RESEARCHER PROFILE
Research Beyond the Archives
Field investigation, historical sites, material culture, and preservation.
Research Beyond the Archives: Field Investigation, Historical Sites, and Material Preservation
For Denise DeGarmo, historical research extends beyond the examination of documents, scientific publications, and archival collections. A defining characteristic of her scholarly approach is a commitment to firsthand investigation of the places, physical evidence, and surviving artifacts associated with the development of the American nuclear enterprise.
Her research has taken her to historically significant locations, including Trinity Site in New Mexico, Los Alamos, Sandia National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, the Pinellas Plant, and the University of Chicago's historic Stagg Field site, associated with the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in December 1942.
These visits reflect her belief that the physical settings of historical events provide an important dimension of understanding that cannot always be recovered from written records alone.
Connecting Documentary Evidence with Physical History
Historical nuclear facilities were complex environments shaped by scientific objectives, industrial production, national security requirements, organizational relationships, and changing technological practices.
Understanding these environments requires attention not only to what government documents report, but also to the physical locations, surviving structures, equipment, landscapes, and material evidence associated with historical activities.
Firsthand site investigation can provide valuable context for interpreting archival records, understanding facility relationships, examining historical production environments, and identifying questions requiring additional documentary research.
DeGarmo's approach brings these different forms of evidence together while maintaining a clear distinction between direct observation, documented historical fact, and interpretation.
Historical Artifacts and Material Culture
An additional dimension of DeGarmo's research is her interest in the preservation and examination of historical objects associated with the nuclear age.
Her personal collection includes objects connected to nuclear weapons development, scientific research, technological production, and historically significant locations.
These artifacts provide tangible connections to the institutions, technologies, and people involved in the development of the nuclear enterprise.
Their historical value extends beyond their physical characteristics. When appropriate provenance and supporting documentation are available, individual objects can contribute to understanding technological development, institutional relationships, historical practices, and the preservation of material culture.
DeGarmo approaches such objects as historical evidence whose interpretation requires careful attention to authenticity, provenance, context, and the limits of what an artifact alone can establish.
Field Investigation as a Research Method
Field investigation is not a substitute for archival research. Rather, it provides a complementary method for understanding the historical environments in which documented events occurred.
Her approach combines archival and documentary investigation; historical site visits and direct observation; examination of surviving physical evidence; historical artifacts and material culture; institutional and cross-facility analysis; scientific and technical documentation; and preservation of historical evidence and source provenance.
Together, these approaches support a more comprehensive examination of nuclear history by connecting documentary records with the physical environments and material evidence associated with them.
Preserving the Physical Record
As nuclear facilities are demolished, landscapes change, historical equipment disappears, and institutional records become dispersed, opportunities to examine the physical history of the nuclear enterprise may diminish.
DeGarmo's commitment to field investigation and historical preservation reflects an awareness that the surviving physical record is an important part of the historical evidence base.
Documenting these places and objects contributes to preserving knowledge of the scientific, technological, institutional, and human history of the nuclear age.
Historical understanding is strengthened when archival evidence, physical locations, surviving artifacts, and institutional histories are examined together.