Research at the Atlanta Branch of the Archives
The next research step was to visit the National Archives at Atlanta. Would the archives hold the information that I was looking for? And if it did, would I be able to find him somewhere among those 7,700 folders and binders stored in 184 boxes? I was willing to give it a try. Airline tickets purchased, hotel room reserved, and finding aid reviewed. All was ready for a full week’s worth of research beginning on April 20, 2020. Almost as soon as I booked the trip, flights were canceled, hotels accepted all cancellations, and the archives closed to research visitors. As the 2020 pandemic-related restrictions rolled into 2021, and then 2022, the trip was rescheduled and postponed again. When the archives reopened in late March 2022, I swiftly reserved the week of April 4, almost two years to the day from my originally planned trip.
The A Pin
While I was waiting for the research room to reopen, I reached out to the archivist in Atlanta to see if there was any online access to the collection. The archivist searched some digitized files and found that Mac was posthumously awarded a silver “A” award and pin in March of 1946 for his eleven months of work on the Manhattan Project with the Tennessee Eastman Corporation. (Please see my piece on the “A” award.) This provided a sense that there may be more information at the archives in Atlanta.
Research Preparation
With my research appointment coming up quickly, the next task was to review the finding aid, an Excel spreadsheet of 7,700 lines, one line for each folder, with titles and descriptions, and select the files I would review. To manage this task, I searched for keywords such as ‘Stone and Webster’, ‘Tennessee Eastman Corporation’, ‘Boston’, ‘Oak Ridge’, ‘cubicles’, ‘procurement’, ‘expediting’, ‘deaths’, and ‘insurance’. Procurement and expediting because the information on his death certificate, and in the documents from the Department of Energy (DOE) indicates he was a field expediter for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at the time of his death, and expediting because it is a part of procurement. Stone and Webster, because he worked for Stone and Webster before he worked for Tennessee Eastman Corporation, and cubicles, because of his frequent trips to Pittsfield and Springfield, Massachusetts, where most of the parts that made up the calutron cubicles were made. Boston, because that is where the Manhattan Project office for the New England area was located. And the last two, death and insurance, were just in case there was information on deaths reported and insurance payments made in these files.
After spending a week combing through the finding aid, highlighting files, and noting the box numbers, I compiled a list of 103 boxes to review. To completely review those boxes in four and a half days, I would need to review 20-25 boxes each day, which was not reasonable. To narrow the list, I reviewed it again to find something more reasonable. I selected boxes that either had more than one highlighted folder or seemed to hold critical information based on my search criteria above. I sent the reduced list of 48 boxes, which seemed more reasonable for the four and a half days I would be in the research room, to the archivist, so the boxes would be pulled and ready for me when I arrived.
A. E. Macdonald's Writing Life 
4 responses to “Researching Family Secrets: The Manhattan Project Connection”
This has been amazing to read. My grandfather was an engineer at Chapman Valve and one of the employees tasked with top secret MP work. My understanding is he worked on valve designs and production. But he was also gone for a very long trip. My mom recalls her dad arriving at their home in a vehicle stripped of the exterior front body (open air driving) and a large lead box welded to the back trunk area. With the uranium work that Chapman Valve also completed along with valve work (rod production is my understanding from the USGov health settlements) a large lead box makes sense. He was home just to say good-bye with an awareness of the possibility he may not return. He was gone for quite a long time as my mom would recall. As I dig through family files, I hope to find out more information. I do have my grandfather’s Manhattan Project certificate, but I do not think we still have his atomic pin. I recall him using it as a fishing weight which is a story for another day.
Thank you for reading and for your comments. That is an amazing story to tell about the lead box and not seeing your grandfather being away with the possibility of never returning. I like how he used the A-Pin as a fishing weight too. These men did a lot and, in the end, the pin wasn’t something you could wear around the house but had many other uses.
William Bill Shackleford, received a certificate from the United States of America. Of when he helped design the Trigger mechanism of the atomic bomb. I was told that me and my siblings could received Royalties from our grandfather how do i get a copy of that certificate
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for reaching out. My research was conducted by searching through records at the National Archives. I’m not sure how you would access that certificate today. Have you reached out to the Department of Energy?
Best,
Anne