Museum Of Curiosity Project Analysis

The Museum of Curiosity project requires a symbolic donation of an object that represents an event that is historically important. My donation is a handpainted propaganda sign from the secret, government town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The decision to choose this as my donation was simple considering the way that the compound of Oak Ridge has changed both Tennessee and the world. But how does this particular sign represent the secrecy and importance of the goings on in Oak Ridge? This sign was constructed as a reminder to all who saw it that they were being trusted with top secret information, and that silence was vital to its success. Each individual worked, completely unaware that they were a part of the Manhattan Project, a cooperative between
On one such occasion, an employee of an engineering company was carrying a briefcase with top secret engineering and building plans for the construction team at Oak Ridge, allegedly the man made a phone call to his wife while waiting for his train to arrive. While running to catch his train, the man realized that he had mistakenly left the briefcase and chose to board the train after calling his boss and asking that someone come look for the briefcase. One of the security workers hurried to find the papers and eventually found them in the lost and found of the train station. (“Foreign Intelligence Part I” p.352) Another fascinating albeit unlikely source of exposure was a pamphlet circulated by the Moody Bible Institute which claimed that although Uranium 235 is one of the most powerful substance on earth, the power of God's Holy Spirit is greater. An engineer read this pamphlet and thought it could be an asset to his company and looked further into it which led to a brief investigation to learn how the institute knew about the Uranium and its specifics in the first place only to find that the source was a common pamphlet with simple facts about Uranium as an element. (“Foreign Intelligence
Tennessee was chosen among other locations scattered throughout America and Canada as a location for the project because of its remote qualities as well as the power available since the recent construction of the Norris Dam. By choosing such a remote area away from the oceans, major capitals and military bases they could rest relatively assured that even in the event of a worst case scenario the damage would be less than devastating.( “The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb” p.30) The impact that the project had on Tennessee immediately can be measured on a local scale. Anderson county lost one seventh of its total land when the government exercised eminent domain, also losing the county almost four hundred thousand dollars annually in missed property taxes. Since the end of the war Oak Ridge has been relinquished from military control and remains an active town with important ties to nuclear development and scientific advancement. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is home to one of the world's top scientific supercomputers “Titan” and also the Spallation Neutron Source which are both used currently for further development in the field of nuclear