Malcolm Thurgood correspondence and remembrance book,1943-1945
Repository
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives.
Papers created by
Thurgood, Malcolm
Size of collection
1 linear foot
1 records box
Short description of collection
This collection contains correspondence from Sergeant Malcom Thurgood to his family during his time as a photographer for the Alsos Mission in World War II.
Language(s) of collection
English
Collection number:
AR 2016-1894
Sergeant Malcom Thurgood was assigned as a documentary photographer to the Alsos Mission in 1945. He served in England, Scotland, France, and occupied Germany and Austria at the end of World War II. He was born March 12, 1914 in Spencer, Indiana and studied art in Indianapolis, where he opened a studio. He married Louise Elizabeth Lang in Indianapolis in 1938. After the war he and his family moved to Austin, Texas, where he worked as commercial artist. He died November 23, 1987 in Wimberley, Texas.
The Alsos Mission was an operation of the Manhattan Engineer District, generally known as the Manhattan Project, tasked with gathering intelligence alongside the advancing Allies in Europe to learn how close Germany was to developing an atomic weapon. The Mission was commanded by Lt. Col. Boris T. Pash under General Leslie Groves, and Dr. Samuel Goudsmit eventually joined as chief of the scientific component of the Mission. The Mission captured thousands of research documents related to the development of atomic energy, stores of uranium and other nuclear raw materials, and many key German scientists such as Werner Heisenberg, Kurt Diebner, Otto Hahn, Carl von Weizacker, and Max von Laue.
This collection consists of letters that Sergeant Malcom Thurgood sent home to his family, primarily his wife Louise and daughter Michaele (affectionately referred to most often in the collection as “Angel” and “Bug” respectively), during his time in the United States Army, particularly during his time with the Alsos Mission in Europe. While Thurgood was unable to document the specifics of his mission activities due to wartime censors, he talks much about his daily life and the people he served with. The collection consists of photocopies of the letters he sent, along with photocopies from the “Remembrance Book” that he or his family compiled after the war with specific letters from 1945.
The donation of this collection also came with 191 photographs that Thurgood sent home to his family during the war. These photos have been digitized and are available in the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives: https://repository.aip.org/thurgood-collection?page=0
Researchers must have an approved access application on file in order to access archival materials. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/access-application.
These papers have been indexed in the
International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS)using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
Institutions
Manhattan Project (U.S.)
United States. Army -- World War, 1939-1945.
United States. War Dept. Alsos Mission.
Subject terms
Atomic bomb -- Germany
Nuclear physics -- Research -- Germany.
Photography, Military
World War, 1939-1945 -- Military intelligence.
This collection is organized into a single series. Contents are arranged in chronological order, although the final folder “Letters of Remembrance book” includes items chronologically preceding the folders before it—the contents of the folder itself are also in chronological order.
Donated in 2015 by Michaele Thurgood Haynes.
This collection was processed by Benjamin Henry in 2025.
Box [number], Folder [number], Malcolm Thurgood correspondence and remembrance book, 1943-1945. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
Title
Finding Aid to the Malcolm Thurgood correspondence and remembrance book, 1943-1945
Publisher
American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
USA
nbl@aip.org
2025
Encoding Information
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Benjamin Henry in 2025. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process.
| Box 1 |
Folder 1 |
War Department pamphlet, July 29, 1943 |
|
Folder 2 |
September 6, 1944 |
|
Folder 3 |
September 8, 1944 |
|
Folder 4 |
September 11, 1944 |
|
Folder 5 |
September 12, 1944 |
|
Folder 6 |
September 13, 1944 |
|
Folder 7 |
September 14, 1944 |
|
Folder 8 |
September 15, 1944 |
|
Folder 9 |
September 18, 1944 |
|
Folder 10 |
September 18, 1944 |
|
Folder 11 |
September 19, 1944 |
|
Folder 12 |
September 20, 1944 |
|
Folder 13 |
September 20, 1944 |
|
Folder 14 |
September 21, 1944 |
|
Folder 15 |
September 22, 1944 |
|
Folder 16 |
September 24, 1944 |
|
Folder 17 |
September 25, 1944 |
|
Folder 18 |
September 26, 1944 |
|
Folder 19 |
September 28, 1944 |
|
Folder 20 |
October 2, 1944 |
|
Folder 21 |
October 3, 1944 |
|
Folder 22 |
October 4, 1944 |
|
Folder 23 |
October 11, 1944?, undated |
|
Folder 24 |
October ?, undated |
|
Folder 25 |
January 24, 1945 |
|
Folder 26 |
January 25, 1945 |
|
Folder 27 |
January 26, 1945 |
|
Folder 28 |
January 26, 1945 |
|
Folder 29 |
January 28, 1945 |
|
Folder 30 |
January 30, 1945 |
|
Folder 31 |
January 31, 1945 |
|
Folder 32 |
February 2, 1945 |
|
Folder 33 |
February 5, 1945 |
|
Folder 34 |
February 6, 1945 |
|
Folder 35 |
February 8, 1945 |
|
Folder 36 |
February 9, 1945 |
|
Folder 37 |
February 9, 1945 |
|
Folder 38 |
February 16, 1945 |
|
Folder 39 |
February 16, 1945 |
|
Folder 40 |
February 18, 1945 |
|
Folder 41 |
February 19, 1945 |
|
Folder 42 |
February 20, 1945 |
|
Folder 43 |
February 21, 1945 |
|
Folder 44 |
February 24, 1945 |
|
Folder 45 |
February 25, 1945 |
|
Folder 46 |
February 28, 1945 |
|
Folder 91 |
August 12, 1945 |
|
Folder 92 |
August 12, 1945 |
|
Folder 93 |
August 16, 1945 |
|
Folder 94 |
August 19, 1945 |
|
Folder 95 |
August 21, 1945 |
|
Folder 96 |
August 23, 1945 |
|
Folder 97 |
August 27, 1945 |
|
Folder 98 |
August 31, 1945 |
|
Folder 99 |
September 5, 1945 |
|
Folder 100 |
September 6, 1945 |
|
Folder 101 |
September 9, 1945 |
|
Folder 102 |
September 10, 1945 |
|
Folder 103 |
September 19, 1945 |
|
Folder 104 |
September 23, 1945 |
|
Folder 105 |
September 25, 1945 |
|
Folder 106 |
October 18, 1945 |
|
Folder 107 |
October 24, 1945 |
|
Folder 108 |
October 26, 1945 |
|
Folder 109 |
October 27, 1945 |
|
Folder 110 |
October 27, 1945 |
|
Folder 111 |
October 28, 1945 |
|
Folder 112 |
October 29, 1945 |
|
Folder 113 |
November 1, 1945 |
|
Folder 114 |
November 2, 1945 |
|
Folder 115 |
November 4, 1945 |
|
Folder 116 |
November 5, 1945 |
|
Folder 117 |
November 6, 1945 |
|
Folder 118 |
November 7, 1945 |
|
Folder 119 |
November 9, 1945 |
|
Folder 120 |
November 11, 1945 |
|
Folder 121 |
November 13, 1945 |
|
Folder 122 |
November 16, 1945 |
|
Folder 123 |
Letters of Remembrance book, 1945 |
