material series contains material collected by Murray L. Johnson from roughly the same time frame as his work on the Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report. The material is organized chronologically by publication date and was annotated by Murray Johnson.

  • III: Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report Administrative Material, 1959-1965

    The Cape Thompson Environmental Impact Report Administrative Material series consists of Murray Johnson’s records on the parameters of the marine mammal investigation for the Cape Thompson Report, including finances, biological data, report drafts, and notes.

  • IV: Murray Johnson Research, 1948-1978

    The Murray Johnson Research series contains documents from Johnson’s other research endeavors before, during, and after the Cape Thompson Report.

    • Description: Hospital Pathology Files

      This folder holds a number of Pathology Reports from Tacoma General Hospital describing medical conditions seen in mammalian specimens, diagnosed by several pathologists including Charles P. Larson, Merrill J. Wicks, and Clyde O. Hurst. Also included are several pieces of correspondence between Murray L. Johnson and these pathologists on behalf of Tacoma General Hospital.

      Dates: 1948-1976
      Container: Box 3, Folder 3
    • Parasite Project, 1952-1978

      This subseries contains documents pertaining to a project on mammalian parasites by Murray L. Johnson and Chris Maser.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Biology teachers
  • Project Chariot

Corporate Names

  • University of Puget Sound.
  • University of Puget Sound. Dept. of Biology.
  • University of Puget Sound. Slater Museum of Natural History.

Geographical Names

  • Thompson, Cape (North Slope Borough, Alaska)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Correspondence
Loading...
Loading...