The Savannah River Plant manufactured basic materials required in the production of nuclear weapons, specifically plutonium and tritium. The complex was comprised of five reactors, two chemical separation plants, a heavy water extraction plant, a nuclear fuel and target fabrication facility, a tritium extraction facility and waste management facilities. Additionally, the site included research laboratories, offices, worker housing, and other ancillary facilities. This collection contains photographs, glass plate negatives, lantern slides, negatives, transparencies and 16mm films that document the construction and development of the Savannah River Plant complex between 1951 and 1982, with a bulk of the materials created between 1951 and 1972. The collection is organized into seven series: Construction and progress; Technical photographs; Project photographs; Voorhees Walker Foley & Smith architectural renderings; Speeches and presentation lantern slides; Transparencies; and Films.

Thomas Ellwood Gillingham, Jr. (1912-2004) was a geologist, he worked as an independet consultant and for the Atomic Energy Commission and the W.R. Grace & Company. The collection documents Gillingham's career as a geological consultant. The collection is arranged into six series: W.R. Grace & Co.; Uranium Mining; Phosphate Mining; Reports; Education; and Reference cards.