One hundred Westcott photos now on AMSE website

During the past year, the World War II images taken in Oak Ridge by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, have been scanned one image at a time every Tuesday and Thursday into the American Museum of Science and Energy’s website.

Today, the AMSE website will add the 100th photograph. The picture shows people waiting in line outside the telephone office in Oak Ridge, and it was taken by Westcott in 1944.

“The photos of Oak Ridge taken by Ed Westcott during the Manhattan Project years are invaluable to the preservation of the story of a unique moment in the United States history,” said Julie Kellis, AMSE collections curator.

During the summer of 2011, AMSE adult and teen volunteers scanned more than 1,000 original Westcott photos from AMSE’s collection into the museum’s photo catalog collections software program in order to simplify search for retrieval of the collection. Among the AMSE adult and teen volunteers doing the photograph scanning were Janet Townsend, Kiley Croy, Morgan Croy, Grayson Niehaus, Stephanie Paul, Ryan Ratliff, and Vy Quach, said Glenda Bingham, AMSE volunteer coordinator.

Visit AMSE’s Discovery Shop and purchase books with Westcott’s images including “Through the Lens of Ed Westcott: A Photographic History of World War II Secret City” and also view the AMSE lobby exhibit by the same name.

“Images of America: Oak Ridge” by Ed Westcott and a “Guide to the Manhattan Project in Tennessee” are among several books with his photographs.

In AMSE’s “Oak Ridge: World War II Secret City” flagship exhibition, view the exhibit entitled “James Edward Westcott, Official U.S. Army Manhattan Project Photographer.”

The American Museum of Science and Energy, located at 300 S. Tulane Ave, is open Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m.

For more information on AMSE memberships, exhibits, programs, and events, visit www.amse.org. To schedule a group visit, call AMSE at (865) 576-3200.