  We give a detailed account of the recent retrieval of a consistent amount
(about 600 pages) of documents written by Enrico Fermi and/or his
collaborators, coming from different sources previously unexplored. These
documents include articles, patents, reports, notes on scientific and technical
meetings and other papers, mainly testifying Fermi's activity in the 1940s
about nuclear pile physics and engineering. All of them have been carefully
described, pointing out the relevance of the given papers for their scientific
or even historical content. From the analysis of these papers, a number of
important scientific and technical points comes out, putting a truly new light
on the Fermi's (and others') scientific activity about nuclear piles and their
applications. Quite unexpectedly intriguing historical remarks, such as those
regarding the relationships between U.S. and Britain, just after the end of the
war, about nuclear power for pacific and/or military use, or even regarding
long term physics research and post-war research policy, emerge as well.
