Vandiver Brown to J. S. Offutt Enclosing the Brown-Gardner Letters (1937)

A one-page letter of February 15, 1937, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to J. S. Offutt of the United States Gypsum Company, with a copy to M. F. Judd of Raybestos-Manhattan. Answering Offutt's letter of February 12, Brown enclosed photostatic copies of his letters with Dr. Gardner setting out "the substance of the arrangement for the asbestos dust experiments," whose objectives "are of a general character and have nothing to do with special problems peculiar to any branch of the asbestos industry." The plan had been put to a meeting of brake lining manufacturers because he and Sumner Simpson saw a good chance to reach "a group who were affected by the problems"; that meeting was called mainly for trade association business.

What it shows

U.S. Gypsum, which was not a brake-lining maker, had raised points about the plan. Vandiver Brown answered that Dr. Leroy Gardner's experiments concerned the asbestos industry as a whole. U.S. Gypsum's later terms are in Brown's letter to Offutt of February 26.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Transmittal letter for correspondence between Brown and Dr. Gardner that outlines the substance of the arrangements for the Saranac experiments. Expresses hope that these letters will aid in making decision regarding sponsorship of Saranac study.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to J. S. Offutt of U.S. Gypsum Sending the Saranac Agreement (1937)
• Vandiver Brown to Leroy Gardner Authorizing the Saranac Asbestos Experiments (1936)
• Leroy Gardner to Vandiver Brown Accepting the Terms of the Saranac Asbestos Experiments (1936)

About this copy

This is document 03198 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.