Hanford Was Sexy

The instrument shows were sexy and free

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0012682”
Accession Number N1D0012682
Document Number 6235-1-NEG-D
Alternate Document Number 6235-1-NEG
Title Description INSTRUMENT PUBLICITY SHOW AT WHITE BLUFFS
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 16-Apr-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Sexy instrument shows advertised open access

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0041937”
Accession Number N1D0041937
Document Number 4007-1-NEG-B
Alternate Document Number 4007-1-NEG
Title Description INSTRUMENT SHOW DISPLAY
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 04-Dec-2001
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Albeit materials were to be handled carefully

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0041936”
Accession Number N1D0041936
Document Number 4007-1-NEG-A
Alternate Document Number 4007-1-NEG
Title Description INSTRUMENT SHOW DISPLAY
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 04-Dec-2001
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

After the instrument shows, everyone gathered on the white sands for a ball of a time

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0014257”
Accession Number N1D0014257
Document Number 6887-1-NEG-B
Alternate Document Number 6887-1-NEG
Title Description WOMAN POSING IN BATHING SUIT
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 02-Jul-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Those sands were hot in more ways than one

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0014261”
Accession Number N1D0014261
Document Number 6887-1-NEG-F
Alternate Document Number 6887-1-NEG
Title Description WOMAN POSING IN BATHING SUIT
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 02-Jul-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

They were hardy pioneers of the nuclear age, roughing it without beach towels

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0014263”
Accession Number N1D0014263
Document Number 6887-1-NEG-H
Alternate Document Number 6887-1-NEG
Title Description WOMAN POSING IN BATHING SUIT
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 02-Jul-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

They were the parents of the baby boomers

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0014263”
Accession Number N1D0014263
Document Number 6887-1-NEG-H
Alternate Document Number 6887-1-NEG
Title Description WOMAN POSING IN BATHING SUIT
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 02-Jul-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

They proved that if radiation could be sexed, there was nothing which didn’t go better with some nubile, openly unapologetic curves

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0012543”
Accession Number N1D0012543
Document Number 6194-1-NEG-C
Alternate Document Number 6194-1-NEG
Title Description INSTRUMENT SHOW PUBLICITY WITH MYRA MCMILLIAN – POSING WITH INSTRUMENT AT MR. SNORF’S HOUSE
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 06-Apr-1953
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Another radiation instrument show publicity shot from Richland (Hanford Works) 1953. The photographer was going for…artistic…that’s the word for it. The model’s name was Myra McMillian and the description gives her as posing at Mr. Snorf’s house.

Except for, well…

The above is, thus far, about the weirdest use of publicity sex yet I’ve come across in the archive. Painfully awkward, the clumsiness is heightened by the care taken to keep the flexible Myra’s hands from obstructing our view of the instrument.

The why of using breasts and legs to sell an instrument like this is beyond the practical me. The impractical me (if I was smart this would be the practical me) understands, yes, drape everything in the world with as much sexy flesh as you can. Which is the problem here. What’s sexy about this back-breaking pose? Two seconds down the lane, I can hear the instrument tumbling off the flimsy table (upon which they’ve not even bothered to center it), as Myra loses her balance and crashes to the floor along with what afterwards we can hope they said was only a floor model and sorry but even though you must have it today you’ll need to wait a couple of weeks for a shipment from the factory.

One thing of which we can be certain. The photographer’s mind wasn’t on production values.

Read the introduction to the Remixing the Hanford Declassified Project paintings