Corporate advertising, public relations and popular exhibits: The case of du pont

History and Technology

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 1993, Pages 67-75

  Rhees, David J ^a  

^a American Philosophical Society   (United States)

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EID: 33750145941     PISSN: 07341512     EISSN: 14772620     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/07341519308581836     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. The best treatment of Du Pont's scientific and technological contributions is David A. Hounshell and John Kenly Smith, Jr., Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R&D, 1902-1980. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988.
2. Another important political problem which concerned Du Pont from World War I to the early 1920s was the need for tariffs to protect the company's infant synthetic dye business from German competition. The use of popular chemistry exhibits and literature to build public support for dye tariffs is recounted in David J. Rhees, The Chemists’ Crusade, op.cit., pp. 263-330 (see ref. 1).
3. Quotation from “Reflections on Fourth National Chemical Exposition,” Du Pont Magazine (December 1918), p. 21; David J. Rhees, “Chemistry on Display: The Early Years of the Chemical Exposition, “Today's Chemist”(April 1990), pp. 22-26.
4. “The Du Pont Exhibit, 25 Years of Service on the Atlantic City Boardwalk…” (1941), 11, 2, box 11; statistic from Atlantic City Press, 10 October 1955, copy in box 12.
5. “Reflections on Fourth National Chemical Exposition,” Du Pont Magazine (December 1918), p. 21.
6. In addition to extensive newspaper publicity. Du Pont was featured in Merchants of Death: A Study of the International Armament Industry, by Helmuth C. Englebrecht and Frank C. Hanighen, which became a best-seller. John E. Wiltz, In Search of Peace: The Senate Munitions Inquiry, 1934-36. Louisiana State University Press, 1963.
7. The philosophy of the campaign was outlined in Bruce Barton to Lammot du Pont, 18 May 1935, Ace. 1662, box 3, “Advertising Dept., July 1932 - Dec. 1935” file.
8. As John Staudenmaier notes in his paper (supra) the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, was opened to the public in 1933. However, it was more of a proprietary or company-type museum and thus rather different in form and function from the institutions in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.
9. Strictly speaking, “synthetic” materials are man-made, non-natural, off-the-shelf chemicals. In popular parlance, however, any substance that involved extensive chemical processing, even if utilising natural products (such as celluloid, made from chemically-treated plant fibres), was loosely referred to as synthetic.
10. Memo attached to Frank B. Jewett to Arthur W. Packard, 7 July 1941, Rockefeller Foundation archives, RG2, Cultural, box 20, folder 196, Rockefeller Archive Center.
11. Of course, legitimation can flow both ways: in the generally materialistic culture of interwar America, industry legitimated science (and museums of science) by showing that abstract scientific ideas eventually lead to concrete, useful, and profitable products.
12. “Lecture.for Du Pont Exhibit, Franklin Institute,” (1937), Acc. 1410, box 61 -A, “Stine, C.M.A”. file.
13. “History of Du Pont Exhibits, 1935-1945,” p. 76, Acc. 1410, box 58. After its Philadelphia venue, “Better Things for Better Living… Through Chemistry” ended its career at Du Pont's Atlantic City Exhibit.
14. “History of Du Pont Exhibits, 1935-1945,” Acc. 1410, box 58, p. 123.
15. Du Pont's postwar antitrust problems are recounted in L.L.L. Golden, Only by Public Consent-America's Corporations Search for Favorable Opinion. New York, Hawthorne Books, 1968, pp. 301-317.
16. J.S. Hukill to D. Mortellito and W.H. Uffelman, 10 July 1951, II, 2, box 32. On the A.C.S. Diamond Jubilee, see Charles A. Browne and Mary E. Weeks, A History of the American Chemical Society: 75 Eventful Years. Washington, DC, American Chemical Society, 1952, chapt. 20.
17. In J.S. Hukill, “Report on Company Exhibits Activities in 1952,” 6 March 1953, 11, 2, box 59.
18. John Bovco, in “Lecturers’ Reports - July 15, 1939, Shift B,” II, 2, box 35.
19. Mrs. Winfred Jones to Du Pont Co., 12 Sept. 1949, “Visitor Comments” file, II, 2, box 60.
20. “Report on Activities of the New York Museum of Science and Industry from January 1, 1938 through December 31, 1938,” pp. 4-5, Rockefeller Foundation archives, RG1.1, series 200, box 262, folder 3118, Rockefeller Archive Center.
21. Memorandum, p. 4, attached to Frank B. Jewett to Frederic B. Platt, 2 July 1941, Rockefeller Foundation archives, RG2, box 20, folder 196, Rockefeller Archive Center.
22. It is true that the antitrust case was appealed by the Government and that the Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that Du Pont must divest its sixty-three million shares of General Motors stock. Even so. Du Pont was cleared of the original conspiracy charges and it was able to obtain legislative tax relief for its shareholders upon sale of the G.M. stock. L.L.L. Golden, Only by Public Consent, pp. 309-317 (seeref. 19).
23. CM. Hackett to Harold Brayman, 29 October 1954, Acc. 1410, box 42, “Public Relations” file.
24. Wm. A. Hart, “Ideas In Du Pont Advertising,” 26 May 1955, Du Pont Advertising Clinic talk, II, 2, box 18.
25. L.T. Alexander, “How to Get the Most Out of Your Exhibits Section,” 30 Oct. 1956, II, 2, box 60, “Speeches and Articles (1)” file.
26. The number rose from 41 shows in 1946 to 180 shows in 1955. William H. Uffelman, “1947 Exhibits Section Activities”, Jan. 1948, II, 2, box 60, “Reports” file.
27. W.A. Hart, “Welcome and Opening Remarks,” 31st Advertising Clinic, May 28, 1953, 11, 2, box 18.
28. Bruce V. Lewenstein, Public Understanding of Science in America, 1945-1965 (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1987), p. 312.
29. A 1979 report on science museums concluded that the museums of the Smithsonian Institution have been less swayed by corporate influence than science and technology centres because they have enjoyed generous federal support. Howard Learner, White Paper on Science Museums. Washington, DC, Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1979, p.48.
30. W. Alfred Mukatis, “Chemical Sensitivity” (letter to the ed.), Chemical & Engineering News (4 June 1990), p. 66-67.
31. “Dow and Chemical Like Love, Marriage Belong Together,” Wall Street Journal (23 January 1989), p. B-9.
32. See, for example, “Chemical Firms Press Campaigns to Dispel Their ‘Bad Guy’ Image,” Wall Street Journal (20 September 1988), p. 1.
33. Ernest Carpenter, “Multimillion-dollar Fund Drive Launched by ACS,” Chemical and Engineering News (14 March 1988), p. 28; Science in American Life: A Feasibility Study. Washington, DC, National Museum of American History, June 1989, p. 34.
34. See Learner, White Paper on Science Museums, op.cit., (ref. 34).