Sumner Simpson to Linn J. Boyd Referring Him to Metropolitan Life on Asbestos Dust (1943)

An unsigned file copy of a one-page letter of June 22, 1943, from Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, to Dr. Linn J. Boyd of New York Medical College, answering his request for the company's asbestos specifications and data on asbestosis. Simpson enclosed chemical analyses of Shabanie (Rhodesian) and Canadian asbestos, the second page here, and noted that the product the Anaconda Wire and Cable Company bought had "a very small amount of cotton." He wrote that "on asbestos dust ... the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has more detailed information than anyone else" and referred Boyd to Dr. Lanza, whom he understood to be "in the service," or to Wm. J. Fehnel of Metropolitan's Hygiene Division.

What it shows

Boyd had asked for "published or unpublished data" on asbestosis as an industrial hazard. Simpson sent the mineral analyses and pointed him to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, whose dust and X-ray studies of Raybestos-Manhattan's plants Simpson had followed for years, without sending any of that material himself. He told Boyd that if he knew "exactly what you were trying to arrive at" he might give more information. Simpson sent a copy to Vandiver Brown, who wrote that he had answered Boyd "the same way" (June 24, 1943).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Transmittal letter for analysis of several different types of asbestos. Informs that Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has more detailed information on asbestos dust than anyone else. Refers Dr. Boyd to Dr. Lanza or W.J. Fehnel of Metropolitan for more information.

Related documents

• Linn J. Boyd of New York Medical College to Raybestos-Manhattan Asking for Data on Asbestosis (1943)
• Sumner Simpson's Secretary to Linn J. Boyd Acknowledging His Letter (1943)
• Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Elliott DeForest's Asbestosis Letter (1943)

About this copy

This is document 05311-05312 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.