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General Dyestuff Corporation pigment salesman's manual
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Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
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General Dyestuff Company (GDC) was formed in 1925 as part of I.G. Farben's attempt to regain Germany's pre - WWI dominance in the field of dye and pigment production. It was a partnership between the Grasselli Chemical Company of Cincinnati, OH and Bayer Leverkusen, a member of the Farben combine, in Germany under which the Germans would provide the technical know-how while Grasselli offered them an opening into valuable U.S. markets. In 1942 the U.S. imposed government control on GDC and General Aniline, also largely controlled by I.G. Farben. Under the Farben system manufacturing was done by General Aniline while GDC, which had functioned as the exclusive selling agent for Farben products in the U.S. controlled customer relations and set production schedules. This unwieldy arrangement led the Justice Department to finally merge GDC and General Aniline in 1953. The new entity acquired the acronym GAF.
The manual is divided into sub-sections dealing with the topics Dyestuffs; Cotton; Plastics; Paint; Printing Inks; and a Miscellaneous Application section. This final section contains information on the coloring and dyeing of diverse items, such as Anodized Aluminum, Paper, Soaps and Detergents, Shoe Polishes, Gasoline, Rubber and Smoke.
The notebooks are largely organized by dye color. There is one binder devoted specifically to the Marhen Process. The sales book is really more a catalogue of dyes available, illustrated via cloth swatches.
This is a black cloth 10x11.5 ring-binder containing 466 pages of text and charts of data. It is subdivided into seven topical sections and is the work of multiple authors. It was issued to trainee salesmen to acquaint them with various aspects of the industry. It contains technical rather than commercial information and was a controlled item of the General Dyestuff Company. This copy is Number 14 and a reward was offered for its return.
Source of acquisition--Roberta M. Tremain. Method of acquisition--Gift;; Date of acquisition--2013..
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- Science History Institute Archives