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Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm2010085571
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Robert R. Furman, civil engineer and United States Army officer, were given to the Library of Congress by Furman’s son, David E. Furman, in 2010.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Robert R. Furman is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Robert R. Furman are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Robert R. Furman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Robert R. Furman, born Aug. 21, 1915, graduated from Trenton (N.J.)
High School, 1932, and the school of engineering, Princeton University,
Princeton, N.J., 1937. In 1940, Furman joined the United States Army Corps of
Engineers, Manhattan District, and in 1942 was assigned to the office of Leslie
M. Groves, the military director of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to
develop an atomic bomb during World War II. In 1944, Furman was attached to the
Alsos Mission, an intelligence operation conducted to investigate German
nuclear capabilities. Furman delivered nuclear components on board the
The papers of Robert R. Furman (1915-2008) span the years 1944-1985
and consist of correspondence, memoranda, diary notes, interviews and writings,
notes and notebooks, and miscellaneous material. The collection contains
material relating to Furman’s service with the Manhattan Project, the code
name for the Allied effort during World War II to develop the first atomic
bomb. In July 1945, Furman was instructed to transfer the most crucial element
of the bomb, a sub-critical mass of uranium 235, from the project’s research
laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, to its final assembly point on Tinian
Island in the Pacific. Furman’s diary notes and post-mission interviews and
writings cast light on the details of the highly secretive transport that
culminated with the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, by
the B-29 aircraft
The papers also address Furman’s participation in the Alsos Mission, an intelligence operation associated with the Manhattan District, designed to gather information regarding Germany’s nuclear weapons program, seize German strategic materials and resources, and interrogate scientific and research personnel. The papers contain a file of diary notes, writings, and miscellaneous items concerning the mission.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by topic and type of material.