In the fall of 2003, Dr. Richard Thomas, retired from a career at the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH, and also retired Director of the Center for Strategic Technologies at Texas A&M University, suggested a proposal to Dr. Stephen Foster, University Librarian at Wright State University. Fearing the rather sudden demise of the Soviet Union in 1992, and the widespread focus on the subsequent War on Terror, has pushed the period of the Cold War and its technology from public memory, Thomas proposed the creation of a Cold War research archive to be housed in Special Collections and Archives at Wright State University.
A proposal then was developed to seek funding for the creation of a Cold War Aerospace Technology Archive. This archive would document the technological dimensions of the Cold War, with an initial focus on aerospace technology emerging from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Miami Valley region. Special Collections and Archives in the Wright State University Libraries would collect and preserve the experiences and stories of these individuals through oral and written histories and manuscript collections as the Cold War Aerospace Technology archive, within its larger aviation history focus.
From the guide to the The Cold War Aerospace Technology History Project, 1936-2008, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)
