National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) Records
Scope and Contents
The National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) Records document the early days of the NSBF while it was managed by NCAR. Records illuminate the logistics of conducting balloon flights abroad and at home, particularly during the Cold War era. The collection offers a window into instrumentation, modifications, and issues with balloons and electronics packages. The collection includes correspondence, memos, budgets, reports, proposals, papers, and films. Selections from this collection are available online.
Dates
- Creation: 1962-1987
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1968-1980
- Other: Date acquired: 1986
Creator
- Atmospheric Technology Division (ATD) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Access to this collection is open.
Conditions Governing Use
Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.
Full Extent
9.30 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arrangement is by original order except for Series III and V. The collection consists of five series in ten boxes: Series I: "Old Balloon Files"; Series II: Administrative; Series III: Papers, Proposals, and Reports; Series IV: Policies and Procedures; Series V: Films.
Physical Access Requirements
The collection must be viewed in the Archives during normal business hours.
Technical Access Requirements
The films in Series V are not currently available for playback, as they have not been reformatted to a digital medium.
Method of Acquisition
Series I-IV: NCAR Archives legacy collection. Series V: Transferred to the NSBF collection from the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) collection in August 2025, at the time of processing MMM.
Accruals and Additions
No accruals or additions are expected.
Processing Information
This collection was processed in June 2010. Original order was maintained. An unknown person included detailed folder content notes with the records; these notes were copied to the finding aid by the archivist. Purchase orders, travel documents, requests for proposals, vendor catalogs, petty cash vouchers, and detailed accounting reports were weeded from the collection. Oversize materials were flattened and are stored separately in flat storage. Selections from this collection have been digitized and are available in the NCAR Library's digital repository, OpenSky.
- Author
- Kathleen Legg
- Date
- 20100629
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Archives Repository