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Hanford Resources

Interested in learning more about Hanford's history?

Here are some recommendations for books, movies, websites, and other assorted resources. They were chosen by our archivist, who would welcome any suggestions to add to the list! It is certainly not an exhaustive list, and instead is a starting point for Hanford's fascinating history.

General

      Academic Histories

       Government Reports

       Local Perspectives

      Articles and Book Chapters

       Published Contemporary Sources
  • Groves, Leslie R. Manhattan District History (https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan_district.jsp)
  • Groves, Leslie R.  Now It Can be Told.  New York and Evanston:  Harper and Row, 1962.
  • Seaborg, Glennt T.  The Plutonium Story, The Journals of Professor Glenn T. Seaborg 1939-1946.   (Edited and Annotated by Ronald L. Kathren, Jerry B. Gough, and Gary T. Benefiel).  Columbus and Richland:  Battelle Press, 1994. 

Environmental History of Hanford

Web Resources

      Historical

      Official Resources

      Community Resources

      Miscellaneous

Films

"Arid Lands is a documentary feature about the land and people of the Columbia River Basin in southeastern Washington state. Sixty years ago, the Hanford nuclear site produced plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and today the area is the focus of the largest environmental cleanup in history. It is a landscape of incredible contradictions. Coyotes roam among decommissioned nuclear reactors, salmon spawn in the middle of golf courses, wine grapes grow in the sagebrush, and federal cleanup dollars spur rapid urban expansion.

Arid Lands takes us into a world of sports fishermen, tattoo artists, housing developers, ecologists, and radiation scientists living and working in the area. It tells the story of how people changed the landscape over time, and how the landscape affected their lives."

Produced by the US Department of Energy

"This is the Emmy Award-winning first chapter of The Hanford Story, a multimedia presentation that provides an overview of the Hanford Site—its history, today's cleanup activities, and a glimpse into the possibilities of future uses of the 586-square-mile government site in southeast Washington State. "

Produced by the City of Richland

"A historical look at the developement of the Hanford Engineering Works Project. The top secret WWII project that changed the face of Richland and the world forever."

Hosted by the Washington State University Libraries

"This was a silent video about the development of the Hanford Site in Washington state, which appears to have been produced by the U.S. government at or near the end of World War II. This is part one of three; all three comprise about a 90 minute presentation."