In 1959 LIFE magazine ran a pictorial feature on RAND, with pictures by the noted photographer Leonard McCombe. [1] Some pictures from the LIFE article appear in [2], pages 130 - 133.

The pictures show RAND staff including nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter [3, 4] lounging in modernist furniture, or reclining on the floor, in a dimly lit seance-like circle among bookshelves near a spiral staircase, where a young woman sits taking notes. The pictures really capture the mid-century prestige and mystique of think tanks and defense intellectuals.

[1] LIFE Magazine May 11 1959 Pg 101 PICTORIAL ESSAY: Valuable Batch of Brains: an Odd Little Company Called RAND Plays Big Role in U.S. Defense. Photographed for LIFE by Leonard McCombe.

[2] http://www.ephemerajournal.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/issu...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Wohlstetter

[4] https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/w/wohlstetter_albert.html