Vandiver Brown to Ernest Muehleck on a Committee to Review the Saranac Report (1948)

A copy of a one-page letter of April 26, 1948, from Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville to Ernest Muehleck, president of Keasbey & Mattison Company, Ambler, Pennsylvania, with a copy to J. F. D. Rohrbach of Raybestos-Manhattan. Brown wrote that Muehleck and Rohrbach were "the only members of the group with whom I have communicated concerning the impending report upon Dr. Gardner's experiments," and that both favored review "by a small committee prior to its being released to the entire group." Since "it was the asbestos textile manufacturers who underwrote the experiments," he suggested the president of the "Textile Manufacturers Association" might appoint the committee.

What it shows

The three largest sponsors agreed among themselves, before the rest of the group knew a report was coming, that a small committee should see the Saranac Laboratory report first. Brown's "Textile Manufacturers Association" appears to mean the Asbestos Textile Institute.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

States that Muehleck and Rohrback are the only members of the sponsoring group who have been informed about the impending report from Saranac. States that both men agree a small committee should review the report prior to releasing it to the group. Suggests that since the asbestos textile manufacturer's underwrote the experiments, perhaps the president of the Textile Manufacturers Association could appoint a review committee.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to J. F. D. Rohrbach on Reviewing the Saranac Report Before Publication (1948)
• J. F. D. Rohrbach to Vandiver Brown Favoring a Small Review of the Saranac Report (1948)

About this copy

This is document 05785 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.