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Charles C. Price Papers

Notifications

Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Science History Institute Archives. 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

Call Number:
066.001
Repository:
Science History Institute Archives
Extent:
2.5 linear feet (8 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Charles C. Price Papers, 1936-1996, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Date:
1936-1996 (inclusive) and 1970-1989 (bulk)
Creator:
Price, Charles C. (Charles Coale), 1913-2001
Form:
Archival materials
Abstract:
Laboratory notebooks, correspondence, biographical materials, lectures, class notes, and reprints of published articles belonging to Charles C. Price.

Charles Coale Price III was a chemist who taught at three universities in the United States and conducted research for the National Research Defense Committee during World War II. Price was born in Passaic, New Jersey on July 13, 1913. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1934 and his master's degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1935. In 1936, Price was awarded his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.

From 1936 to 1946, Price worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. In 1945, he spent a year as a visiting lecturer at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York. Price conducted research for the National Defense Research Committee during World War II in the Rubber Reserve Company. After the war, he worked in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Notre Dame from 1946 to 1954 as a professor and chairman of the Department. From 1947 to 1951, Price was a member of the National Research Council's Subcommittee on Plastics. From 1951 to 1979, he worked at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. During his tenure at Penn, he was a member of the Committee on Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering Science, the Blanchard Professor of Chemistry, and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.

Price was instrumental in the creation of the Center for the History of Chemistry, as the Science History Institute was originally called. Dr. Price was long active in the Nuclear Disarmament and World Federalism movements. Charles C. Price died at his home in Haverford, Pennsylvania on February 11, 2001.

Sources

Charles C. Price Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Charles C. Price Papers contain the papers of chemist Charles C. Price. The collection is arranged into the following six series:

  1. Biographical Material
  2. Correspondence
  3. Publications
  4. Addresses, Lectures, and Class Notes
  5. Laboratory Notebooks
  6. Restricted Materials

The Charles C. Price Papers were donated to the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) in two installments; the bulk of the papers including the reprints and the notebooks were donated by Dr. Charles C. Price in 1991. After his death in 2001, his wife, Mrs. Anne Gill Price, donated additional material, mostly concerned with his peace-related activities.

The Charles C. Price Papers were processed by Andrew Mangravite in 2017 and encoded into EAD by Samantha Brigher in 2020.

There are two other known archival collections created by Charles C. Price at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania: the Charles C. Price Papers at the Peace Collection and the Charles C. Price Genealogical Papers at the Friends Historical Library.

An oral history interview with Charles C. Price conducted on April 26, 1979, the Charles C. Price Photograph Collection, and Records of the Advisory Council on College Chemistry are preserved at the Science History Institute.

Organization
Subject

Publisher
Science History Institute Archives
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid created by Andrew Mangravite and encoded into EAD by Samantha Brigher.
Finding Aid Date
2005
Access Restrictions

Boxes 7-8 are restricted with access limited to select staff.

Use Restrictions

The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Charles C. Price Papers. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Collection Inventory

Series Description

This series contains the Biographical Material files. Arranged in its original order, this series consists of one box of fifteen files. These files contain biographical information about the collection's creator Charles C. Price.

Biographical Sketches - Charles C. Price, 1978, 2001.
Box 1 Folder 1
"Miniature Musings" (transcription of a "mini" oral history done by The Center for the History of Chemistry, a forerunner of the Science History Institute, in 1979), 1986, 1991.
Box 1 Folder 2
Books (lists of CCP books and publications), undated.
Box 1 Folder 3
Patents (a list, plus individual patents for polyphenylene ethers, oxetane polymers and polyether polyurethane rubber) , 1958, 1959, 1968, undated.
Box 1 Folder 4
Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1936.
Box 1 Folder 5
Former students (list of names), 1936-1978.
Box 1 Folder 6
Shigeru ("Sig") Oae memoirs with comments by CCP, 1996.
Box 1 Folder 7

Series Description

This series contains the Correspondence files. The files are arranged into the following two sub-series:

  1. General Correspondence - "A-E"
  2. General Correspondence - "F-V"
Sub-series Description

Arranged somewhat alphabetically by last name or topic title, this sub-series consists of one box of eight files. These files contain correspondence between Charles C. Price and former students and colleagues. A few files regard professional conferences and extracurricular activities.

Correspondence with former students, 1979-1986.
Box 1 Folder 8
Correspondence with former students, 1987-1991.
Box 1 Folder 9
American Chemical Society - 45th Southwestern Regional Meeting, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1986 December 6-1989 December 8.
Box 1 Folder 10
ACS National Meeting, Los Angeles, California, (re: Award for Creative Initiative), 1973-1974.
Box 1 Folder 11
Award for Creative Initiative - correspondence and abstracts, 1973-1974.
Box 1 Folder 12
Brown, Dr. Herbert C. (correspondence and nominating material), 1972, 1978.
Box 1 Folder 13
Crane, Dr. Debbie C. (former student - correspondence and reprints), 1988-1991.
Box 1 Folder 14
EarthAction - correspondence and "Action Alerts", 1994-1995.
Box 1 Folder 15
Related Materials

See also Box 2 Folder 10.

Sub-series Description

Arranged alphabetically by last name or topic title, this sub-series consists of one box of ten files. These files contain correspondence written to and about Charles C. Price's colleagues. A few files regard professional conferences and extracurricular activities.

Fox, Dr. Sidney W. (award nomination material), 1979.
Box 2 Folder 1
Furikawa, Prof. Junji, 1961-1976.
Box 2 Folder 2
Huisgen, Prof. Rolf (incl. reprints; an attempt to recruit him for the University of Pennsylvania), 1971-1975.
Box 2 Folder 3
IUPAC Macro 82 Conference, Amherst, Massachusetts (incl. final circular for conference), 1982 July 12-1982 July 16.
Box 2 Folder 4
Midland Symposium (invitation by Dr. Raymond F. Boyer for CCP and wife to attend a conference honoring former colleague Turner Alfrey; CCP spoke on evolution and the nuclear freeze), 1983.
Box 2 Folder 5
NAS-NRC World Peace (correspondence w/ Dr. Philip Handler, President, NAS regarding CCP's address "Science and the Crisis of Man's Survival"), 1970.
Box 2 Folder 6
Related Materials

See also Box 4 Folder 7; Box 5 Folder 5.

Parsons Award (CCP's acceptance speech "Political Action for a Livable World" and congratulatory correspondence from Paul D. Bartlett, John C. Haas, Herman Mark, Charles Overberger and others), 1973-1974.
Box 2 Folder 7
Tsuruta, Prof. Teiji, 1974-1980.
Box 2 Folder 8
Vandenberg, Dr. Edwin J. (Nomination for Kyoto Prize - incl. CV, reprints, issues of EarthAction Alert), 1969, 1982,1983, 1993-1994.
Box 2 Folder 9
Related Materials

See also Box 1 Folder 15.

Vandenberg, Dr. Edwin J. (Nomination for National Medal of Technology - incl. CVs, papers, list of patents), 1990-1994.
Box 2 Folder 10

Series Description

This series contains the Publications files. Arranged chronologically by year, this series consists of one box of seven files. These files contain reprints of published articles that were gathered by Charles C. Price. Most of the materials in this series are in binders, except for 1968-1990.

Publications, 1936-1944.
Box 3 Folder 1
Publications, 1945-1946.
Box 3 Folder 2
Publications, 1947-1950.
Box 3 Folder 3
Publications, 1951-1957.
Box 3 Folder 4
Publications, 1958-1962.
Box 3 Folder 5
Publications, 1964-1968.
Box 3 Folder 6
Publications, 1968-1990.
Box 3 Folder 7

Series Description

This series contains the Addresses, Lectures, and Class Notes files. The files are arranged into the following two sub-series:

  1. Addresses, Lectures, and Class Notes - "A-E"
  2. Addresses, Lectures, and Class Notes - "F-W"
Sub-series Description

Arranged alphabetically by topic title, this sub-series consists of one box of eight files. These files contain original and reprints of Charles C. Price's lecture notes, notebooks, slides, and photocopies of newspaper clippings.

ACS Presidential Address, 150th National Meeting, Atlantic City, New Jersey (photocopies of newspaper clippings responding to CCP's address - incl. reprint of address), 1965 September.
Box 4 Folder 1
Cancer Alkyl Mechanisms (lecture - incl. reprints), 1972-1974.
Box 4 Folder 2
Cancer Alkyl slides (camera ready copy for slides to accompany lecture - incl. "Alkylation of DNA Compounds", abstract of talk given by CCP), 1963-1965, undated.
Box 4 Folder 3
Chemistry of High Polymers (Osaka U. lecture notes), 1962.
Box 4 Folder 4
"A Cruise Through Sulfur Chemistry" (Haverford College/Phillips Lecture - incl. CCP's notes), 1981.
Box 4 Folder 5
Epoxide Polymers and Polyethers (incl. reprints and CCP's notes), 1961-1974.
Box 4 Folder 6
"Evolution, Life and Order" (incl. reprints and drafts of talk, slides and camera-ready copy for slides, correspondence), 1966-1970.
Box 4 Folder 7
Related Materials

See also Box 3 Folder 6; Box 6 Folder 5.

Expert Testimony - Hercules vs. Exxon (incl. notebook), 1978.
Box 4 Folder 8
Sub-series Description

Arranged alphabetically by topic title, this sub-series consists of one box of eleven files. These files contain funding proposals, grant applications, manuscript drafts, notes, articles, addresses, and statements written by Charles C. Price.

Funding Proposal - "Investigation of Chemical Properties of Thiabenzene Analogs", 1965.
Box 5 Folder 1
Geometry of Giant Molecules (lecture - incl. reprints), 1959-1973.
Box 5 Folder 2
Grant Application - "Protein Alkylations and YAD-Catalyzed NAD-Oxidations", 1971.
Box 5 Folder 3
Grant Application - "Synthesis of Compounds for Cancer Chemotherapy", 1966.
Box 5 Folder 4
"Science and the Crisis of Man's Survival", 1970.
Box 5 Folder 5
Related Materials

See also Box 2 Folder 6; Box 4 Folder 7.

Statement by Charles C. Price on behalf of the American Chemical Society on House Resolutions 679, 710, 712, 713 and 752 (incl. statements from Pugwash Conference and Prof. R. R. Baxter, and text of resolution), 1974 May 7.
Box 5 Folder 6
Statement by Charles C. Price on behalf of The American Chemical Society on Senate Resolution 48 and the Bacteriological Convention (incl. statement by Prof. R. R. Baxter and text of Senate Resolution 48), 1974 December 10.
Box 5 Folder 7
"Synthesis of Life" (incl. notes and several variant texts of this address), 1967-1978.
Box 5 Folder 8
Theory of Organic Reactions (Osaka U. lecture notes), 1962.
Box 5 Folder 9
William Penn Symposium (CCP's "A Declaration of Human Purpose"), 1993.
Box 5 Folder 10
Related Materials

See also Box 5 Folder 11.

William Penn Symposium - draft manuscript, 1993.
Box 5 Folder 11
Related Materials

See also Box 5 Folder 10.

Series Description

This series contains the Laboratory Notebooks files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of four notebooks. These materials contain a record of Charles C. Price's laboratory work from his graduate work at Harvard University through to his postdoctoral and teaching career at the University of Illinois.

Laboratory Notebook I - "Converse Lab (Harvard University) - Lab. Work and Notes", 1934 September 28-1935 July 26.
Box 6 Folder 1
Laboratory Notebook II, 1935 July 27-1936 March 3.
Box 6 Folder 2
Laboratory Notebook III (incl. index to analyses made by CCP), 1936 March 3-1940 February 25.
Box 6 Folder 3
Laboratory Notebook IV, 1940 February 27-1945 December 7.
Box 6 Folder 4
Series VI. Restricted Materials, undated.
Series Description

Boxes 7-8 are restricted with access limited to select staff.

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