In the third transcript of the interview of Elizebeth Smith Friedman by Virginia T. Valaki, there was a discussion of George Fabyan’s bookkeeper, Cora Jensen. I decided to try getting more information on her, and ended up finding a PDF on the NSA site with scans of the letters between William Friedman and Elizabeth Tinberg, a representative of Riverbank Labs at the time. The OCR-ing of the scans is pretty bad, and the letters had been scanned out of date sequence, so I am taking the liberty of cleaning up the text and putting them back into order, from oldest to more recent. For educational purposes only.
February 2, 1948
Riverbank Laboratories, Geneva, Ill.
Mr. William F. Friedman
Department of the Army
Headquarters, Army Security Agency
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Friedman
Your letter of January 22nd, addressed to Miss Cumming,
has been received.
You apparently do not know that Miss Cumming was killed
in an accident on May 11, 1946. She was returning to
Riverbank Lodge from Geneva in a car with two house
guests, and the car was struck by a fast North Western
train at the station crossing here. All three occupants
of the car were killed.
As you doubtless know, all of the Riverbank Publications
were turned over to the Library of Congress after Mrs.
Fabyan’s death. The government at the time arranged
to have Mr. Walter Hill of Chicago do the necessary
work of examining the books, etc., as well as packing
them for shipment to Washington.
We do, however, have bound copies of the following:
“Methods for the Solution of Ciphers,
Publications, 15-22 Incl., Riverbank
Laboratories, Department of Ciphers,
Riverbank-Geneva, Ill.”
“Memorization Methods, Specifically
Illustrated in Respect to their
Applicability to Codes and Topographic
Material, Publication No. 75, 1919″
“The Production and Detection of Messages
in Concealed Writing and Images, Publication
No. 50, 1918.
If you will please write us to that affect, we shall be
happy to send these copies to you.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Tinberg
For the RIVERBANK LABORATORIES
—
February 6, 1948
Miss Elizabeth Tinberg
Riverbank Laboratories
Geneva, Illinois
Dear Miss Tinberg:
Thank you very much for your letter of 2 February.
I was indeed unaware of Miss Cumming’s death and was
quite shocked to learn of the manner in which it occurred.
The publications to which you refer are not the things
I had in mind. However, if you can spare two or three
copies each of Publications 15, 16, and 17, I would be most
appreciative. I have copies of the other publications
listed in your letter and thank you for the offer to send
them.
Can you tell me what the former Cora Jensen’s married
name is and where I might address a letter to her? She
perhaps can tell me the answer to a question or two concern-
ing the disposition that was made of the papers I am trying
to locate.
Incidentally, I have gone thoroughly over the Fabyan
Collection at the Library of Congress and am sure no such
papers as I am seeking are among them.
Thanking you again for your courtesy, I am,
Sincerely yours,
William F. Friedman
—
Riverbank Laboratories, Geneva, Ill.
February 9, 1948
Mr. William. F. Friedman
Department of the Army
Headquarters, Army Security Agency
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Mr. Friedman:
Thank you for your letter of the 6th.
I am sorry that the publications referred to in my
previous letter were not what you wanted. You
mention, however, that you would like two or three
copies each of Publications #15, #16 and #17. The
only copies we have are bound in one volume,
“Publications, 15-22 Incl.”, and we shall be glad
to send this volume to you, if you so desire.
Cora Jensen’s married name is Mrs. Franklyn Tyzzer,
and her address, 1222 James Street, Geneva, Illinois.
She, perhaps, would be able to help you, as she was
here at Riverbank at the time of Mrs. Fabyan’s death.
My understanding is that everything was turned over
to the Library of Congress and this is the information
given to me last week by one of the Trustees of the
Fabyan Estate. He also served as one of the Executors
of Mrs. Fabyan’s will. No doubt, the papers to which
you refer have long since been destroyed, as all that
we have at Riverbank now are the Publications mentioned
in my previous letter.
I do wish that I could be of more help to you, and
hope that Mrs. Tyzzer may be able to give you the
desired information.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Tinberg
—
February 12, 1948
Miss Elizabeth Tinberg
Riverbank Laboratories
Geneva, Illinois
Dear Miss Tinberg:
Thank you very much for your letter of February 9. I
would, indeed, very much like to have for my own collection
a copy of publications 15 to 22 bound in one volume and will
be glad to pay whatever postage or express charges are
involved since this would be for my personal use. However,
I am sure that our library would also appreciate one bound
volume and I will be glad to pay the express charges on two
copies, if you can spare two, one of which I will then
deposit in our library.
I appreciate your sending me the information concern-
ing Miss Jensen, and I am writing her today. I believe that
you are correct in stating that everything dealing with the
Shakespeare problem was turned over to the Library of
Congress, but the records for which I am seeking were not
of that category. It is possible that Mrs. Tyzzer can
throw some light on the matter.
Thanking you very much for your courtesy, I am,
Sincerely yours,
William F. Friedman
—
Riverbank Laboratories, Geneva, Ill.
February 16, 1948
Mr. William F. Friedman
Headquarters
Army Security Agency
Washington 25, D. c.
Dear Mr. Friedman:
The two bound volumes of Riverbank Publications Nos.
15 to 22 were sent to you today by parcel post, and
it will not be necessary for you to reimburse us
for this expenditure. We were very happy to send
the volumes to you, and note that one copy will be
placed in the Library of the Army Security Agency
and the other in your personal library. These were
the only copies in our possession and we had been
wondering what disposition to make of them.
Please feel free to write us if we can be of more
service whatsoever to you.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Tinberg
—
February 24, 1948
Miss Elizabeth Tinberg
Riverbank Laboratories
Geneva, Illinois
Dear Miss Tinberg:
The two bound volumes of the Riverbank Publications
on Cryptography arrived very promptly and in excellent
condition.
One of these volumes has been deposited in our
library, where it makes a most welcome addition to our
collection of books on the subject. The other I am
extremely happy to add to my personal collection.
My most sincere thanks to you and to the Laboratories
for this useful gift.
Cordially yours,
William F. Friedman
=================
Feb. 24, 1948
MRS. FRANKLIN G. TYZZER
1222 JAMES STREET
GENEVA, ILLINOIS
Mr. William F. Friedman
Headquarters
Army-Security Agency
Washington 25, D. C.
Dear Billy:
It was a pleasant surprise to receive
your letter on February 16. I am just recover-
ing from the flu and a miserable sinus cold,
hence the delay in responding to your letter.
I wish I could give you some definite
information regarding the disposition of the
cipher material to which you refer, but unfortu-
nately I cannot. The papers were kept intact
until after the Colonel’s death. Miss Cumming
made the final disposition of the papers when
I was not there. I really believe they were
destroyed as I believe Miss Cumming did not
want to have them circulated. At least, every-
thing of that nature has been cleared out at
Riverbank, and Miss Tinberg said she had nothing
to do with it.
Miss Cumming’s death was a hideous shock
to all her friends. She had been a frequent
visitor at our home, and Franklin and I were
very fond of her. Franklin is an associate
physicist at Armour Research Foundation in
Chicago.
Fred Kranz told us that he had a pleasant
visit at your home last year. Fred is now
married to a very dear friend of ours. No doubt
you heard that Grace died suddenly about 5 years
ago. If Franklin and I ever get to Washington
we shall be glad to have a chat with you and
Elizabeth. It was nice hearing from you. My
best wishes to you and Elizabeth.
Sincerely yours,
[Handwritten] Cora
Come to see us if you ever get to Geneva.
—
March 9, 1948
Mrs. Franklin G. Tyzzer
1222 James Street
Geneva, Illinois
Dear Cora:
I am much indebted to you for your letter of 24 February,
despite the fact that it gives no clue to the papers I’d
like to see turn up. They were probably destroyed, just as
you indicate.
Yes, we had a very nice visit from Fred Kranz. I ran
into his son-in-law in the Navy and that’s how we got to-
gether. It was very nice to renew acquaintance after so
many years.
By all means, if you and your husband come to Washington
you must visit with us and we, too, should we be in your
vicinity, will look you up.
Thanking you again and hoping you are fully recovered
from your cold, I am,
Sincerely yours,
William F. Friedman
The Black Chamber 