Scope and Content Note
Ted Carlson (Eric T. Carlson) was chemist and lab engineer for the United States Army. This collection contains four series, dating 1944-1949 (bulk 1944-1946), which consists primarily of handwritten and typed personal correspondence between Ted and his parents during his time in the army. The collection also contains records from his time in the army, correspondence between Ted and his friends, and papers from his educational careers at Wesleyan University and Iowa State College.
Series I: Ted’s correspondence with his Parents from 1944-1949 (bulk 1944-1946), contain mostly handwritten and typed letters arranged by date to Ted’s mother and father with a few addressed to Ted from his parents. (Sub-Series A) includes letters from Wesleyan University upon graduation through Ted’s time at Iowa State College in 1944. (A) also includes correspondence about World War II, the draft, a measles outbreak, and new his new friend Sam from Iowa State. (Sub-Series B) includes letters upon enlistment into the United States Army to a military work transfer at the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit from 1944-1945. (B) also includes writings about Ted’s time in the army, contact information for his work location, working overtime in Detroit, attending weekly lectures, and the progress of the atomic bomb. (Sub-Series C) includes letters while on active duty in 1945 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and later Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They also contain plans to apply for honorable discharge in 1946 and a campaign for the Atomic Energy Act 1946 / McMahon Bill. (C) also mentions Ted’s views on the war and his application to Cornell University. (Sub-Series D) contains a handful of letters to Ted from his father and mother from 1944-1947 asking about his well-being and thanking him for presents from various holidays.
Series II: Ted’s Army records from 1944-1946, arranged by date, begin with a request for an army physical at Middletown, Connecticut to processing at Fort Snelling in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The papers later address his call to active duty at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and include a transfer Oak Ridge, Tennessee to work for the Monsanto Chemical Company. Ted’s Inter-Plant employee pass, commissary pass, army day pass, and request for discharge to continue work with Monsanto in Dayton, Ohio are also included.
Series III: Correspondence between Ted and his friends from 1944-1945, arranged by date, contain letters and writings from his Iowa State College friend Sam (Sub-Series A) who transferred to Cornell University Medical College. (Sub-Series B) includes letters from other friends asking about Ted and his time in the Army and his work in Detroit.
Series IV: Ted’s 1944 school records, arranged by date, begin with an opportunity for a graduate research and teaching position at Iowa State College and an Honors College letter at Wesleyan University for graduating with High Distinction. The series also includes Ted’s Iowa State College timecard with physics classes listed and an Iowa State College Identification Card from the Chemistry Department. The series ends with one work record from the Dayton Association of Scientists Bulletin with a campaign to pass Atomic Energy Legislation in 1946.
Container List
Series I: Ted’s Correspondence with his Parents, 1944-1949
Sub-Series A: Letters to Ted’s Parents as a student, 1944
Sub-Series B: Letters to Ted’s Parents as a soldier from enlistment to transfer to the Chrysler Corporation, 1944-1945
Sub-Series C: Letters to Ted’s Parents from active duty to discharge and applying to Cornell University, 1945-1946
Sub-Series D: Letters to Ted from his Parents, 1944-1947
Series II: Ted’s Army Records, 1944-1946
Series III: Ted’s Correspondence with Friends, 1944-1945
Sub-Series A: Letters to Ted from Sam, 1944-1945
Sub-Series B: Letters to Ted from Other Friends, 1944-1945
Series IV: Ted’s School Records, 1944 & Work Record, 1946