things learned on this national archives trip:
- the biggest German fused quartz concern prewar (Heraeus) definitely sourced from Brazil
- the colonial government of Belgian Congo was actively involved in developing tantalite sources for the United States (which is a big deal bc Belgian Congo mining prewar is mostly governed by private concession holders)
- most of the archives of the stuff happening in Congo are in Belgium and in French I'm fucked lol
Also learned:
- the quartz crystal market in Brazil was kind of a mess during WWII because you had both the federal government and private commodity traders from the US buying up supply so tracing sourcing starts to get fuzzy, but I have scans of monthly purchases by the USG and private vendors 1944-45 so I can at least track names and volume??
