Document of the Month · RW-DOC-0001
April 1942: Mallinckrodt Chemical Works and the University of Chicago
An early secret memorandum records an exploratory industrial project, a planned purification effort, and the organizational relationship between Mallinckrodt Chemical Works and the University of Chicago.
The document
Memorandum of Understanding
Date: April 23, 1942
Parties: Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Missouri, and the University of Chicago
Extent: 2 pages
Marking: SECRET; the surviving copy also bears a later classification-cancelled notation
Rosetta ID: RW-DOC-0001
Source: The Arthur V. DeGarmo Jr. Archive for the Study and Preservation of the Manhattan Project.
Page 1 of the two-page memorandum. Select the image to open the complete PDF.
What the document shows
Read the record no more broadly than it permits.
Exploratory work
Mallinckrodt agreed to undertake an exploratory project to produce a “special oxide” in as pure a form as possible from materials supplied by Chicago, with samples returned to Chicago for test and analysis.
Purification planning
The memorandum called for determining the facilities required and approximate cost per ton for purifying the material, using a total requirement of 80 tons of oxide as the planning basis.
Cost structure
Chicago agreed to pay for the exploratory work on a cost-plus-10-percent basis, with the total project cost not to exceed $15,000.
Continuation decision
The understanding was effective until July 1, 1942, or sooner if the parties met to determine whether continuing exploratory work should be undertaken.
Priority support
Chicago agreed to furnish the priorities required for the project through a purchase order accompanied by an A-1-A Priority Certificate.
Secrecy and signatures
The surviving copy is visibly marked SECRET and preserves the April 23, 1942 date and signatures associated with Mallinckrodt and Chicago.
Why it matters
An industrial relationship taking shape.
The memorandum captures a moment when scientific work, industrial chemical capability, procurement, priority systems, and secrecy were being joined through a formal relationship between Chicago and Mallinckrodt.
Rosetta context: the document is presented here as an early Manhattan Project-era record. The memorandum itself uses the term “special oxide”; this exhibit does not substitute a more specific material identification unless supported by additional evidence.
Rosetta connections
Follow the record outward.
What it does not establish
The document has limits.
Standing alone, this memorandum does not identify the “special oxide” more specifically, document the later course of the project, establish the identities or exposure histories of workers who performed the work, or show what monitoring records were created. Those questions require additional records.
Questions it leaves behind
What should we look for next?
Purchase orders, priority certificates, Chicago test results, Mallinckrodt process records, facility and equipment records, worker rosters, industrial-hygiene and radiation-monitoring records, correspondence, invoices, and later agreements could clarify how the exploratory project developed.
Permanent archive
This document will remain on Rosetta Web.
Document of the Month is a featured exhibit, not a temporary file. RW-DOC-0001 remains permanently accessible through Rosetta's Documents & Archives pathway after a future document becomes the monthly feature.