L. L. Cohen of Union Asbestos & Rubber to C. Mosier Enclosing Gardner's First Progress Report (1937)

Papers of Union Asbestos & Rubber Company of Chicago from May 1937. In a memo of May 13, L. L. Cohen sent C. Mosier a May 11 letter from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to L. J. Silverman, the company's secretary-treasurer, with a copy of Dr. Leroy U. Gardner's first progress report of May 5, 1937, on the asbestosis experiments at the Saranac Laboratory, asking that "after this report has served its purpose" it be returned to Silverman. A May 18 memo from Mosier passed the papers back to Silverman. The report itself closes: "None of these early results is regarded as significant."

What it shows

The papers show how the reports from Gardner's industry-funded experiments moved: Gardner reported to Brown, Brown sent copies to the sponsoring companies, and inside Union Asbestos & Rubber the report passed from hand to hand and was to be returned. The report also says it was "not yet clear" whether trouble with injecting chrysotile into animals was "merely a matter of technique or whether this substance is essentially toxic."

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

L.L. Cohen (Union Asbestos & Rubber Co.) memo to C. Mosier (Union Asbestos & Rubber Co.), 5/13/37, enclosing V. Brown letter to L.J. Silverman (Secretary-Treasurer, Union Asbestos & Rubber Co.), 5/11/37, and Dr. Leroy U. Gardner's first progress report on his animal experiments, dated 5/5/37. Cohen asks that "after this report has served its purpose will you be good enough to return to Mr. Silverman." V. Brown (General Attorney, J-M) letter to L.J. Silverman, 5/11/37, enclosing Dr. Gardner's first progress report on his animal experiments, dated 5/5/37. Dr. L.U. Gardner's "First Progress Report on Asbestosis Experiments at the Saranac Laboratory," 5/5/37. Dr. Gardner states that "it is too early to report more than the fact that the experiments have been started." Dr. Gardner reaches no conclusions. C. Mosier memo to L.J. Silverman, 5/18/37, enclosing V. Brown letter to L.J. Silverman, 5/11/37, and Dr. Gardner's first progress report, which Cohen forwarded to Mosier to read in Silverman's absence.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to L. J. Silverman Enclosing Gardner's First Progress Report (1937)
• Leroy Gardner, First Progress Report on Asbestosis Experiments at the Saranac Laboratory (1937)
• R. E. Cryor of Union Asbestos & Rubber to C. Mosier on Gardner's Asbestos Dust Experiments (1938)
• Vandiver Brown to Union Asbestos & Rubber Enclosing Gardner's First Progress Report (1937)

About this copy

This is document 809 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004372 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004379.