May - June  2000 Newsletter

Volume I - Issue 3

This newsletter is sponsored by the Society for the Historical Preservation of the Manhattan Project (http://www.manhattanprojectmemorial.org and the Children of the Manhattan Project (http://home.att.net/~cotmp)

Topics covered in this issue:

The topics for this issue are:

1) Site Statistics for May 2000

2) Memorabilia Received From Rebecca Webster

3) What's New on the Web Site

4) Yahoo Club

5) EI Joe.com

6) State Representatives

7) Miscellaneous

• 1) Site Statistics for May 2000

During the month of May, we received 332 visitors. (Our goal is to reach 1,000 visitors per month) As in the past, our visitors came from a wide variety of sources. Listed below are some interesting statistics:

We had 22 visitors from foreign countries:

Canada           4

Australia         3

Japan              3

Mexico           2

Netherlands    2

Finland           1

Germany         1

Israel               1

Italy                1

Singapore        1

Sweden           1

Switzerland     1

UK                 1

In addition to the number of visitors, we also measure the number of "page views" which indicates which pages are generating the most interest.

Another key statistic is referring URL's. During may, our site was referred from the following sites:

The Enola Gay                             77

New Mexico State Univ.              68

J Tankard's Trinity Site                20

GeoCities - Argonne Labs              2

• Memorabilia Received from Rebecca Webster

In late March, I received a letter and a few documents from Rebecca Webster, a resident of South Carolina. Her husband, Donald, who passed away a couple of years ago, worked on the fission experiments at the University of Chicago with the group headed by Enrico Fermi. Donald was with a group from DuPont who were assigned to the Univ. of Chicago. Later, Donald and Rebecca, moved to Hanford, WA and then to Oak Ridge, TN where he continued his work on the Manhattan Project. In later years, Donald moved to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where he retired.

Rebecca has provided me with many names and phone numbers of individuals who worked with Donald. I will provide new information as soon as it is available.

• What's New on the Web Site...

I am adding new information to the Web Site each week, so check it out often. One of the biggest changes has been the adding of special areas for Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Hanford, and the University of Chicago. The reason that I have done this is because I have been hearing a lot from people that were at locations other than Los Alamos, and we need to cover all the bases. I have recently heard from a couple of individuals who were crew members on the Enola Gay and Bockscar, so I will be adding a section for them also.

Please let me know if there is anything that you would like to see included!

• Yahoo Club...

I have had many people tell me that they could not access the Yahoo Club information. During the next week, I will be expanding the Yahoo Club page on the Web Site to include full instructions on how to join the "club". The purpose of the club is to assist in the promotion of our web site. This is an excellent forum for exchanging information about the Manhattan Project or for posting a message about someone you are trying to locate.

• EI Joe.com...

The EI Joe Web Site is the largest military message board on the internet. We have a message board established to assist us in locating people who share an interest in the Manhattan Project. Please check it out at http://www.unitedwebuild.com/bbs/messages/562.html

• State Representatives...

As you can imagine, the maintenance of our Web Site takes a lot of time. I am looking for some volunteers to assist with the process of locating and providing information to the dozens of people visiting with us each week. Specifically, I am looking for individuals to represent the state in which they live, or a region of the country if we don't have many contacts.

This would not take a whole lot of time and you would be contributing to a very worthwhile project. Please e-mail me if you would like to help out.

• Miscellaneous...

* We have had a request for information relating to a BBC Television Series "Robert Oppenheimer- Shatterer of Worlds". If any one knows how to obtain a copy of this series, please respond to Peter Edinburg at edinburp@labs.wyeth.com.

* I have been in touch with Tom Bowman, a member of the S.C. State Guard. Tom is a teacher at a local college and has been collecting autographed photos of the crews of the Enola Gay and Bockscar. Capt. Don Albury, the pilot of Bockscar, was in Columbia, SC last year. Tom has invited me to participate in an upcoming militaria show at the S.C. National Guard Armory. The date for this show is May 19-21. If you have any information that you would like to have displayed at this show, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your continued interest...

Joseph Calabrese e-mail: j_calabrese@angelfire.com