Vintage bracket-bound dossier belonging to Inez O'Brien, a member of the Provisional Engineer Detachment who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War II. The dossier consists of numerous copies of articles published around the time of the Manhattan Project, dating from around July 16th to August 10th, 1945, several of which derive from the Albuquerque Journal. Headlines include: “Army Ammunition Explosion Rocks Southwest Area,” “Alamogordo Base Explosives Blast Jolts Wide Area,” “’Atomizers’ from ‘Hill’ Enjoy Minor V-E Day,” “’Fiery Orange Ball’ Seen 250 Miles Off: That Was Nagasaki,” and “Workers Stick to Jobs on ‘The Hill’ in Face of Disclosure of Project’s Terrible Secret.” Inside of dossier bears an affixed ownership label belonging to O'Brien. In fine condition.
A technician in the Women's Army Corps at Los Alamos, Inez Claire O'Brien worked with Oppenheimer in the U.S.'s attempts and eventual success in building the first atomic bomb during the Second World War. The Manhattan Project was established mid-1942, almost one year after the United States had entered the war, and the Los Alamos Laboratory was built on the site of a private boy's school, which employed over 6,000 workers by 1945. The first nuclear weapon test, code name 'Trinity,' was conducted on July 16, 1945; the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred just three weeks later.
