W. J. McConnell of Metropolitan Life to O. H. Cilley Asking for New X-Rays of Manheim Workers (1938)

A one-page letter of November 23, 1938, from Dr. W. J. McConnell, assistant medical director of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and director of its Industrial Health Section, to O. H. Cilley, assistant general manager of Raybestos-Manhattan's United States Asbestos Division in Manheim, Pennsylvania. McConnell attached a list of employees for whom Metropolitan Life had two X-rays, "one taken in 1930 and the other in 1935," and asked for another film of each "so that we can demonstrate in our asbestos report that, contrary to general opinion, asbestosis develops very slowly."

What it shows

Metropolitan Life had studied the dust at the Manheim plant in 1930 (its 1930 report) and held two sets of X-rays of the same workers. McConnell wanted a third set for the insurer's report on the asbestos industry, and he said in advance what he expected it to show: that asbestosis "develops very slowly." The letters that followed (November 28, December 6, mid-December) arranged the new films.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Transmittal letter for list for employees x-rayed in 1930 and 1935. Requests permission to x-ray employees again to demonstrate that, contrary to general opinion, asbestosis develops slowly (list of employees not attached).

Related documents

• O. H. Cilley to W. J. McConnell Agreeing to X-Ray the Manheim Workers Again (1938)
• W. J. McConnell to O. H. Cilley on the X-Rays for Metropolitan Life's Asbestos Report (1938)

About this copy

This is document 03493 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.