The knowledge of chemistry and the growth of chemical industries paralleled the development of instruction and research in chemistry at the University of Illinois. On May 8, 1867, the Trustees’ Committee on Courses of Study recommended the appointment of a professor of chemistry. Ambrose P. S. Stuart was appointed in 1868. The early science faculty recognized the fundamental importance of chemistry in the sciences, agriculture and engineering. While taxonomy, measurement and microscopy dominated the curriculum, the original faculty were well aware of the importance of a basic knowledge of chemistry. When the Illinois Industrial University was ten years old, the second major building to be built was a chemistry laboratory. Most records on the School of Chemical Science can be found under the “School of Chemical Sciences” subject in our holdings database; specific records relating to administration, faculty, and alumni are listed below.
College and Departmental Archives
- College of Science Letterbooks (Record Series 15/1/2): contains earliest departmental records
- Chemistry Subject File (Record Series 15/5/1): contains departmental correspondence, reports, memoranda, and publications
- Departmental Letterbooks (Record Series 15/5/2): provides information of the early development of the department
- Departmental History (Record Series 15/5/801): a periodic circular prepared by the Department of Chemistry. The February 1916 bulletin has been digitized.
Faculty Papers
- Arthur Palmer Papers (Record Series 15/5/20): covers early development of the department
- William A. Noyes Papers (Record Series 15/5/21): documents the growth of the modern department and Noyes’ research on electronic theories and essays on scientists as agents of peace
- B. Smith Hopkins Papers (Record Series 15/5/22): inorganic chemistry
- John C. Bailar Papers (Record Series 15/5/25): inorganic chemistry
- Therald Moeller Papers (Record Series 15/5/32): inorganic chemistry
- G. Frederick Smith Papers (Record Series 15/5/33): inorganic chemistry
- George D. Beal Papers (Record Series 15/5/26): organic chemistry
- Clarence G. Derick Papers (Record Series 15/5/30): organic chemistry
- William C. Rose Papers (Record Series 15/5/27): organic chemistry
- Reynold C. Fuson Papers (Record Series 15/5/24): organic chemistry
- Duane T. Englis Papers (Record Series 15/5/34): organic chemistry
- Edward Bartow Papers (Record Series 15/5/35): water chemistry
- Roger Adams Papers (15/5/23): documents the contributions of the architect of the modern department in his administrative work on campus, in industrial and foundation research contacts, and in national assignments relating to postwar German and Japanese science
- George L. Clark Papers (Record Series 15/5/31): spectroscopy
- Ludwig F. Audrieth Papers (Record Series 15/5/28): document postwar German chemistry
- Virginia Bartow Papers (Record Series 15/5/37): history of science and chemistry, women in chemistry