Inventor Name
Bishop, Howard B.
Repository
Chemical Heritage Foundation
Othmer Library
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-873-8265
http://othmerlib.chemheritage.org
Physical Description
1.5 linear feet
Summary
Howard Berkey Bishop was born in Bloomington, Illinois on January 24, 1878. He attended the Armour Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan and, after a brief involvement in running a photographic studio and working for smaller chemical firms, began working for the General Chemical Company as an analytical chemist in 1902. While employed by General Chemical, he patented several important processes and inventions including a new method for the production of Hydrofluoric Acid and the Electrotitrimeter, a device for measuring percentages of acid. While employed by General Chemical he was also instrumental in helping to found the Laurel Hill [L.I.] Laboratory Analytical Council, a group designed to study and brainstorm solutions to everyday industrial problems. In 1906, Bishop was awarded the Nichols Medal for his paper “The Estimation of Minute Quantities of Arsenic.” While still an employee of General Chemical Company, Bishop co-founded several small chemical consulting and manufacturing businesses, chief of which was the Sterling Products Company of Easton, Pennsylvania. Between 1921 and 1929, Bishop was also President of the John C. Wiarda Chemical Company, a small chemical works in Brooklyn, New York that specialized, as did Sterling, in chemicals useful to the laundry industry. In 1940, having sold his interest in Sterling Products Company, Bishop embarked upon the second phase of his career. He had always been interested in social welfare issues and was an ardent campaigner against smoking and drinking, so he founded the Human Engineering Foundation to propagate his anti-alcohol, anti-nicotine and anti-caffeine views. While running the foundation he also managed a small consulting and commercial firm, Service Engineering Company. Bishop died in Summit, New Jersey after a brief illness on February 6, 1961. This collection is a series of snapshots of extraordinary richness. While it does not claim to offer a continuous presentation of Howard B. Bishop’s life and career, those portions that it covers are covered quite extensively. In addition to personal correspondence, including a series of letters from the boy Bishop to his grandmother, a series of letters to Bishop from his future wife and a series of letters from Bishop to his wife, there is a wealth of business correspondence, providing real insight into the economics of the chemistry business as it affected small manufacturing firms during the 1920s. Of special interest is the large selection of material from the John C. Wiarda Chemical Company, including payroll books, tax receipts and real estate records. There are also notebooks—one dating from Bishop’s years as a university student—a handwritten formulary and photographs of historical interest. There are also a small number of objects. Additional materials may be found at the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
Finding Aid
http://othmerlib.chemheritage.org/search/?searchtype=a&searcharg=bishop%2C+h&searchscope=5