Vandiver Brown to M. F. Judd on Keeping Contact with Gardner Through the Two Companies (1937)

A two-page letter of February 10, 1937, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to M. F. Judd, secretary of Raybestos-Manhattan, answering Thomas Gatke's request that every sponsor hear from Dr. Gardner directly. Brown planned to give each member of "the underwriting group," and Gardner, a photostatic copy of the signed agreement, and the signers copies of his exchange of letters with Gardner, which "in effect outline our deal with him" and suggest that Gardner's contact with the group be through Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville. Since the two companies had started the project and might have borne the whole cost, it was "only natural that we should suggest ourselves as the clearing house." He doubted Gardner would make interim reports, but any that came would be shared with the group.

What it shows

Vandiver Brown confirmed that, at Sumner Simpson's suggestion, Dr. Leroy Gardner's dealings with the sponsors of the Saranac Laboratory experiments would run through Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan, not through each company. The "exchange of letters" he mentions is his November 1936 authorization (Brown to Gardner) and Gardner's acceptance (Gardner to Brown), which made the results the sponsors' property and required their approval before anything was published. This letter answers Gatke's request of February 5.

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 2/8/37. Informs of plans to give each company contributing to the Saranac study a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement and copies of letters exchanged by Brown and Gardner that outline agreement. Does not feel procedure of using J-M or Raybestos as clearing house will have effect of neglecting other companies. Does not foresee interim reports but informs they will be furnished to other companies if they occur.

Related documents

• M. F. Judd to Vandiver Brown Sending the Fully Signed Saranac Agreement (1937)
• Thomas L. Gatke to M. F. Judd Asking That Gardner Report to Every Sponsor (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)
• Sumner Simpson's Secretary to W. C. Scott on the Completed Saranac Agreement (1937)
• Asbestos Companies' Memorandum of Agreement to Underwrite Gardner's Dust Experiments (1936)

About this copy

This is document 03194-03195 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.