Jet Propulsion Laboratory Archives: Historical Photo of the Month

P-11549B

Did you know that the JPL Archives is part of the Records Management team? Data created at JPL - whether project documents, presentations, reports, financial and facilities documents, photos, employee newspapers, or oral histories - always passes through the hands of your resident Records Management Specialists and Archivists! Information management is crucial to our ability as a Lab to create the future by building upon our past. This photo, taken 7 October 1970, shows a “File Improvement Workshop,” which was a program on efficient filing procedures. It was instructed by Gilbert Dorame, the special projects officer from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which is the authoritative body on archival and records practice in the United States.

Today, the Archives team shares in various records management duties, including Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, managing the Paper Records Inventory (PRI), and helping JPLers put and find materials in storage. They share with Records the management of digital information, including digitized photos, microfilm, and record documents through online tools and databases, like the Master List of Records Categories (MLRC) and Alfresco, and work to preserve analog materials through digitization efforts. Records and Archives are two crucial parts of the information lifecycle, and the Records Management and Archives group (319G) is your go-to for all things historical JPL. In the words of Chief Engineer, Rob Manning, “As we all know, JPL’s mission is to add to the world’s knowledge of Earth, the solar system, and the wider universe. Building the hard and soft machinery to do that means that we need to acquire and share our own knowledge so that we build on the capabilities of each generation of engineer and scientist. This doesn’t happen automatically – we each need to actively curate that knowledge, information, and data so that those that come along after can firmly stand on our shoulders. The talented and passionate JPL Records and Archives group (319G) are chartered with helping us each do that. I count on them to keep me and the rest of us alert to what we must remember and to be partners in helping us find what we need to do our jobs.”

If you have any questions about JPL’s Records Management and Archives team, feel free to reach out to records@jpl.nasa.gov or archives@jpl.nasa.gov!  CL#23-0659

P-23333

Phyllis Ward Riggle (left) was one of the original female engineers at JPL. A 1944 graduate of Pomona College, Claremont, she joined JPL in 1950 as a member of the Computing Staff, and as a mathematician with various JPL groups. 

From 1957-1959, as a member of the Research Analysis Section, Riggle participated in general flight path analysis and trajectory development for Sergeant, Explorer, and early Pioneer flights. Over the years, she held a variety of key engineering and technical posts in space science, project engineering, and mission concept studies and analysis. From 1974-1980, Riggle was technical manager in the Flight Projects office, and from 1980 to her retirement in 1981 (retirement party pictured), she was assistant manager for Science Implementation, FPPO.

Riggle passed away in August 2004, and is buried with her husband, Norman, near their beloved cabin at Jackpot Mine in the ghost town of Ballarat, California. CL#22-6247

P-40658

15 October marks the 25^th anniversary of the Cassini launch! A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini spacecraft was a keystone of exploration of the Saturnian system and the properties of gaseous planets in our solar system.

Aiming for Saturn and its moons, Cassini contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before reaching its destination in 2004, and starting a string of lunar flybys. This same year, it released the Huygens probe on Titan to conduct a study of its atmosphere and surface composition, revealing it to be one of the most Earth-like worlds we had yet encountered.

Cassini performed multiple extended missions, allowing us to observe a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons, as well as completing the first successful dive through the narrow gap between its rings and descending into the planet’s atmosphere.

Cassini began its final entry into Saturn’s atmosphere on 2017-09-15, dictating its end of mission. Cassini was unique in that it was the first mission to orbit Saturn, to land in the outer solar system, and to sample an extraterrestrial ocean, making it extremely special to JPL and our mission, and so its model was proudly displayed on the Mall, as photographed here on 1992-07-16. CL#21-5882

Lab-Oratory article (March 1955): https://bravo-lib.jpl.nasa.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-770038/LabO_1955.pdf (page 19)

P-26433A

According to the November 1983 issue of Universe, “The sights, the sounds and the spectacle of JPL’s many ethnic, cultural and religious heritages fused into a colorful panorama around the warm and sunny Mall as the 1983 American Heritage Week was celebrated. Costumed dancers and musicians presented the cultures of many lands, as well as the regional folkways of America. Highlight of the week-long noon-time celebrations was the serving of foods unique to regions…The week’s festivities were organized under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs (ACMA).”

Today, inclusivity remains top of mind, and it's important to continue to celebrate how differences actively connect us all across the Lab - closing the gaps amongst coworkers, employees and management, and the greater space industry. The JPL Inclusion Advisory Council “collaborates across the Laboratory with employees, managers, projects, programs, and the Executive Council (EC) to ensure that every voice is valued; employees have a sense of belonging and connection with one another and to JPL.” Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) strive to be inclusively representative, today including such groups as the Advisory Council for Women (ACW), Amigos Unidos, Asian American Council, Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.), Native Engagement in Building a Unified Leadership Alliance (N.E.B.U.L.A.), Spectrum (L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+), and Veterans groups.

In addition, at the 37th Space Symposium, then Interim Director Larry James signed the “Space Workforce 2030” pledge, the first-ever space industry commitment of its kind to “significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups,” in an effort to expand that which JPL constantly strives to recognize throughout the space industry.

P-26433B

According to the November 1983 issue of Universe, “The sights, the sounds and the spectacle of JPL’s many ethnic, cultural and religious heritages fused into a colorful panorama around the warm and sunny Mall as the 1983 American Heritage Week was celebrated. Costumed dancers and musicians presented the cultures of many lands, as well as the regional folkways of America. Highlight of the week-long noon-time celebrations was the serving of foods unique to regions…The week’s festivities were organized under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs (ACMA).”

Today, inclusivity remains top of mind, and it's important to continue to celebrate how differences actively connect us all across the Lab - closing the gaps amongst coworkers, employees and management, and the greater space industry. The JPL Inclusion Advisory Council “collaborates across the Laboratory with employees, managers, projects, programs, and the Executive Council (EC) to ensure that every voice is valued; employees have a sense of belonging and connection with one another and to JPL.” Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) strive to be inclusively representative, today including such groups as the Advisory Council for Women (ACW), Amigos Unidos, Asian American Council, Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.), Native Engagement in Building a Unified Leadership Alliance (N.E.B.U.L.A.), Spectrum (L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+), and Veterans groups.

In addition, at the 37th Space Symposium, then Interim Director Larry James signed the “Space Workforce 2030” pledge, the first-ever space industry commitment of its kind to “significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups,” in an effort to expand that which JPL constantly strives to recognize throughout the space industry.

P-26434A

According to the November 1983 issue of Universe, “The sights, the sounds and the spectacle of JPL’s many ethnic, cultural and religious heritages fused into a colorful panorama around the warm and sunny Mall as the 1983 American Heritage Week was celebrated. Costumed dancers and musicians presented the cultures of many lands, as well as the regional folkways of America. Highlight of the week-long noon-time celebrations was the serving of foods unique to regions…The week’s festivities were organized under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs (ACMA).”

Today, inclusivity remains top of mind, and it's important to continue to celebrate how differences actively connect us all across the Lab - closing the gaps amongst coworkers, employees and management, and the greater space industry. The JPL Inclusion Advisory Council “collaborates across the Laboratory with employees, managers, projects, programs, and the Executive Council (EC) to ensure that every voice is valued; employees have a sense of belonging and connection with one another and to JPL.” Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) strive to be inclusively representative, today including such groups as the Advisory Council for Women (ACW), Amigos Unidos, Asian American Council, Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.), Native Engagement in Building a Unified Leadership Alliance (N.E.B.U.L.A.), Spectrum (L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+), and Veterans groups.

In addition, at the 37th Space Symposium, then Interim Director Larry James signed the “Space Workforce 2030” pledge, the first-ever space industry commitment of its kind to “significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups,” in an effort to expand that which JPL constantly strives to recognize throughout the space industry.

JPL Human Resources

According to the November 1983 issue of Universe, “The sights, the sounds and the spectacle of JPL’s many ethnic, cultural and religious heritages fused into a colorful panorama around the warm and sunny Mall as the 1983 American Heritage Week was celebrated. Costumed dancers and musicians presented the cultures of many lands, as well as the regional folkways of America. Highlight of the week-long noon-time celebrations was the serving of foods unique to regions…The week’s festivities were organized under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs (ACMA).”

Today, inclusivity remains top of mind, and it's important to continue to celebrate how differences actively connect us all across the Lab - closing the gaps amongst coworkers, employees and management, and the greater space industry.The JPL Inclusion Advisory Council “collaborates across the Laboratory with employees, managers, projects, programs, and the Executive Council (EC) to ensure that every voice is valued; employees have a sense of belonging and connection with one another and to JPL.” Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) strive to be inclusively representative, today including such groups as the Advisory Council for Women (ACW), Amigos Unidos, Asian American Council, Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.), Native Engagement in Building a Unified Leadership Alliance (N.E.B.U.L.A.), Spectrum (L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+), and Veterans groups.

In addition, at the 37th Space Symposium, then Interim Director Larry James signed the “Space Workforce 2030” pledge, the first-ever space industry commitment of its kind to “significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups,” in an effort to expand that which JPL constantly strives to recognize throughout the space industry.