In the mid-1990s, the archives of IUPAC’s Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances were given to the Science History Institute (at that time the Chemical Heritage Foundation), thanks to the efforts of Steffen Peiser. In 1997, the impending move of IUPAC’s headquarters from Oxford to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, provided an opportunity for the Institute to become the permanent home of the remaining IUPAC records that were no longer needed by the current administration. At the present time the total IUPAC archive consists of 388 boxes or 214 linear feet (65 linear meters) and 150 photographs. It is an important source for historians on the development and organization of science. It is one of the most heavily used collections in the Institute’s Othmer Library, primarily because of how important IUPAC is in the overall organization and disciplinary identity of chemistry in the twentieth century as well as the central role it plays in the management of chemical nomenclature and in the standardization of atomic weights, physical constants, and formats of publications. This talk will discuss the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the archive, its contents, and how scholars can best gain access to the material. I will also discuss the possibility of finding and adding additional material to the archive.

Archives of the international union of pure and applied chemistry at the Science History Institute

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.