Chemical Heritage Foundation
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| Chemical Heritage Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chemical Heritage Foundation |
| Caption | Center for the History of Chemistry in Philadelphia |
| Formation | 1982 |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Purpose | Preservation of history of chemistry and chemical engineering |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Leader title | President |
| Leader name | David Cole (example) |
Chemical Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded to preserve and interpret the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related sciences. It maintains archival collections, a museum, research programs, and educational initiatives that document the people, institutions, and technologies that shaped modern chemical practice. Located in Philadelphia, it acts as a hub connecting scholars, curators, collectors, and the public through exhibitions, fellowships, and publications.
History
The organization was established in 1982 by a group including representatives from American Chemical Society, DuPont, and collectors such as Edward W. Cady who sought to preserve artifacts and archives linked to figures like Alfred Nobel, Dmitri Mendeleev, Marie Curie, Linus Pauling, and companies such as BASF and Monsanto. Early partnerships involved institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Library of Congress. Its Philadelphia headquarters occupies a historic building near Rittenhouse Square and the development involved collaboration with local entities like University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Major milestones included acquiring the archives of scientists such as Glenn T. Seaborg, Arthur D. Little, and corporate collections from DuPont and Eastman Kodak.
Mission and Collections
The stated mission emphasizes preservation, interpretation, and access to primary materials associated with individuals like John Dalton, Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Robert Bunsen, Gilbert N. Lewis, and Mary Elliott Hill, and organizations such as Royal Society of Chemistry, Max Planck Society, and Chemical Abstracts Service. Collections encompass personal papers, laboratory notebooks, photographs, apparatus tied to inventors like Thomas Edison (chemical patents), and synthetic chemistry from firms including Merck and Pfizer. The archives include oral histories with chemists such as Roald Hoffmann and Ahmed Zewail and technical reports from institutions like Bell Labs and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The library holdings feature rare books, trade literature, and manuscript collections related to events such as the Manhattan Project and the development of the Haber-Bosch process.
Museum and Exhibitions
The museum galleries showcase artifacts and exhibition themes covering figures such as Antoine Lavoisier, Joseph Priestley, Justus von Liebig, and the technological impact of firms like Johnson & Johnson and Dow Chemical Company. Rotating exhibits have explored topics through objects related to synthetic dyes from William Henry Perkin, pharmaceuticals from Paul Ehrlich, and materials science highlighted by work at Bell Labs and DuPont Experimental Station. Special exhibitions have tied to anniversaries of events like the Discovery of penicillin and retrospectives of inventors including Percy Julian and Ellen Swallow Richards. The museum also preserves laboratory apparatus such as balance scales, Bunsen burners, and glassware associated with historical experiments by Amedeo Avogadro and Svante Arrhenius.
Research and Publications
The foundation supports scholarship with fellowships for researchers studying archives associated with scientists like Ernest Rutherford, Alexander Fleming, Max Perutz, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, and industrial histories of Shell plc and Standard Oil. It publishes monographs, exhibition catalogs, and oral history transcripts documenting figures such as Frederick Sanger and institutions like Salk Institute and Carnegie Institution. Research programs have produced bibliographies and annotated guides related to the Periodic Table and technologies derived from work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. Collaborative publications have involved academic presses and partners including Johns Hopkins University Press and Oxford University Press.
Education and Public Programs
Educational outreach includes teacher workshops that reference historical case studies involving penicillin, the Haber-Bosch process, and green chemistry initiatives linked to Paul Anastas and John C. Warner. Public programs host lectures and panel discussions featuring Nobel laureates such as Ahmed Zewail and Roald Hoffmann, and celebrate figures like Rachel Carson and Rachel Lloyd through seminars. Family activities, guided tours, and traveling exhibitions have engaged audiences with demonstrations reflecting practices from 19th-century laboratories and industrial sites like Kennecott Copper Corporation and Bethlehem Steel.
Governance and Funding
Governance has involved a board with members drawn from corporations such as ExxonMobil, foundations like Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and academic institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley. Funding sources historically included corporate donors like E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, philanthropic grants from entities such as Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and revenue from admissions and publications. The foundation administered fellowships and grants in cooperation with partners like National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation, and maintained endowment and fundraising campaigns involving trustees and benefactors including heirs of industrial families such as DuPont family.