[MANHATTAN PROJECT]. An extensive archive including original laboratory notebooks, typed laboratory reports and drafts, and typed communications relating to the research activities in Princeton's Frick Laboratories of the Princeton Analytical Group under the direction of Professor Nathaniel H. Furman for the Manhattan Project, ca 1942-1946.

The Manhattan Project, organized under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves, grew to employ more than 130,000 at a cost of nearly two billion dollars, and had project sites at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Los Alamos, New Mexico, Chicago, and Hanaford, Washington, with research taking place at a network of institutions across the United States and Canada. Organized under the "Madison Square Area" of the "Manhattan District, Corps of Engineers," researchers at the Frick Laboratories in Princeton's Department of Chemistry, under the direction of Professor Nathaniel H. Furman (1892-1965), worked to identify uranium in ores and to purify and measure trace contaminants in uranium concentrates, apparently to work toward discovering uranium deposits in the United States.

Included in the archive are:
Carbon copy typescript. A letter from the War Department, signed (in facsimile) by Under secretary of War Robert P. Patterson ("Robert P. Patterson"), 7 August 1945, "To the Men and Women of Manhattan District Project." 1 page, 8vo, marginal chipping. "TODAY THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS THE SECRET WHICH YOU HAVE HELPED US KEEP FOR MANY MONTHS." Written one day after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Patterson comments: "I am pleased to be able to add that the warlords of Japan now know its effects better even than we ourselves...No one of you has worked on the entire project or known the whole story. Each of you has done his own job and keep his own secret, and so today I speak for a grateful nation when I say congratulations and thank you all."

Western Union Telegram, to Dr. Furman, 10 August 1945. "SURRENDER OF JAPAN APPEARS IMMINENT." Instructions from the Madison Square Area, Manhattan Project, instructing "Cessation of hostilities does not repeal nor affect our program and our work should continue as scheduled. Continue present security measures." Surrender would be announced by Emperor Hirohito 5 days later on 15 August 1945.

Furman's manuscript ledger recording sample data from various locations including MIT, U. S. Engineers, Westinghouse and DuPont. Entries note the type and amount of the sample, as well as dates received and reported. With 4 additional ledgers kept by Furman, ca December 1942 through February 1946, recording samples, with two ledgers labeled "Special Defense Note Book."

WITH: 4 of Nathaniel H. Furman's notebooks. Each including handwritten data from several of the project's other sites, including Ames, Iowa, Du Pont, Hooker Electro Metal Company, Linde Air Products Company, Harshaw Chemical, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, and U. S. Engineers. -- Three composition notebooks of student calculations and data from Bruce McDuffie and Roy J. Mundy -- Two dissertations, comprising: N. N. Furman, W. B. Mason, and J. S. Pekola. "The Use of Cupferron in the Estimation of Uranium." June 1946. 65 pages, carbon copy typescript. A portion of the paper contributed by William Burkett Mason constituted his Doctoral dissertation. In board portfolio.; Another copy.; Clark E. Bricker. An Electrolytic-Polarographic Method. 1944. 47 pages, carbon copy typescript. Loose in folder. -- A notebook belonging to W. B. Mason including handwritten data relating to cupferron and uranium. -- 10 "spring" binders containing carbon typescript copies of papers and presentations prepared by the Princeton Analytical Group.

Many of the reports and typescripts are marked "confidential," "classified," or "secret," but were declassified on May 18, 1954. The Seely G. Mudd Library at Princeton University holds a collection of papers and other materials relating to Frick Laboratory's role in the Manhattan Project; the present archive was acquired by a previous owner in the 1970s during preparations for work to be done in the Frick Laboratories. The archive comprises some two linear feet, and more complete listings and information are available on request.

Property from the Patrick Atkinson Collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Gretchen Hause joined the Books and Manuscripts Department at Hindman Auctions in 2017, after working for nearly 8 years as a specialist in the Books and Manuscripts Department at Christie’s in New York. During her tenure at Hindman, Gretchen has handled numerous books and maps for record prices, including the superb Mellon-Garden copy of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, sold in 2019 for the world auction record price of $564,500. She also secured and sold a rare copy of Palmatary’s 1857 pre-fire view of Chicago (the only copy in private hands) for nearly $200,000, and secured and auctioned a copy of Ratzer’s fine Plan of the City of New York for a world auction record $162,500.

In 2023, Gretchen secured the Fine Literature from the Collection of Richard C. McKenzie. The white-glove sale was 100% sold by lot, realizing nearly double the high estimate. In that same year, she served as head of sale for the Private Collection of Secretary Madeleine K. Albright, another white-glove sale which realized more than three times the low estimate. In 2019, Gretchen was responsible for the sale of the Library of a Midwestern Collector. The 86-lot sale achieved a record total for any sale for the department, setting the world auction record for Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, and bringing strong prices for several scientific works, works on computing, and other notable high spots. In 2018, she secured and handled the Fine Cartographic and Printed Americana Collection of Eric and Evelyn Newman, which was 97% sold by lot, achieving the highest sale total at the time for a single-session auction in department history, and bringing several record prices. She also organized the successful sale of The Adventure & Exploration Library of Steve Fossett. The two-session sale realized a department record sold total at the time, and achieved a 100% sell through rate.

Prior to joining Hindman Auctions, Gretchen spent nearly 8 years in the Books and Manuscripts department at Christie’s in New York. While at Christie’s, she contributed to the successful sales of several collections, including the Dorothy Shea collection of fore-edge paintings (96% sold by lot) and duplicates from the Warren H. Corning Library of the Holden Arboretum, which were 95% sold by lot in 2013 to benefit the acquisitions fund. She also helped catalogue the Cornelius J. Hauck Private Botanical Library (92% sold by lot in 2016), and the American Literature collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, which was 95% sold by lot. She had the opportunity to work on a number of landmark single-owner sales, including those of the collections of President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan and Huguette Clark, and the libraries of Kenneth Nebenzahl (exploration and maps), Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow (the art of book illustration), and Jean Perrette (travel and exploration), as well as the sale of the iconic Kelmscott printing press.

Gretchen has attended introductory and advanced bibliography and history of bookbinding courses at Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, and holds a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. She studied primarily British literature, with emphases in medieval and modern literature. Gretchen is a member of the Grolier Club, the Caxton Club, the Washington Map Society, and the Chicago Map Society. She currently serves on the board as Treasurer for the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies. She is an auctioneer, and has nearly 15 years of experience working with rare books and manuscripts. In addition to her commitment to the bibliophilic community, Gretchen is committed to public service as well, and is currently serving a 6-year term as a publicly-elected Commissioner for the Berwyn Park District in her hometown.

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Property from the Patrick Atkinson Collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota

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