Title Info: Hanford Health Information Archives, Oral History Collection, 1996-2000

This collection contains transcripts of oral history interviews conducted from 1996 through 2000 by the Hanford Health Information Network (HHIN) and deposited in the Hanford Health Information Archives (HHIA). HHIA was established to preserve the medical and personal histories and document the experiences of people who were or may have been exposed to releases of radiation from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation from 1944 to 1972. Those individuals refer to themselves as “downwinders.” Of 670 donors to the HHIA, 201 individuals and two groups donated oral histories. Because of the disclosure of personal medical information, some interviewees chose to withhold the use of their names. In those cases, the interviewee is identified by donor number. Additional transcripts will be made available online as time permits until the collection is fully processed.

Oral history interviews were conducted by the HHIN programs of three states—Washington, Oregon, and Idaho—as well as the Hispanic Outreach Program, the Tribal Program, and a National Outreach Program. The exposure area extended across Eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon and much of Idaho, into Montana and Canada, and through the Columbia River downstream from Hanford to Pacific coastal areas. Interviews were also conducted with individuals, including scientists, who did not identify as downwinders, but were involved in Hanford radiation exposure activism and/or radiation studies that impacted the downwinders.