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Anaconda Copper Mining Company Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company operated large-scale copper smelting and copper ore processing near Anaconda, Montana, from 1884 to 1980. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the Anaconda smelter site a Superfund site in 1983 due to the smelter stack's pollution of nearby soil and water with hazardous chemicals such as lead and arsenic. International Smelting and Refining (IS&R), a subsidiary of Anaconda Copper Company, operated a smelter in the Tooele Valley, Utah, from 1909 to 1972.
Consists of approximately 300 typed pages of pollution claims, investigations, and reports created by or relating to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Montana, Utah, and Arizona, with approximately 35 black and white photographs.
The materials document the company's attempt to enlist science to defend against accusations of mining pollution brought forth by farmers and private citizens. Topics include smelter smoke and effects on agriculture, including illness of livestock such as cattle and horses.
The typed and unpublished reports for the company include: John C. Wharton, "Thesis Chemical Composition of Eleven Big Hole Basin Forage Plants" (1913); E. P. Taylor, "Report of Smelter Smoke Investigation Anaconda June 26th and 27th, 1918" (1918); J. W. Blankinship, "Report on the Smoke Conditions in the Deer Lodge Valley, Montana" (1918); J. W. Blankinship, "Smoke Conditions in the Tooele Valley. First Report" (1918); J. W. Blankinship, "Smoke Conditions in the Tooele Valley [Utah, Second Report]" (1918); E. P. Taylor, "Report of Smelter Smoke Investigation, Anaconda, May 26-28, 1920" (1920); J. W. Blankinship, "Report on the Smoke Conditions in the Verde Valley, Arizona, During 1920" (1920).
Materials are organized in the following groupings: Correspondence, investigations, and legal records; Photographs; Reports.
Purchased from Michael Vinson Americana in 2022 (AM 2025-007).
This collection was processed by Lauren C. Williams in August 2024. Finding aid written by Lauren C. Williams in August 2024, incorporating some description provided by the dealer.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2024 processing.
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Lauren C. Williams, incorporating some description provided by the dealer.
- Finding Aid Date
- 2024
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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