Materials are arranged in the order created during the interview process, with the first file containing earlier dated material used to prepare for the interview, as well as other administrative information created before, during, and after the interview process.
Accession PA.2000.0054: Maxwell Britton, 2000 March
[identification of item], Maxwell Britton Oral History, SPEC.PA.56.0038, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
Contains audiocassettes.
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Processed by: Devon Boerman, 2019 November; Finding aid written by: Devon Boerman, 2019 November
Dr. Maxwell Britton was an ecologist who did field research at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL), and who became an administrator for scientific research in the Arctic Regions from 1955-1970. Britton received a master's degree from Ohio State University, and a Doctorate at Northwestern University with an academic focus on plant ecology and early research focused on studying peat bog vegetation. In June 1952, Dr. Maxwell Britton started working at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) in Point Barrow, Alaska, where he did scientific field work from 1952-1954. NARL was established in 1947 by a group of biologists within the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to do field research sponsored by the United States Navy. In 1955, Britton took a position with the ONR, where he served as a science officer who encouraged, received, and judged proposals for Arctic research. Britton also served as the Washington D.C. administrator for NARL. He was responsible for planning and funding NARL as an outgrowth of the International Geophysical Year from 1957-1958 until he left his position in 1970.
The Maxwell Britton Oral History, dated 1966, and 1988-2001, contains recordings, administrative information and a transcript of the interview between Britton and former Ohio State University Polar Archivist Raimund Goerler that took place on March 16, 2000, regarding his experiences as a ecologist at the National Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) in Point Barrow, Alaska, and as a science officer for the Office of Naval Research for Arctic Research. 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. The administrative information gathered for this interview includes two recordings of a previous oral history that Britton conducted with writer Dan O'Neill regarding his interactions with Project Chariot, a plan conceived by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1958 to use nuclear explosions to form an artificial harbor at Cape Thompson, Alaska.
Major themes of the oral history include Britton's decision to pursue an career in science that was shaped by his childhood in Indiana; his college experience, including his initial interest in science and his undergraduate botany assistantship; and his completion of his Master’s degree at Ohio State University and PhD at Northwestern. The oral history also has Britton recount his work at the Office of Naval Research and his perception of the support for projects in the Arctic, his attendance at the first Alaska Science Conference, his experience at Camp Barrow, and his analysis of communication systems in the Arctic. The interview contains Britton's recollections of the International Geophysical Year, the Arctic Research Laboratory Ice Station 2 (ARLIS-2), the discovery of Barrow Sea Canyon, and the use of submarines for the study of the Arctic Ocean while at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL). He additionally mentions his impressions of the indigenous Inuit people and their interactions with scientists, and the environmental effects of research, including destruction of permafrost layers and pipeline construction.
Also available online.