Overview of the Collection |
|
| Creator: | National Plastics Center & Museum. |
| Title: | Bakelite Collection |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1944-1956 |
| Quantity: | 0.25 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Collection contains correspondence and printed material related to the Bakelite Corporation. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu |
Bakelite was developed in 1907–1909 by a Belgian, Dr. Leo Baekeland (who also invented Velox photographic paper, bought by Kodak); shortly thereafter Baekeland founded the General Bakelite Company (1910) to produce and distribute his invention. The material's ingredients are phenol and formaldehyde, often with a wood flour filler. Electrically nonconductive and heat-resistant, it has been used in everything from radio and telephone casings and electrical insulators to kitchenware, jewellery, and children's toys. In 1924 Baekeland, then president of the American Chemical Society, appeared on the cover of Time magazine. In 1993 the American Chemical Society named Bakelite a National Historical Chemical Landmark as "the world's first completely synthetic plastic."
The Bakelite Corporation was formed in 1922 by a merger of the General Bakelite Company, the Condensite Company, and the Redmanol Chemical Products Company founded by L.V. Redman. The patent on the Bakelite formulas expired in 1927 and numerous companies began manufacturing Bakelite items. Another company, Bakelite Limited, was formed in England in 1926 from three suppliers of phenol formaldehyde materials; in 1939 the company was acquired by the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation.
The Bakelite Collection contains correspondence and printed material. Correspondence consists of a letter detailing two of the Bakelite Company's standard testing methods. Printed material contains a clipping from an issue of Bakelite Review and several issues of two newsletters:Trefoil, published monthly by "the employees of the Bakelite Division, Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation," and The Wyandotte Peace Pipe, published "by and for the personnel of the Halowax Products Division" of Bakelite.
There are no access restrictions on this material.
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Special Collections Research Center has numerous holdings in the areas of plastics and industrial design. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing. There are also items made of Bakelite in the artifacts holdings.
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Bakelite Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library
Transfer from National Plastics Center and Museum, 11/06/2008.
Created by: MRC
Date: 2009
Revision history: Feb 2009 - converted to EAD (MRC)
| Correspondence | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Miscellaneous 1956 | ||||||||||
| Printed material | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Clipping, "Fifty Years of Phenolics" Bakelite Review Nov. 1960 | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | Newsletters, Trefoil and Wyandotte Peace Pipe 1944-1945, 1949-1950 (5 items) | ||||||||||
