posted 12-20-2006 05:59 PM               

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The NASA and National Air and Space Museum History Divisions issue a call for papers for a conference on the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, to be held in Washington D.C. October 21-22, 2007 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary meeting of the Society for the History of Technology. The conference is titled "Remembering the Space Age," and encompasses two main themes:

1. National and Global Dimensions of the Space Age. Has the Space Age fostered a new global identity, or has it reinforced distinct national identities? How does space history connect with national histories and with the histories of transnational or global phenomena such as the Cold War or the rise of global markets or global satellite communications?

2. Remembrance and Cultural Representation of the Space Age. How is the historical record of the Space Age collected, preserved, displayed, and interpreted around the world, especially in the US, Russia, the European Union, Canada, and China? What purpose do space museums serve and what message do they convey? How accessible are space archives? How do the "official" versions of events square with the document trail and with eyewitness accounts? How has the Space Age been represented in the arts, the media, the movies, in propaganda discourse, and so on?

Please send all proposals, in the form of a 300 word abstract and a brief vita, to Dr. Steven J. Dick NASA Chief Historian, at steven.j.dick@nasa.gov. The deadline for submissions is March 1.

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posted 12-20-2006 07:38 PM               

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I am considering proposing a paper on the role of private collectors in preserving and documenting space artifacts through the past 50 years.

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What kind of material do you collect?

How much do you spend annually on space collectibles?

What made you start collecting?

Do you collect for fun or profit?

Your age? Etc, etc.

posted 12-20-2006 08:43 PM               

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Originally posted by MCroft04:
Have you considered taking a survey of space collectors?

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posted 03-08-2007 10:54 AM               

Fifty Years of Collecting Space: Private Collectors and Their Role in Keeping Space History
Robert Z. Pearlman,
Editor/Founder, collectSPACE.com, "The Source for Space History and Artifacts"
Board Member, U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation
Vice President, Countdown Enterprises, Inc.

Fifty years of space exploration has resulted in an international arsenal of old spacecraft, equipment and ephemera. While efforts have been made to place as many of the key pieces into museums worldwide, the amount of material makes preservation of every item almost impossible. Enter the role of private collectors who, from the moment Sputnik first beeped to modern day, have been instrumental in identifying, saving, restoring and researching the literal 'nuts and bolts' of international efforts to launch objects and people into space.

From the scrap of cloth cut from covering the mirror on Yuri Gagarin's pressure suit before he boarded Vostok 1 to the parachute that safely descended Freedom 7 to a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, the first space artifact collectors were engineers and technicians assigned to the missions themselves. The astronauts soon followed suit, recovering and saving spacecraft hardware that was intended to be discarded, left on the Moon or recycled as scrap once back on Earth. And when artifacts escaped the watchful eyes of space program workers seeking souvenirs, private citizens scoured surplus auctions and junkyards to retrieve museum-quality pieces from being destroyed.

In the half-century that followed Sputnik, the space collecting hobby gave birth to a burgeoning space artifact market. While encouraging more private collectors to come forward with their artifact finds, the promise and/or belief in "out of this world" prices has also led to the introduction of pitfalls for the preservation of space history. Intact artifacts have been cut apart by dealers to maximize sales; forgeries have been introduced and thefts from museums have been directly encouraged (if not also carried out).

posted 03-08-2007 11:09 AM               

That's a great proposal for what sounds like a wonderful conference.

posted 03-23-2007 10:45 AM               

The conference has two themes, as mentioned earlier in this thread, and presentations for the "National and Global Dimensions of the Space Age" include Dwayne Day ("The Central Intelligence Agency and the Freedom of Space") and James Hansen ("China's Human Spaceflight Program and Chinese National Identity").

posted 03-23-2007 11:25 AM               

I was planning to go extensively into the audio-visual record, archive accessability and other aspects of the formats used and lessons for the future on preserving this portion of the record.

posted 03-26-2007 04:35 AM               

By the way, I've contacted you via email about something. I hope you get it, cos the last couple of emails seem to have failed to get through.

posted 07-24-2007 03:02 PM               

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The NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum's Division of Space History are cosponsoring a conference to be held in Washington, D.C. on 22-23 October 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the space age. The conference is free and open to the public, but advance registration is highly recommended.

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