The Eric Theodore Carlson Papers, Scope and Content Note:
This collection, dated January 1944 to December 1946, documents two years in the life of Eric Theodore Carlson, an American graduate student studying chemistry who was drafted by the United States Army in 1944, and chosen to work for the Manhattan Engineer District doing classified atomic research until his military discharge in 1946.
The collection includes personal correspondence, educational and professional correspondence and documentation, military correspondence and documentation, and one news clipping pertaining to Mr. Carlson’s involvement in the effort to get the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 passed. The collection is arranged into 3 series: personal correspondence, military documents, and private sector documents. The personal correspondence has been subdivided into 5 folders by Carlson’s geographical location and all documents are arranged by chronological order within their series. The entire collection is paper-based and is approximately .1 linear feet long.
Series I (the majority of the collection): Personal Correspondence (January 30th, 1944-December 11th, 1946), contains personal letters, handwritten and typed, to and from Mr. Carlson. The majority of the letters are to and from his mother and father, but there are also letters to Carlson from family members, friends, and colleagues. The collection includes a few envelopes with addresses and return addresses.
Folder 1 includes letters to and from Carlson during his time as a graduate student in the Chemistry Department at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Folder 2 covers correspondence from Carlson to his parents during his brief stay in Fort Snelling, Minnesota after being drafted by the selective service.
Folder 3 includes personal letters to and from Carlson during his time in Detroit doing classified research for the Manhattan Military Engineering District. This folder contains the most letters in the series and includes Carlson’s letters that mention his involvement in atomic energy research that led to the formation of the atomic bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in August of 1945. .
Folder 4 includes letters from Carlson to his parents during his brief stays at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Oak Ridge, Tennessee after being called up for active service on October 15, 1945.
Folder 5 includes letters from Carlson to his parents during his time in Dayton, Ohio, initially working in a research position working for Dr. Haring in Dayton, Ohio through the Special Engineer Detachment for the Manhattan District Corps of Engineers, then being discharged by the military and working for Monsanto for 5 months.
Series II: Military Documents (March 16, 1944-May 8, 1946), Carlson was inducted into the Selective Service on July 28,1944, sent briefly to Fort Snelling, Missouri and then chosen to work for the Manhattan Military Engineering District in Detroit, Michigan. He remained in Detroit through October of 1945 when he was called up for active military duty. After brief stays at Fort Sheridan, Fort Leonard Wood, and at a base in Oak Ridge Tennessee, he was selected to work for the Special Engineer Detachment for the Manhattan District Corps of Engineers in Dayton, Ohio. This series includes official documentation and correspondence pertaining to Carlson’s induction to the military, places served, promotion in rank, and eventual discharge on April 6, 1946.
Series III: Private Sector Documents (January 18, 1944-June 24, 1946), Carlson graduated with an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in February 1944 and immediately began a graduate program in chemistry at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa. Carson’s graduate studies at Iowa State were interrupted by his military inscription in July 1944. While working for the military in 1946, Carlson received a private sector job with Monsanto and was able obtain a military discharge in April 1946 in as part of this offer. This series includes official documentation and correspondence pertaining to the completion of Carlson’s undergraduate degree at Wesleyan, commencement of his graduate degree at Iowa State, acceptance of a job at Monsanto and corresponding approval of military discharge, and evidence of Carlson’s role in the effort to pass the McMahon Bill while employed as a private sector scientist.
The Ted Carlson Papers, Container List:
Series I: Personal Correspondence
- Folder 1: Ames Iowa (January 30th, 1944-July 26th, 1944), personal letters to and from Carlson during his time at Iowa State College, arranged chronologically.
- Folder 2: Fort Snelling, Minnesota (July 29, 1944-August 8, 1944), letters from Carlson to his parents during his stay at Fort Snelling, arranged chronologically.
- Folder 3: Detroit, Michigan (August 11, 1944-September 21, 1945), personal letters to and from Carlson during his time in Detroit arranged chronologically. The letters from August 1945 mention Carlson’s involvement in classified atomic energy research, his feelings about this research being used in the creation of atomic bombs, and about the ending of WW2.
- Folder 4: Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Oak Ridge, Tennessee (October 21, 1945-November 14, 1945), letters from Carlson to his parents during his stay at Fort Snelling arranged chronologically.
- Folder 5: Dayton, Ohio (November 25, 1945-December 11, 1946), letters to from Carlson to his parents during his time in Dayton, Ohio, arranged by chronologically.
Series II: Military Documents (March 16, 1944-May 8,1946), arranged chronologically
- contains official correspondence to Mr. Carlson from the selective service, army, and special engineer detachment
- letters from Mr. Carlson to the district engineer
- documentation pertaining to Mr. Carlson’s military induction, rank, and placement,
- security passes for his military employment
- one commissary card
- documentation pertaining to his military discharge
Series III: Private Sector Documents (January 18, 1944-June 24, 1946), arranged chronologically
- one identification card, Iowa State College
- one class timecard, Iowa State College
- official correspondence from the Department of Chemistry, Iowa State College
- official correspondences pertaining to Carlson’s graduation from Wesleyan University in 1944
- documentation of a job offer from Monsanto Chemical Company and corresponding request for military discharge in 1944
- one press clipping from The Dayton Scientist, edited by Carlson, demonstrating his part in the collective effort to get the McMahon Energy Bill (later the renamed Atomic Energy Bill) passed.