The Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF), founded by Cynthia Kelly in 2002,
is a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, dedicated to the
preservation and interpretation of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic
Age and its legacy. The Foundation's goal is to provide the public not
only a better understanding of the past but also a basis for addressing
scientific, technical, political, social and ethical issues of the 21st
century.
Specifically, the Foundation works with Congress, the Department of
Energy, National Park Service, state and local governments, nonprofit
organizations and the former Manhattan Project communities to preserve
historic resources and other aspects of the history. Our preservation
efforts have included over one hundred oral histories of Manhattan
Project veterans, symposia, books, museum exhibits, and teachers'
workshops and educational resources.
In 2004, the Foundation promoted legislation to authorize the National Park Service to study whether to create a national historical park site consisting of the former Manhattan Project sites. The study was released in December 2009. The Foundation is working with communities to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park at the three major Manhattan Project sites as well as several affiliated areas.
In addition, AHF has hosted several major symposia with leading
historians, veterans and political leaders. The latest, "Revisiting
Reykjavik: Nuclear Weapons Policies for the New Century," was held on
March 14, 2009, in Washington, DC, and was broadcast by C-SPAN. AHF is
also producing workshops and educational resources for high school
teachers and students on the Manhattan Project and its legacy.
Building upon its past museum exhibitions in Hanford, WA, and Idaho
Falls, ID, the Atomic Heritage Foundation is working on a national
traveling exhibition on the Manhattan Project that addresses the
present challenges of containing the threat of nuclear weapons.
The Foundation has also developed five documentary films and several publications including an anthology,
The Manhattan Project
(Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007). Currently, the Foundation is
developing a nuclear reader tracing nuclear weapons history from the
Manhattan Project and Cold War to the prospects of realizing "a world
without nuclear weapons."
For more details on all of our current projects and past accomplishments, visit the
AHF Projects page.
