Chemistry Reference
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cloth and feathered headband working with a Pilgrim stirring a giant
steaming caldron.
Figure 1. Poster for the American Chemical Industries Tercentenary used by the Ameri-
can Chemical Association 1935 meeting in New York (from Morrison 1937, p. 1).
Although there was chemical activity in the New World in the seven-
teenth century, the tiny number of European settlers in 1635 made the
claim for three hundred years of chemical 'industry' a bit of a historical
exaggeration. Regardless of whether the claim was historically justified,
the association of chemistry with the founding of America was a direct
argument that chemistry was a national enterprise and part of American
history from the beginning, not a recent and foreign import. The scien-
tific audience for this message was significant; when the annual meeting
opened on 24 April 1935, more than 10,000 delegates from around the
world had traveled to New York to attend (Anonymous 1935).
The conference was front-page news in New York and across the
country, and all the published reports suggested that the conference was a
rousing success. However, the executives of the ACS also wanted to pre-
