Vandiver Brown to Dr. Leroy U. Gardner Sending the Signed Memorandum of Agreement (1937)

A one-page letter of February 26, 1937, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Dr. Leroy U. Gardner of the Saranac Laboratory, with a copy to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan. Brown enclosed a photostatic copy of the Memorandum of Agreement "signed by certain members of the Asbestos Industry for the purpose of underwriting the experiments with asbestos dust being conducted by you on their behalf," so that Gardner would know whose support he was receiving. The four companies that had limited their share to $250 a year had been told this would "not affect their right to receive as full benefits from your experiments" as the others. Brown also noted from letters between Gardner and "Mr. Fisher of our Manville Factory" that the fiber J-M had sent would do "after further treatment to reduce its particle size," and was sorry J-M could not supply it fine enough.

What it shows

The letter shows the arrangement for Dr. Leroy Gardner's animal experiments at the Saranac Laboratory taking its final form. Gardner was told which asbestos companies were paying for his work, and the dust his animals would breathe came from Johns-Manville's own factory at Manville, New Jersey. Vandiver Brown sent the same news to Sumner Simpson the next day, with the full list of sponsors (Brown's letter of February 27, 1937).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Transmittal letter for copy of Memorandum of Agreement which identifies the companies underwriting the Saranac study. Informs that those co.s limiting themselves to a contribution of $250 per year still have full rights to the benefits from the experiments. Reports that Fisher, of J-M's Manville factory, has said that a fiber satisfactory for experiments has been found. Acknowledges the fact that Gardner will have to have fiber crushed finer than J-M facilities can process it.

Related documents

• Asbestos Companies' Memorandum of Agreement to Underwrite Gardner's Dust Experiments (1936)
• Vandiver Brown to Leroy Gardner Authorizing the Saranac Asbestos Experiments (1936)
• Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Asbestos Fiber Dust for Dr. Gardner (1937)
• Vandiver Brown to J. S. Offutt of U.S. Gypsum on Its $250 Share of the Saranac Experiments (1937)
• Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson Listing the Sponsors of Dr. Gardner's Dust Experiments (1937)

About this copy

This is document 03200 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.