Sumner Simpson to H. B. Meller Declining an Air Hygiene Foundation Plant Survey (1939)

A one-page letter of April 10, 1939, from Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, to H. B. Meller, managing director of the Air Hygiene Foundation of America, answering his offer of plant surveys. Simpson wrote that "we are carrying on dust surveys in the asbestos industry as a whole, and would not be interested in having another company come into the picture at this time," since the survey was to run three years and about a year and a half's work had been done. He referred Meller to Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville as more familiar with the work "than possibly any one else in the industry." A handwritten note reads "Copy to Vandiver Brown, J-M."

What it shows

The "survey" Simpson describes is the industry's study at the Saranac Laboratory, which Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville were funding and keeping confidential. He turned away an outside survey of his plants and sent the Foundation to Brown instead.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Acknowledges receipt of letter dated 4/5/39. Informs that R/M would not be interested in a survey by outside company since the industry as a whole is engaged in the Saranac Lake Studies.

Related documents

• H. B. Meller of the Air Hygiene Foundation to Sumner Simpson on Plant Surveys (1939)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Sending His Correspondence with the Air Hygiene Foundation (1939)

About this copy

This is document 03623 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.