UAH Archives and Special Collections

On this day in 1983–43 years ago–NASA astronaut Sally K. Ride made her mark on history by becoming the first American woman in space when the STS-7 mission aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle was launched.

This North American Space Operations pamphlet in the archives features images and information on the STS-7 and its crew.

It’s International Archives Day! We want to thank our team and partners at the UAH Archives—along with the archivists and staff around the world who work to preserve and share the historical records of their communities.

Stop by our new display of items from the Aircraft Engine Historical Society (AEHS) collection featuring manuscripts, books, publications, drawings, charts, film, audio, and ephemera that document the history of aviation operations, research, and design. ✈️

A special thanks to AEHS and donors such as Chris Stuhlinger, George Martin, and Saverio Morea for their contributions to the collection.

60 years ago on June 2, 1966, NASA’s Surveyor 1, an uncrewed “soft-landing” vehicle, became the first American spacecraft to touch down on the surface of the moon. 🚀🌕

The thousands of images transmitted through its television camera system revealed that the lunar surface was stable enough to support landed vehicles and humans—key information in preparations for the future Apollo missions. 📸👩‍🚀
(Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Science Operations Center)

Images: Illustration, cover, and pages from a 1959 report to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Working Group on Lunar and Planetary Surfaces titled, “Preliminary Study of an Unmanned Lunar Soft Landing Vehicle (Scientific Application).”

Search UAH Archives on JSTOR to explore our digitized collections!

Aligning with the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “All People Were Created Equal” May initiative, the theme of Huntsville’s 2026 Historic Preservation Month centers on Indigenous history and the experiences of the people who first inhabited this land.

These records from the Willstown Cherokee Mission Site were compiled in the early 1970s as part of a TARCOG (Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments) and TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) survey of historical sites in North Alabama, more than a decade before the site was formally recognized as part of the National Park Service’s Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. They’re an example of the local and regional documentation work that often precedes and enables broader historic designation and protection.

The Willstown mission and school was established near Fort Payne in 1823 and closed before the Cherokee removal in 1838. These records offer insight into a once-thriving Cherokee settlement and mission community, while also reminding us of the larger histories of displacement that forever altered Indigenous places and people across the region. Preservation is not only about protecting historic material, but also about ensuring the full histories they represent and the communities connected to them remain visible.

Follow the link in our bio to explore the full collection. 🔗

Images: 1974 historical survey documents and photograph records of the Willstown site near Fort Payne, AL.

May the 4th Be With You. 💫
To celebrate, we’ve found some classic titles in the Special Collections & Archives including a first edition of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker.

You can explore more of the book collection through the Salmon library catalogue!

Wishing the Artemis II crew safe travels on their way back home today.

Copy, ✨moon joy✨

📸 The Lunar Roving Vehicle on the moon at the Hadley-Appenine mountain range landing site during the Apollo 15 mission (1971; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; UAH Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives)

Happy launch day to Artemis II 🚀🫡

To commemorate this moment in history, we’re highlighting a few items from our Saturn V Collection. Discover more on UAH Digital Collections.

📸“Space age vision [photograph]” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1969) — A composite of two photos taken during a final countdown of an Apollo Moon mission at the Kennedy Space Center.

📸“Saturn V history team at the Apollo 10 launch” (UAH Research Institute, 1969) — Shown left to right: David Christensen, Melvin Kranzberg, Irving B. Holley, Jr., Rudolf Hermann, and Fred Ordway.

📸”Saturn V Apollo lunar orbit rendezvous mission” (George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, 1963) — Cover of a pamphlet illustrating the process of a Saturn V Apollo lunar mission from liftoff to recovery.

In honor of National Poetry Month, the Salmon Library is celebrating the digitization of the POEM literary journal! From 1967-2025, the Huntsville Literary Association published original writing by Huntsville-area authors in POEM. The Library’s institutional repository, LOUIS, has recently made digital versions of the journal’s issues openly available online in our POEM collection.

Join the Library to celebrate at our reception in the Archives (lower level of the Library) featuring:
📜 Visiting POEM authors reading their works
📖 Physical copies of POEM available for browsing
💻 Information about the LOUIS digital collection

All are welcome, especially faculty, staff, students, and alumni interested in creative writing and local literature. Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP through the link in the bio!

📸 Cover of POEM no.16 November 1972 & POEM no. 6 July 1969 (Huntsville Literary Association)

Begin your journey into space and time by visiting the Special Collections Reading Room on the lower level of the Salmon Library. Ask one of our archivists for help with your search here or email us at [email protected]

📸 From postcard of “Marshall Space Flight Center’s Space Orientation Center” and cover of “Space Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, September 1959” (Space Enterprises, Inc.)

Find more in the UAH Digital Collections.

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend from the Archives ❤️📜
This is a feature from the February 10, 2000 edition of The Exponent, UAH’s longest-running student newspaper. First published on January 15, 1969, it ceased publication in 2012.

You can find all the editions on LOUIS, our institutional database, 🔗 in bio.