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Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
[Identification of item], Army Research Office--Durham (AROD) records, University Archives, Duke University.
The Army Research Office--Durham (AROD) records were received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1970, 1977, 1984.
Processed by Sherrie Bowser, October 2006
Encoded by Kimberly Sims, December 2006
Updated by Sherrie Bowser, March 2007
Accessions A77-10, A84-66 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
The Office of Ordnance Research (OOR), U.S. Army, a Class II military institution, established offices on the Duke University campus in June 1951. Marcus E. Hobbs, Chairman of the Department of Chemistry, served as acting chief scientist until Tomas J. Killian took over in a permanent capacity. Hobbs was instrumental in developing the "skeleton of the organization" which continued throughout the life of the organization with only minor adjustments. The organization was divided into four main divisions chemistry, mathematics, engineering, and physics. Scientists to fill the top slots were drawn primarily from Duke University, with others from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State, and Virginia Polytech.
OOR first occupied the Hanes Mansion, but after 6 years, the burgeoning Office had outgrown the available space. In December 1958, OOR moved into a new building that was built for them on the Duke campus north of the School of Engineering. The OOR entered a lease arrangement with the University for the space helping to cover the cost of construction.
On January 16, 1961 the OOR ceased to exist and was instead re-designated as the Army Research Office-Durham (AROD) under the command of the Chief, Research and Development.
The 1960s and 1970s saw a weakening in the working relationship between the military and the scientific communities. In the spring of 1975 ARO left the Duke campus and moved to the Research Triangle Park ten miles southeast of Durham.
Collection contains materials pertaining to the mission and organization of the U.S. Army Office of Ordinance Research, the forerunner of the Army Research Office-Durham (AROD). Materials include summaries of the activities of the Duke/AROD coordination office for the fiscal years 1966, 1969-1971, and a scrapbook dated 1959. The scrapbook contains photographs of Duke officials, Ordnance office chiefs, various dedication events and ceremonies, event guest lists, official luncheons, and RTP exhibit, all from 1959. The materials in the collection span the years 1957-1982.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.