[CM01-F] General Operations (1915-1917)
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Description
These administrative, financial, legal, and technical documents pertain to various aspects of the chemical production facilities built by Edison after the outbreak of World War I. Many of the administrative items involve his personal business secretary, Richard W. Kellow. Among the legal agreements are 1915 contracts with Cambria Steel Co., Woodward Iron Co., Mitsui & Co., and Dominion Iron & Steel Co. regarding the establishment of benzol absorption plants in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Woodward, Alabama, and Sydney, Nova Scotia. Also included is a 1917 contract to sell phenol to the government of France. Some of the technical documents involve senior Edison chemical engineer William H. Mason, while others are both unsigned and undated. They relate to the consumption of raw materials at Edison's phenol and aniline plants at Silver Lake, New Jersey, and to the design and operation of his benzol plants at Johnstown, Woodward, and Sydney.
Less than 10 percent of the documents have been selected. The unselected items include several volumes of Chemical Still Production Logs, one of which contains instructions and test data on benzol distillation. Also unselected are many routine financial and administrative records; duplicate copies of legal agreements; interoffice correspondence and statements concerning shipping and billing of chemicals; inquiries from Italian textile companies wishing to purchase aniline dyes, along with routine negative replies; technical drawings not by Edison; newspaper clippings; and documents unrelated to chemical production.