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Letter from Rosa D. Hinrichs to Oscar MonnigShow simple item record

dc.creatorHinrichs, Rosa D.
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-22T17:12:29Z
dc.date.available2024-07-22T17:12:29Z
dc.date.issued1955-07-19
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/65108
dc.descriptionLetter from Rosa D. Hinrichs to Oscar Monnig about Carl Hinrichs's meteorite collection.
dc.relationOscar Monnig Papers (MS 124)
dc.rightsPrior written permission from TCU Special Collections required to use any document or photograph.
dc.sourceSeries III, Box 06, Kaufman (erroneously Lampasas) Texas, 1941-1958 folder
dc.subjectMeteorite
dc.subjectKaufman meteorite
dc.subjectKaufman (Tex.)
dc.subjectHinrichs, Carl G.
dc.titleLetter from Rosa D. Hinrichs to Oscar Monnig
dc.typeDocument
dc.description.transcriptionJuly 19, 1955 Dear Mr. Monnig:- First of all I m ust ask your pardn for this long delay in answering your letter of more than three months ago. In the weeks following my husband's tragic death, I had to use every bit of my strength and will power to hold up and attend to many matters with which I had no one to help me; and I had been through an awful ordeal, having practically lived at the hospital the three weeks that he lived after the brutal assault. I was so anxious to see that everything possible was done to save his life, if possible. If he had died from some hopeless idsease I would have felt partly reconciled to his going, but that he had to give up his life because of three young criminals, was something I just couldn't get over. At the time I received your letter, I was at the point of a nervous breakdown, and it did happen, as a result of sleepless nights and extremely high blood pressure. While under a doctor's care about six weeks, I just had to relax and let go of everthing. And so your letter, along with everything else, had to be postponed for many weeks. I was about to write to you three weeks ago, but held back hoping first to solve the question of "smaller fragments" which you mentioned having seen at the laboratory. I was unaware of my husband having kept any part of the meteorites there, assuming all were here in our home. The lab has been in disuse for several years, and is in an awful mess, as fas as finding anything there is concerned. There is a possiblity that they may be in some container stored on the second floor, which has a mess of accumulated chemical samples, journals, files, etc., etc. Mr. Hinrichs was one of those people who would never dispose of anything, no matter how useless it had become, and it is going to take many days of unpleasant work (everything is covered with dust) for me to go through everything and clean out the place. - My son, who is living in the old Hinrich's home at 4106 Shenandoan with his family, wants to make use of the lab, for a side-line of work he is doing, - not chemical. Of the meteorite collection, the larger & important stones are still in a bookcase on our third floor, but I am also at a loss to know what you mean by the reference to "73 small specimens".- I read over the book Amana Meteorites which my father-in-law, Dr. Gustavus D. Hinrichs wrote, but failed to find such a group listed. However, I shall have to make a search of our third floor, which is in about the same condition as I described the lab. It has never been used for anything but storae purposes, and there are hundreds of books and chemical journals packed in cartons up there, and since none of the cartons are labeled as to contents, it will also take days of work to go through it all. And of course there is apossibility that the fragments or smaller stones you speak of may be stored in one of the many cartons or boxes. At present, and since June 21, we are in the midst of our summer heat, and our third floor (also the lab,) are like bake ovens when the temperature is in the nineties, so I will have to postpone the explorations & work in both places until the worst of the summer heat is over, which probably will be end of Aug. or Sep., and I doubt that I can determine the definite status of the collection until September. It is too bad that you would not have obtained the meteorites years ago, but Mr. Hinrichs was always reluctant to sell the collection.- Frankly, I was never interested in meteorolgy until rather recently, after having read a little on the subject, and I believe with a little study, I would find the whole thing quite fascinating. However, I intend to sell the collection, either to you or someone else. When I have solved the question of just what stones it consists of, I will write to you again, and then perhaps you can come here in latter part of Sep.- From the book "Amana Meteorites" (a copy of which you have) I don't seem to be able to find out just how many stones my fahter-in-law retained for his own collection. He certainly gave away a little fortune in presenting the greater part of the original Amana collection to museums all over Europe. In the mean time, until you hear from me again, I ask your patience, and if by reading Dr. G.D. H's book again, you find anything definite to give me an idea of just what to look for, I would appreciate any help. I am certain of one thing, - that my husband never sold any single or number of the meteorites. I am puzzled by a couple of stones in the bookcase that are not black, but almost white, something like rock crystal; (I am not referring to a white cruse) Are there such meteorites? The Texas stone you mentioned is evidently among those in bookcase. I'll determine that by weighing it.- I'll also have to identify some of the others by weight and the photographs in book, because unfortunately either by time, or careless handling some of the labesl which were posted on have come off. Sorry to subject you to this long hand written letter, but somehow I never learned to type. Sincerely yours, Rosa D. Hinrichs


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  • Records of the Monnig Meteorite Gallery [2469]
    The files are arranged alphabetically, usually according to the location of discovery of the meteorite. The files contain correspondence and research material on the meteorites in the collection.

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