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Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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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
The Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (I&EC) is a currently active division of the American Chemical Society. It is the ACS' oldest division. The division's origins date back to 1907, when ACS President Marston T. Bogert appointed a committee to consider the feasibility of a publishing a journal for industrial chemists. In its report, the committee recommended the publication of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (currently named Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research). It also recommended the formation of a division within the ACS for industrial chemists and chemical engineers.
As a result of the committee's report, a new division named the Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers was founded in 1908, with Arthur D. Little serving as its first chairman. The new division held its first symposium at the ACS' 38th General Meeting that same year and soon experienced rapid growth. The Division of Industrial Chemists and Chemical Engineers was renamed the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry in 1919.
From its beginnings, the new division pursued an active policy of sponsoring symposia and papers. This, coupled with its concern with education and training, helped foster professionalism within the ranks of chemical engineers and allowed the division to sponsor the introduction of improved processes in the workplace. Among others, the concepts of unit processes and unit operations emerged from the division's work.
As the chemical industry grew in size and complexity, a number of informal sections were formed within the division to address special fields of interest. These sections started operating on a formal basis during the 1940s. Around 1950, the division's by-laws were amended to recognize these sections, which became subdivisions. Several of these subdivisions eventually grew into full status divisions within the ACS, including, but not limited to, the Division of Environmental Chemistry (1915), the Division of Cellulose Chemistry (1922), and the Division of Chemical Marketing and Economics (1954).
The Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry incorporated in 1983. Its current mission is to "responsibly advance the chemistry of science and engineering by providing a multidisciplinary forum to empower its practitioners". Over the course of its existence, it has sponsored numerous symposia and workshops. The division is also the publisher of the journal Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. It also sponsors the ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry.
Sources
Browne, Charles Albert and Mary Elvira Weeks, A History of the American Chemical Society, Seventy-Five Eventful Years, Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1952.
Flank, William H., "Putting Science to Work: A History of I&EC Leadership and Innovation in Its First Hundred Years" - https://iecdivision.sites.acs.org/iechistoryfirst100years.htm
Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry contain the division's institutional records. Arranged in their original order, the records are mainly administrative in nature. The files in these records concern a variety of subjects. Meetings and symposia, committee matters, publications, and membership matters are the most common subjects documented in these records. Smaller numbers of files concerning by-laws, division officers, officer elections, financial matters, awards, and other miscellaneous administrative topics are also found here.
The records' contents consist of a variety of materials. Correspondence, minutes, reports, and programs are the most common materials found in these records. Smaller, but noticeable, amounts of abstracts, agendas, handbooks and directories, financial documents, by-laws, and photocopied articles are also preserved here. Small amounts of a variety of other miscellaneous materials, including, but not limited to, newsletters, miscellaneous printed materials, and handbook manuscripts are present in these records as well.
The Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry were donated to the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) by Lawrence A. Casper (on behalf of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry) in 1992.
The Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry were processed by Andrew Mangravite in April 2013.
- Publisher
- Science History Institute Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid created by Andrew Mangravite and encoded into EAD by Kenton G. Jaehnig.
- Finding Aid Date
- 2013
- Access Restrictions
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There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.
- Use Restrictions
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The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.