The 1973 National Symposium on Fracture Mechanics was held at the University of Maryland Conference Center, College Park, Md., 27-29 Aug. 1973. The symposium was sponsored by the American Society for Testing and Materials through Committee E24 on Fracture Testing of Metals. Members of the Symposium Subcommittee of Committee E24 selected papers for the program. Organizational assistance from Don Wisdom and Jane Wheeler at ASTM Headquarters was most helpful. G. R. Irwin, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, served as general chairman. Those who served as session chairmen were H. T. Corten, Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, University of Illinois; C. M. Carman, Frankford Arsenal; J. R. Rice, Div. of Engineering, Brown University; D. E. McCabe, Research Dept., ARMCO Steel; J. E. Srawley, Fracture Section, Lewis Research Center, NASA; E. T. Wessel, Research and Development Center, Westinghouse Electric Corp.; and E. K. Walker, Lockheed-California Co.