Women

Rebecca Bradford Diven: All right. My name is Rebecca Bradford Diven, but I was mostly known as Becky Bradford Diven. Cynthia Kelly: Great. Well, tell us about your background and what you were doing before the war. Diven: Did you want—your outline said you wanted birth dates and where— Kelly: Okay. Sure. Diven: I was […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Tell us your name. Steve Buckingham: Steve. S-T-E-V-E. Buckingham. B-U-C-K-I-N-G-H-A-M. (Question off camera) I thought I’d discuss this a little bit of why this location was chosen as the Hanford location, was chosen for the Manhattan District. DuPont was asked to design and build this facility but DuPont […]

Joe Dykstra: My name is Joe Dykstra, that’s spelled D-Y-K-S-T-R-A.  Cynthia Kelly: Ok, now you can talk about— Dykstra: I finished school with a degree in chemistry in May of ’43. I was in Iowa. During that year, I’d filled out an application for a defense job with Hooker Electrochemical Company in Niagara Falls. I […]

Lucille Whitman: I am Lucille Whitman, L-U-C-I-L-L-E W-H-I-T-M-A-N. Kelly: Great. And how did you happen to—where are you from and how did you happen to get— Whitman: Well, I’m a native Tennessean. I came from near Morristown and I came here right after school and I worked as a secretary in—for Tennessee Eastman. And I […]

Michel: My name was Mary Lowe, L-O-W-E, and I married John Michel, M-I-C-H-E-L. Kelly: Great. Is it possible that you can look toward me? So tell me, how and when did you come to Oak Ridge? Michel: I came in November of 1944. Kelly: And what had—where had you come from? What brought you here? […]

Evelyn Ellingson: My name is Evelyn Ellingson, E-L-L-I-N-G-S-O-N.   Cynthia Kelly: And can you tell me where you’re from and how you happened to arrive in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project? Ellingson: Well, I’m originally from Alabama and, in 1943, I was working in Atlanta, Georgia and a friend of mine from the University […]

The Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge used the electromagnetic separation method, developed by Ernest Lawrence at University of California-Berkeley, to separate uranium isotopes. Electromagnetic Separation The electromagnetic separation method was the most developed of the potential ways to produce fissile material at the start of the Manhattan Project. Ernest O. Lawrence, working at the University […]

Cindy Kelly: We’re going to start with your name: could you tell us your name and spell it? Black: My name is Colleen Black, C-O-L-L-E-E-N B-L-A-C-K.  Kelly: Terrific. Good job. Black: [Laughter.] Thank you. Kelly: All right, what we need to do is find out about where you’re from and how you happened to get […]