Seeking father's FBI fingerprint card when he worked on Manhattan Project

Hi Muriel,

Thank you for posting to the History Hub. Until there is a computer system in place that can efficiently store and retrieve fingerprints, with a simple inquiry such as Employment, Background etc. U.S. Authorities will continue to mark them as expiring every fifteen months.  There, most likely were, three copies made; one for his employment file, one for the local police department and one for the FBI.

What you are seeking could possible still survive, at the two other locations, if there were not a storage problem with them. Fingerprints are indexed in a special way belonging to a set of numbers and letters as opposed to a name so to retrieve them without "a lifted fingerprint" from a glass, table, other surface. or  a new fingerprint card to compare to would be a quite a job if not impossible.  For example a set of ten prints might be classified as 26 5/12 000/MOI 12. You would use these numbers to go through 100 to 100,000 five drawer file cabinets using these numbers and letters. when you found the card with this number on it and pulled it out. It would have a name associated with it or be blank.

If you are interested you can find more information on this at:

https://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/fbiscienceoffingerprints.html

Good luck on your search

Joe

Dear Mr. Sorensen,

Thank you for posting your inquiry on History Hub!

If your father worked for the Army, his fingerprints may have been filed in his Official Personnel File (OPF). We suggest that you request a copy of his OPF. OPFs and medical information for individuals who worked for the U.S. Army in a civilian capacity prior to 1952 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL), P.O. Box 38757, St. Louis, MO 63138. Please include the full name used during Federal employment, date of birth, Social Security Number (if applicable), name and location of employing Federal agency, beginning and ending dates of Federal Service. For more information, the web site is https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/civilian-personnel.

Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RL-SL. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

We hope this information is helpful.  Best of luck with your research!