Surveillance programs are used to monitor the exposure conditions (i.e., dose, temperature) experienced on or near the inner diameter of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and to monitor the change in the mechanical properties of the RPV steels produced by these conditions. The programs consist of several surveillance capsules that typically contain Charpy and tensile specimens and sometimes fracture toughness specimens. They are placed in the RPV at the time of its manufacture. Surveillance capsules lie closer to the core than the vessel itself; surveillance capsules can be attached to either the RPV wall or to the core barrel in close proximity to the RPV wall. Because of their location the amount of irradiation experienced by the samples inside the capsules exceeds that experienced by the RPV wall at any moment in time. This paper documents the evolution of ASTM E185, Standard Practice for Design of Surveillance Programs for Light-Water Moderated Nuclear Power Reactor Vessels, and ASTM E2215, Standard Practice for Evaluation of Surveillance Capsules from Light-Water Moderated Nuclear Power Reactor Vessels, over their development history. The information contained herein is intended to augment and expand upon that contained in Appendix XI of E185.