Sumner Simpson to G. M. Williams of Russell Manufacturing on Funding Gardner's Asbestos Research (1936)

A two-page letter of November 10, 1936, from Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, to G. M. Williams, president of Russell Manufacturing Co. of Middletown, Connecticut. It is the same letter Simpson sent that day to the heads of Thermoid Rubber, Asbestos Manufacturing and Keasbey & Mattison, proposing that several asbestos manufacturers share the $5,000 a year cost of three years of animal experiments with asbestos dust by Dr. Leroy Gardner at Saranac, and inviting Williams to a meeting at The Biltmore in New York on November 17.

What it shows

As in the other copies, Simpson wrote that the companies "cannot go into court and state definitely and specifically" that asbestosis will not lead to tuberculosis, that compensation laws would become "more rigid," and that the sponsors would decide "whether we wish any publication or not." Williams replied the next day that he would attend and suggested the Brake Lining Manufacturers' Association pay for the work.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Proposes meeting between J-M, RM, Thermoid Rubber, Asbestos Mfg., Russell Mfg., and Keasby & Mattison to discuss sponsoring studies by Dr. Gardner at Saranac, N.Y. Informs that J-M, RM and Metropolitan studied dust levels and found they could be greatly reduced. Not yet known if asbestosis leads to tuberculosis. Must know more about asbestosis because compensation laws seem to be getting more rigid. Gardner will conduct experiments on effects of asbestos on animals.

Related documents

• G. M. Williams of Russell Manufacturing to Sumner Simpson Suggesting the Brake Lining Association Fund Gardner's Work (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to F. H. Schluter of Thermoid Rubber on Funding Gardner's Asbestos Research (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to H. D. LaMont of Asbestos Manufacturing on Funding Gardner's Asbestos Research (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to A. S. Blagden of Keasbey & Mattison on Funding Gardner's Asbestos Research (1936)

About this copy

This is document 03010-03011 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.