About the Collection
The Three Mile Island (TMI) Collection is an eclectica and unique mix of rare artifacts, books, paper ephemera, newspapers, publications, t-shirts, and technical reports related to the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident. Included in the collection are separate record groups and series, such as the TMI Alert Collection, the Alan E. Mays and Fay A. Youngmark Three Mile Island Collection, and recent donations from Mr. Eric Epstein, Executive Director of Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA), and Mr. William Cologie. These materials highlight the community responses from residents of Middletown, Harrisburg, and the surrounding communities in southcentral Pennsylvania in the aftermath of the accident from 1979 to the present day. Ephemeral materials, that are often satirical and tongue-in-cheek reactions to the nuclear accident, are juxtaposed with U.S. government responses to the meltdown as seen in reports and publications from various government agencies and the nuclear energy industry.
About the Three Mile Island (TMI) Accident
TMI is still the most serious accident in the history of commercial nuclear power plant operations in the United States. In the early morning hours of March 28, 1979, at the TMI Nuclear Power Plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, one of the two reactors on-site experienced a mechanical failure that prevented pumps from sending water to steam generators that remove heat from the reactor core. Water levels in the pressure vessel dropped and the core overheated. These mechanical failures, combined with worker errors and design-related problems, led to a partial nuclear meltdown and the release of radioactivity into the environment. The TMI-2 reactor where the meltdown occurred is permanently shut down, but the aftermath of the TMI accident has had a lasting impact on nuclear power plant operations and oversight. Industry leaders, government officials, and anti-nuclear activists alike brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, radiation protection, and regulatory oversight of nuclear power plant operations as a result of the TMI accident.
Further Reference Sources
Looking for more information about the TMI accident? Please visit one of the resources listed below:
Images from the TMI Collection
Some of our TMI materials have been digitized and can be viewed online via our Flickr website. Please visit the TMI Collection album, the TMI 40th Anniversary album from 2019 and the TMI 45th Anniversary album from 2024 on Flickr.
Finding Aid for the Collection
This collection is being processed in 2025, and the finding aid is still in development. Please contact Heidi Abbey Moyer, Archivist and Humanities Reference Librarian and Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections, at hna2@psu.edu for more assistance.