Doctoral student: Kathryn Steen; Dissertation topic: "Wartime Catalyst and Postwar Reaction: The Making of the U.S. Synthetic Organic Chemicals Industry." Prior to World War I, the United States had virtually no synthetic organic chemicals industry. By the end of the 1920s, however, the domestic industry was firmly established as a world competitor capable of producing such notable products as aspirin, plastics, and dyestuffs--all of which had come in whole or part from Germany before the war. Entering World War I, the United States possessed one of the strongest industrial sectors of any nation--with the exception of synthetic organic chemicals. The wartime shortages may account for the initial impetus for the industry's growth, but it fails to explain the concrete steps taken to translate the recognized deficiency into a viable industry. The significance of this topic lies in discovering and analyzing the specific measures taken by industrialists, policy makers, universities, and others who worked to establish an industry where virtually none had existed before. Ms. Steen, under the direction of her dissertation adviser, Dr. David Hounshell of the Carnegie Mellon University, is traveling to several archival collections crucial to documenting the process of development of this critical industry. Included among the collections to be consulted for this research are the Charles H. Herty papers at Emory University, the Francis P. Garvan papers at the University of Wyoming, and several corporate records depositories.
