Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Asbestos Magazine's Review of a Book on Pneumoconiosis (1941)

A one-page letter of November 3, 1941, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's secretary and attorney, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, answering Simpson's letter of October 31. Brown had told Miss Rossiter, editor of the trade magazine "ASBESTOS," that Johns-Manville, and probably Raybestos-Manhattan, would not object to a review of "the book on 'Pneumoconiosis'" in the November issue, but that a number of her subscribers would likely "dislike an article on this subject." He enclosed a copy of his letter of the same day asking Dr. Leroy U. Gardner of Saranac Laboratory about the asbestos dust experiments.

What it shows

Vandiver Brown wrote that he "had in mind the ostrich-like attitude which has been evidenced from time to time by some members of the Industry," and that he believed the editor "will omit any review of the book in question." Six years earlier Raybestos-Manhattan's president and Brown had agreed that asbestosis should receive "the minimum of publicity" in Asbestos Magazine (Brown's letter of October 3, 1935). In the enclosed letter Brown reminded Dr. Leroy Gardner that the experiments, run "with the support of a group of asbestos textile manufacturers," had completed their fifth year, and asked about the final report. Gardner answered on November 5 (Gardner's reply).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

04732-04734. Acknowledges receipt of letter dated 10/31/41 which transmitted correspondence from A. Rossiter of "Asbestos." States that Rossiter was informed that J-M wouldn't object to a review of the book "Pneumoconiosis" in "Asbestos" but added that other members of the industry might object. Attaches letter to Dr. Gardner written 11/03/41.

04735. Requests update report on asbestos experiments at Saranac Lake. Brown states that he will be unable to attend the Annual Meeting of Industrial Hygiene Foundation, due to an "important lawsuit here in New York."

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Forwarding a Letter from Asbestos Magazine (1941)
• Sumner Simpson to J. F. O'Brien of the John B. Pierce Foundation Asking for a Book on Silicosis (1941)
• Leroy U. Gardner to Vandiver Brown on the Asbestos Experiments Nearing Completion (1941)
• Vandiver Brown to Leroy U. Gardner Agreeing to Extend the Dust Exposures (1941)
• Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Giving Asbestosis "the Minimum of Publicity" (1935)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown on Asbestos Magazine's Request to Write about Asbestosis (1935)
• Asbestos Magazine to Sumner Simpson on Publishing about Asbestosis (1935)
• Sumner Simpson and Vandiver Brown on Asbestosis Articles in Asbestos Magazine (1935–1941)
• Vandiver Brown and Leroy Gardner on the Status of the Asbestos Dust Experiments (1941)

About this copy

These are documents 04732-04734, 04735 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.