Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Union Asbestos's Limit and Dr. Shull's Paper (1937)

A one-page letter of January 4, 1937, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, answering two letters of December 29. Brown wrote that he was interested in Dr. Leroy U. Gardner's comments on Dr. J. Rush Shull's paper on asbestosis but did not know the article and asked where to find it. He reported that L. J. Silverman of Union Asbestos & Rubber Company did not wish to commit his company for more than "$200 to $250 per annum," and that he had suggested Silverman sign the agreement and add a phrase limiting the contribution to that amount. A postscript noted that Simpson had ordered him a reprint of Shull's article.

What it shows

By the start of 1937 Vandiver Brown and Simpson were collecting signatures from asbestos companies on the Memorandum of Agreement that paid for Dr. Leroy Gardner's dust experiments at Saranac Laboratory (the memorandum). Smaller firms were willing to join only for a small share: Union Asbestos & Rubber settled on $250 a year (Silverman's letter of January 6). The same letters passed along Gardner's critique of Shull's paper (Gardner to Simpson, December 24, 1936).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Acknowledges receipt of two letters dated 12/29/36. Informs of receipt of letter from Silverman of Union Asbestos and Rubber Co. saying he did not wish to commit his company to more than $250 on the Memorandum to Agreement. Brown suggested to Silverman that he add a phrase to the Agreement noting his company's contribution was limited to that amount.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Enclosing Dr. Gardner's Review of the Shull Article (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown on the Saranac Agreement Delayed by the Holidays (1936)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Ordering Him a Reprint of Dr. Shull's Article (1936)
• Dr. Leroy U. Gardner to Sumner Simpson Reviewing Dr. Shull's Asbestosis Article (1936)
• L. J. Silverman of Union Asbestos & Rubber to Sumner Simpson on a $250 Share of the Saranac Experiments (1937)
• Asbestos Companies' Memorandum of Agreement to Underwrite Gardner's Dust Experiments (1936)

About this copy

This is document 03146 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.