Los Alamos History Museum

01/14/2021

We are beyond saddened at the loss of Josh Miko. He volunteered for the museum for years and represented the best of our community, always willing to give his time and talent while expecting nothing in return. You may have seen Josh working in the Romero Cabin, riding in the mounted patrol, or hiking our historic trails. He was the historian for his Boy Scout Troop 22, and he truly loved sharing Los Alamos history with others.

We are working with Josh's family to find the best way to acknowledge his contributions to the community. If you would like to donate to Josh Miko's Memorial Fund, you may visit https://losalamoshistory.networkforgood.com/projects/22122-everyday-giving or mail a check (noted "Josh") to the Los Alamos Historical Society: Josh Miko, PO Box 43, Los Alamos NM 87544.

OBITUARY: Joshua David Miko Dec. 26, 2003 – Jan. 9, 2021

https://ladailypost.com/obituary-joshua-miko-dec-26-2003-jan-9-2021/

01/07/2021

On January 1, 1947, the newly-created Atomic Energy Commission took over control of the gated town of Los Alamos. No longer run by the military, Los Alamos would be managed by the AEC and the federal government until privatization of homes and businesses began in the early 1960s.

This photo shows the AEC Headquarters Building in 1952. Frank D. May took the photograph from South Mesa, looking north towards the building and the town beyond. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

#tbt #LosAlamosHistory #ManhattanProject #NewMexicoTrue #secret

01/06/2021

This week’s quote is from TALES OF LOS ALAMOS by Bernice Brode.

Sunday trips were taken rather seriously in our town. The General himself urged us to “get off the Mesa” once a week. He insisted we be issued “B” gas-ration coupons for this purpose. We walked or rode bicycles around the town for the most part, so all our gas was saved for excursions on Sunday, our one day off. The factory whistle did not blow on Sunday, and it was regarded as unsporting to sneak over to the Technical Area to get in some work.

Once off the Mesa, outside the gates, the whole vast area of mountains, valleys, and mesas was open to us.

01/06/2021

2021 banner

New year, new banner!

12/31/2020

It's because of YOU that we've met the challenges of 2020. Thank you so much for your support! We're looking forward to 2021. 🎆

#HappyNewYear #NewYearsEve #Goodbye2020 #Hello2021

12/29/2020

This week’s quote is from Of Logs and Stone by Craig Martin and Heather McClenahan —

Master Cottage #3 was not a Los Alamos Ranch School construction project. The cabin was a private residence on LARS property, just inside the north fence of the central school area. In time, it would become a school facility and a part of the “musical chair houses” between the masters as their families changed and grew.

*Note: This cottage belonged to Fermor and Peggy Pond Church until the last years of the Ranch School.

12/25/2020

Ringing the Bell 12 24 20

Fuller Lodge Bell Ringing 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_fa0lVJvO8&feature=youtu.be

Staff of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and the Los Alamos History Museum gathered at Fuller Lodge at 6:00 on Christmas Eve, 2020 to ring the...

12/24/2020

Maria Poveka Martinez and Robert Brode dancing together at a San Ildefonso party 75 years ago this month.

Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

#tbt #LosAlamosHistory

12/24/2020

Have you ever heard the bell on top of Fuller Lodge actually ring? During Ranch School days it called the students to meals. During the Manhattan Project, it was used at the end of New Years Eve parties to ring in the new year. On this 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, the Los Alamos History Society and Manhattan Project National Historical Park will be ringing the bell again - twice! First, at 6 PM on Christmas Eve as part of the worldwide “Step Outside and Ring A Bell at 6 PM On Christmas Eve” event. Second will be, yes, midnight on New Year’s Eve. Ranger Val of the Manhattan Project NHP and Elizabeth Martineau, Executive Director of the History Museum, invite everyone to join us at home ringing bells. We plan to post a video.

12/23/2020

This week’s quote is from AT HOME ON THE SLOPES OF MOUNTAINS by Sharon Snyder

The Ranch School boys had gone home for the holidays, and the families of the masters and ranch workers had the snow-covered mesa all to themselves. A large Christmas tree awaited beside the huge stone fireplace in Fuller Lodge, and the hanging Navajo rugs shared their walls with garlands of evergreens for the festivities. A.J. Connell always supplied a gift for each child, along with stockings filled with candies, nuts, and fruit, and Ferm was, at that moment, dressing as Santa Claus to hand out the presents.

12/17/2020

New Mexico Traditions

Our friends at New Mexico Historic Sites are hosting all kinds of fun events and activities this month—check out http://nmhistoricsites.org/traditions if you haven't already! ❄️

New Mexico Historic Sites preserve and protect cultural sites throughout the Land of Enchantment.

12/16/2020

This week’s quote comes from IN THE SHADOW OF LOS ALAMOS: Selected Writings of Edith Warner by Patrick Burns

Edith, who felt terrible grief about the war, took on new duties at the pueblo when the draft reached the village. In her first Christmas letter she wrote: “Early in January I was asked on the spur of the moment—yes, a woman is the head—to help in the Indian Service work at San Ildefonso. So I worked on rationing, seed orders, canning, for a small sum until August. It was good to go to the Pueblo and see the people, and I enjoyed it. There are thirteen boys in the armed services and they needed letters.”

12/15/2020

75 years ago this month, Popovi Da and others from the Pueblo de San Ildefonso invited the Los Alamos square dance club to a dance at the Pueblo. This December 1945 gathering celebrated the end of the war and friendships made working together on the Manhattan Project.

This photo shows Jane Wortmann and Popovi Da dancing that evening. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

#LosAlamosHistory #NewMexicoTrue #PlayLosAlamos

12/10/2020

Just a peek inside the Oppenheimer House! Roger Waterman and Emily McGay established a special fund at Enterprise Bank to help with preservation. If you would like to make a donation, please visit our website.

12/09/2020

These winter memories come from WHEN LOS ALAMOS WAS A RANCH SCHOOL by Fermor S. and Peggy Pond Church —

In winter there was skating during the coldest weeks. Later, the generosity of a parent enabled a superior skating rink to be constructed in the bottom of Los Alamos Canyon, deeply shaded from the low winter sun so that cold weather lingered longer. In January, ice was cut from Ashley Pond, enough at one time to provide for the school’s needs for two years. The ice was stored at first in a log building, later in a stone one, just south of the pond.

12/09/2020

History On Tap: Native American Flutes Demonstration

Catch our recording of Monday's History on Tap presentation from Marlon Magdalena (Jemez) on Native American flutes here: https://youtu.be/G9j5smL9neY

#LosAlamosHistory #NewMexicoTrue #PlayLosAlamos Los Alamos Creative District Jemez Historic Site

On December 7, Marlon Magdalena led an online conversation about Native American flutes. Marlon Magdalena is a Native American artist, educator, and performe...

12/08/2020

Today, come with us #InsideTheArchives and inside the Oppenheimer House at 1967 Peach St. Affectionately called the Oppenheimer House, the log and stone structure was built in 1929 for the Los Alamos Ranch School. Then known as Master’s Cottage #2, it was built for May Connell, the sister of headmaster A. J. Connell. May came from New York to teach the arts to the students at the Ranch School but eventually moved to Santa Fe.

After May Connell left the Ranch School, other faculty members lived in the house. During the 1930s, Tom and Anita Waring lived in the house. They were followed by Cecil and Virginia Worth and their young sons. From 1941 until the beginning of the Manhattan Project, the house was occupied by Harry Walen, a master teaching English at the Ranch School, and his wife, Betty Walen.

In April 1943, Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer moved into the home and lived there during the Manhattan Project. It is from those years that the structure gets its name. After the end of WWII, the Oppenheimers moved out of the house in October 1945. In the winter of 1945–1946, Eric and Eleanor Jette moved into the house. (Eleanor was the author of the well-known book “Inside Box 1663,” which she wrote about Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. The book can be purchased from our online museum shop at https://www.losalamoshistory.org/store/p200/Box_1663.html). They left Los Alamos in 1947, and the house was then occupied by Frank and Betty Hoyt until 1956. In 1956, Helene and Bergen “Jerry” Suydam won the housing lottery by a single point and were given the Oppenheimer house as their residence. When the Atomic Energy Commission decided to privatize the housing in Los Alamos, the Suydams purchased the home.

In 2003 the Suydams donated the house to the Los Alamos Historical Society in a living trust. In 2020, when the revered Helene Suydam passed away, the house came to the Los Alamos Historical Society. The incredibly generous gift from the Suydams will now become part of the Los Alamos History Museum campus. If you wish to support the endeavor of changing this historic structure from a family residence to become part of the Los Alamos History Museum, please visit: https://www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund.html.

#LosAlamosHistory

12/04/2020

Liddie Martinez To Speak About Farming In Northern New Mexico At Dec. 12 AAUW Virtual Event

Farming is an important part of our history and present—check out this upcoming talk hosted by our local AAUW branch.

AAUW NEWS The Association of University Women (AAUW) is hosting a Zoom event at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12 featuring local author Liddie Martinez. Liddie will speak about farming in Northern New M…

12/03/2020

On December 1, 1942, Secretary of War Henry Stimson sent a letter to the Los Alamos Ranch School informing the school that the government would be seizing the property for the war effort. The school's infrastructure—buildings, plumbing, electricity, phone line, roads, and more—were a deciding factor in the selection of Los Alamos for the secret Manhattan Project laboratory.

#tbt #LosAlamosHistory

12/02/2020

THANK YOU for your support yesterday! You help us bring our history to life. #ThankYouWednesday #GivingTuesday #GivingTuesdayNM

12/01/2020

Giving is not just about making a donation. It is about making a difference. You can do that today on #GivingTuesday by helping us to share the stories of the Oppenheimer House with visitors from around the world. Learn more at www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund
#GivingTuesdayNM

12/01/2020

It’s #GivingTuesday, and today we’re working together to raise support for the Oppenheimer House. Check out www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund to learn how you can make a difference, and share this post to get the word out! #GivingTuesdayNM

11/30/2020

Everyone can have an impact on #GivingTuesday! Join us tomorrow by pledging your time, skills, voice, or dollars to bringing the Oppenheimer House to life for museum visitors from around the world. Learn more here: www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund #GivingTuesdayNM #LosAlamosHistory

11/29/2020

In celebration of Small Business Saturday and Museum Shop Sunday we are giving 20% off your entire online order. Please enter the coupon code SHOPLOCAL at checkout. Thank you for supporting your museum, the Los Alamos History Museum.

11/28/2020

In celebration of Small Business Saturday and Museum Shop Sunday we are giving 20% off your entire online order. Please enter the coupon code SHOPLOCAL at checkout. Thank you for supporting your museum, the Los Alamos History Museum.

11/27/2020

In celebration of Small Business Saturday and Museum Shop Sunday we are giving 20% off your entire online order. Please enter the coupon code SHOPLOCAL at checkout. Thank you for supporting your Los Alamos History Museum.

11/27/2020

Together we give. Learn how your generosity makes a difference on #GivingTuesday: www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer hosted parties in their Bathtub Row home during the Manhattan Project. With your help, we can preserve the home and open it up for events again in the future.
#GivingTuesdayNM #LosAlamosHistory

Dorothy McKibbin, Robert Oppenheimer, and Victor Weisskopf (from left to right) in the Oppenheimer House during a party. Photo: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

11/27/2020

Snyder: Thanksgiving At The Ranch School

Thanksgiving at the Ranch School
https://ladailypost.com/snyder-thanksgiving-at-the-ranch-school/

The observance of Thanksgiving at Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS) in 1941 was the last one of a traditional nature. Ten days later, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and within the next few months Headmaster Lawrence Hitchcock and other masters would be in the military on active duty, but in 1941 the holiday....

11/26/2020

We’re thankful for you, today and every day!
#GivingTuesday #GivingTuesdayNM #LosAlamosHistory

11/26/2020

This week's quote comes from Standing By and Making Do, edited by Jane S. Wilson and Charlotte Serber

Dorothy McKibbin was a Santa Fe resident. She lived in a adobe house near the Laboratory of Anthropology, and her past life had little to do with scientists and their worries. She worked for the Manhattan Project from the first days of the Santa Fe office and was of tremendous value because of her thorough knowledge of the surrounding country.

After twenty years with the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Dorothy retired in 1963. Scientists who she had met in her office at 109 East Palace continued to be among her closest friends, and more than twenty couples were married in her home on Old Santa Fe Trail, a tradition begun when wartime restrictions disrupted previous wedding conventions. In 1980 Dorothy received an honorary degree from the College of Santa Fe. That occasion was especially significant because others similarly honored included Maria Martinez, the potter of San Ildefonso, and Harold Agnew, a former director of the Laboratory—two old friends from the two worlds she loved. Dorothy died in Santa Fe in 1985.

11/24/2020

#GivingTuesday is coming up next week. Together, we’re raising support to bring the stories of the Oppenheimer House to life. Alcade stonemason Marcos Gomez built the home in 1929.
#GivingTuesdayNM #LosAlamosHistory

Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

11/23/2020

Winter is on its way.

Holiday Tree Permits will be sold on line at: http://www.recreation.gov/

Oppenheimer bobbleheads and martini glasses, along with other unique gifts are available on line at: www.losalamoshistory.org/shop
Thank you for supporting your museum.

11/20/2020

Looking forward to #GivingTuesday, we’re excited to begin sharing the stories of the Oppenheimer House with your support. Did you know that the house was built in 1929 for May Connell, who taught art and music for the Los Alamos Ranch School?
www.losalamoshistory.org/oppenheimer-house-fund
#GivingTuesdayNM #LosAlamosHistory

Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

11/19/2020

Alex Wellerstein: The "Best-Kept Secret of the War"?

Did you miss Alex Wellerstein's lecture on Manhattan Project secrecy? Catch the recording on our YouTube channel!
https://youtu.be/D8dMIZqYBQs

#LosAlamosHistory

Alex Wellerstein, "The 'Best-Kept Secret of the War'? The Successes and Failures of Manhattan Project Secrecy," November 17, 2020. In the wake of the bombing...

11/18/2020

GivingTuesday

Save the Date: #GivingTuesday is December 1! We’re proud to be a part of this global celebration of giving. www.addevent.com/event/OG5078677 #GivingTuesdayNM

GivingTuesday global day of generosity. Join us in giving back today - whether you donate to a nonprofit or commit to getting more involved in your community - every act of generosity counts! Share how you're participating on social media with #GivingTuesday and inspire a wave of good. Learn more at...