Skip to main content
Notice: The Library is open for research by appointment only, please visit our research services page for more information.

Franklin T. Matthias papers

Creation: 1942-1993
 Collection
Accession: 2086

Abstract

Colonel Franklin T. Matthias (1908-1993) was commanding officer and area engineer of the Hanford Engineer Works of the Manhattan Engineer District. These are Colonel Matthias's personal papers documenting his work on the Manhattan Project. They include original declassified documents from Hanford and a variety of newspaper clippings and magazine articles collected by Matthias between the time he left Hanford to his death, reflecting his continuing interest in the Manhattan Project and nuclear power.

Dates

  • Creation: 1942-1993

Creator

Extent

2 Linear Feet

Biographical Note

Colonel Franklin T. Matthias (1908-1993) was commanding officer and area engineer of the Hanford Engineer Works of the Manhattan Engineer District. Matthias was born in 1908 and graduated in engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1933. He began his career designing dams for the TVA. He joined the regular army in April 1941 to fulfill his ROTC obligation and supervised the construction of the Pentagon for General Leslie R. Groves (1896-1970). When Groves was chosen to head the Manhattan Project, he appointed Matthias to find a site for the U-235 and plutonium refining facilities. Matthias chose Hanford, Washington, and was subsequently charged with constructing both the Hanford Engineer Works and the town of Richland. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was the prime contractor, with the Morrison-Knudsen Company handling regular construction. Work was begun in April 1943 and completed in February 1945. Matthias was released from the army at the conclusion of the war and returned to civil engineering work with Kaiser Engineers.

Scope and Content

These are Colonel Matthias's personal papers documenting his work on the Manhattan Project. They include original declassified documents from Hanford and a variety of newspaper clippings and magazine articles collected by Matthias between the time he left Hanford to his death, reflecting his continuing interest in the Manhattan Project and nuclear power.

The bulk of the papers are newspaper clippings, many generated by Matthias's need to maintain secrecy during the war and then provide information once the existence of the bomb was announced. There are, however, a number of original documents and photographs covering the construction at Hanford and Richland, including organization charts, lists of army personnel, site plans, texts of radio interviews and speeches, and internal publications dealing with employee morale, security and safety. Of note are a booklet of employee cartoons critical of the spartan living conditions at Hanford, a signed booklet of song parodies put together by the WACs assigned to Hanford, and a DuPont manual, "The Hanford Business Girl." The is also a copy of a large presentation book on the Hanford project issued to senior staff, and the relevant portion of the Corps of Engineers' history of the Manhattan Project.

The papers also contain a small amount of information on the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, a copy of the first public report on the results of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a history of the Sandia Corporation, which manufactured and tested atomic weapons under contract between 1949 and 1980.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Separated Materials

Franklin T. Matthias photographs (Accession 1994.245), Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library.

Related Names

Subject

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Franklin T. Matthias papers
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
PO Box 3630
Wilmington Delaware 19807 USA
302-658-2400