Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Dr. Ireland's Shabani Findings (1938)

A one-page letter of May 5, 1938, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, acknowledging his two letters of May 4 and the extract from the South African Mining & Engineering Journal. Brown wrote that "Dr. Ireland's experience at the Shabani asbestos mills is similar to our own experience at our Asbestos, Quebec, mill and mines," and added: "I predict - and certainly hope - that medical and scientific literature of the future will contain many reports of similar encouraging character."

What it shows

Vandiver Brown read the South African report of no asbestosis among the Shabani mill men as matching Johns-Manville's own record at its mill and mines in Asbestos, Quebec. The letter shows how welcome favorable findings were to the industry's lawyer in the weeks after Gardner's second progress report.

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 5/4/38. Expresses hope that future medical and scientific literature will contain other encouraging news.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Enclosing the Shabani Mines Extract (1938)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Thanking Him for Dr. Lanza's Letter (1938)
• E. H. Jeffords to Sumner Simpson on Gardner's Report and the Shabani Mines Extract (1938)

About this copy

This is document 03469-03470 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.