Pin-up girls and the bomb

Enough cheesecake to make your dead great-great grandmother’s false teeth complain

Plutonium Desert Garden Pin-up Swimsuit Beauty, Declassified
2005
18 by 13 inches
Digital Painting by Juli Kearns, Copyright © 2005 Juli Kearns
Based on a photo from the “Hanford Historical Photo Declassification Project”.

Lightbox enlargement

Read the introduction to the Remixing the Hanford Declassified Project paintings

There’s a fair amount of cheesecake in the archive of the Hanford Declassified Project. Many of these photos have, strictly speaking, nothing to do with the bomb. And yet they do as Richland existed for plutonium production.

Yes, you bet we’re aware we sold security with sex

Legs here, legs there, sex sells the message, chases the spoonful of bitter with the sweet, and everyone knows it.

For instance, in the archive is a photo of two men at Hanford, one of whom is pointing out to another a sign on security and sabotage prevention.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0034833”
Accession Number N1D0034833
Document Number 1991-1-NEG-D
Alternate Document Number 1991-1-NEG
Title Description HAYNES AND SCHUMAN WITH SECURITY POSTERS
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 03-May-1951
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

In the next photo the same men are now seated like pin-up girls with their trousers hiked to show their legs.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0034832”
Accession Number N1D0034832
Document Number 1991-1-NEG-A
Alternate Document Number 1991-1-NEG
Title Description HAYNES AND SCHUMAN WITH SECURITY POSTERS
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 03-May-1951
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Explosive = the bomb = sex

The photo on which my digital painting is based was intended to equate “explosive” with sexy. Eventually I found in the archive an image of the woman cropped from the photo and pasted upon a bounty of fireworks and dynamite.

Another photo showed a sketch of the fireworks but without the woman, instead there was a little girl standing facing them.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0053064”
Accession Number N1D0053064
Document Number 1132-50-NEG-V
Alternate Document Number 1132-50-NEG
Title Description FIRECRACKER POSTER WITH RL SUTTERLAND IN A BATHING SUIT-CHILD AND DOG WITH PLAY FIRECRACKER
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s) FIRECRACKER POSTER,HANFORD SITE PERSONNEL,R. SUTTERLAND IN BATHING SUIT
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 15-Jun-1950
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002

It’s impossible to determine if the design was a promotion for fire safety, security, a 4th of July celebration or a big bang of a sale.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0053037”
Accession Number N1D0053037
Document Number 1132-50-NEG-C
Alternate Document Number 1132-50-NEG
Title Description FIRECRACKER POSTER WITH RL SUTTERLAND IN A BATHING SUIT-CHILD AND DOG WITH PLAY FIRECRACKER
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s) FIRECRACKER POSTER,HANFORD SITE PERSONNEL,R. SUTTERLAND IN BATHING SUIT
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 15-Jun-1950
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002

I wonder which layout they went with.

The original image is below, the model perched on the dining room table, its chairs shoved to the side of the room so as not to interfere with this intimate photography session.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0053058”
Accession Number N1D0053058
Document Number 1132-50-NEG-R
Alternate Document Number 1132-50-NEG
Title Description FIRECRACKER POSTER WITH RL SUTTERLAND IN A BATHING SUIT-CHILD AND DOG WITH PLAY FIRECRACKER
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s) FIRECRACKER POSTER,HANFORD SITE PERSONNEL,R. SUTTERLAND IN BATHING SUIT
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 15-Jun-1950
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0053060”
Accession Number N1D0053060
Document Number 1132-50-NEG-S
Alternate Document Number 1132-50-NEG
Title Description FIRECRACKER POSTER WITH RL SUTTERLAND IN A BATHING SUIT-CHILD AND DOG WITH PLAY FIRECRACKER
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s) FIRECRACKER POSTER,HANFORD SITE PERSONNEL,R. SUTTERLAND IN BATHING SUIT
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 15-Jun-1950
Public Availability Date 14-Jun-2002

Everything went better with cheesecake

Selling good attendance? Do it with cheesecake.

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0035055”
Accession Number N1D0035055
Document Number 2043-1-NEG-E
Alternate Document Number 2043-1-NEG
Title Description ATTENDANCE AWARD – JOANN GOODWIN
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 04-Dec-2001
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Selling conservation? Again, do it with cheesecake!

DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0039531”
Accession Number N1D0039531
Document Number 2426-1-NEG-M
Alternate Document Number 2426-1-NEG
Title Description PUBLICITY SHOTS WITH WOMEN PROMOTING PAPER CONSERVATION DRIVE
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 25-Oct-1951
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

Selling radiation-related equipment at instrument shows? Do it with chessecake!