The Donald L. Carpenter Oral History, dated 2002-2003, contains audio recordings and administrative information for the interview between Carpenter and Brian Shoemaker of the American Polar Society conducted on September 16, 2002. This interview was a part of a series of polar oral histories sponsored by American Polar Society and Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Major topics that Carpenter discussed include his early college education, his difficulty getting a job in international relations with the United States government, working at Stanford with Robert (Bob) A. Helliwell to study whistlers, which are very low frequency (VLF) radio waves naturally emitted by lightning that make a descending whistling tone when amplified, the use of whistlers to measure the properties of the upper atmosphere, how data about whistlers and the upper atmosphere was collected at different stations in Antarctica, the study of the plasmasphere, which is the region of dense plasma in the upper atmosphere, and his experiences living at Siple Station in Antarctica to conduct experiments with VLF radio waves.

The Robert A. Helliwell Oral History, dated 2002-2003, contains audio recordings and administrative information for the interview between Helliwell and Brian Shoemaker of the American Polar Society conducted on September 17, 2002. This interview was a part of a series of polar oral histories sponsored by American Polar Society and Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Major topics discussed include Helliwell’s early life, his study of radio wave propagation in the ionosphere at Stanford University and the equipment used, the study of whistlers and how he became interested in this research after graduate student Jack Mallinckrodt observed the phenomenon and brought it to his attention, his involvement with experiments related to whistlers in Antarctica, including at Siple Station, the equipment used for these experiments in Antarctica, and experiments related to whistlers conducted in Alaska and the methods he used to analyze the data gathered there.