Collection ID: 4078913 MS#0620
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Howe, Henry Marion, 1848-1922
Extent:
2.09 linear feet and 5 document boxes and folders in 2 flat boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Henry Marion Howe papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Background

Scope and Content:

Correspondence of Howe, dealing with various departmental affairs such as supplies, laboratory equipment, building maintenance, personnel, students, and examination questions. The chief correspondents are two of Howe's colleagues in the Dept. of Metallurgy, Bradley Stoughton and Arthur Lucian Walker. The Stoughton correspondence runs from 1902 to May 1908, at which time he left Columbia and was replaced by Walker. Although Walker remained in the department until 1929, only his correspondence from May 1908 to 1909 is included. Throughout the correspondence there are frequent references to steel. Most of Howe's letters are originals, while Stoughton and Walker's replies are almost entirely carbon copies. Also, a group of letters of inquiry and letters of reference regarding Howe's effort to find a new assistant during July and August of 1916. The manuscripts and documents consist of twenty reports, with covering letters, by Howe as a metallurgical consultant to various mining and metal companies, 1890-1911; lecture notes, 1884-1896; two scrapbooks of metallurgical photographs; four volumes of blueprint graphs illustrating metallic content; a volume of Howe's experiments on refrigeration, ca. 1888-1889; and various other metallurgical notebooks.

Biographical / Historical:

Professor of Metallurgy at Columbia University, 1897-1922.

The "greatest of all the steel metallurgist," Howe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1848. He was the son of noted philanthropist Dr. Samuel G. and activist and suffragist Julia Ward Howe, best known as the writer of the pro-Union, anti-slavery anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Howe was educated at Boston Latin, received an AB, AM, and LLD from Harvard and a BS in mining and metallurgy from MIT. He worked in the iron and copper industry in the Midwest, Chile, Quebec, New Jersey, and Arizona for 25 years before joining the Columbia University as the Chair of the Metallurgy Department in 1897. In 1913 he became professor emeritus.

Howe was the author of several standard works, including 'Copper Smelting' (1885), 'The Metallurgy of Steel' (1891), 'Metallurgical Laboratory Notes' (1902), 'Iron, Steel, and other Alloys' (1908), and 'Metallography of Steel and Cast Iron' (1916), besides contributing to the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica the article dealing with iron and steel.

He was a Knight of the Order of St. Stanislas, Russia, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France. He was appointed by the American Society for Testing Materials as a representative on the International Committee dealing with the problem of uniform nomenclature of iron and steel and also served chair of the Committee. He was President of the jury of awards on mining and metallurgy both at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and at the Paris Exhibition. He received the Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, Eliot Cresson medal, Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, gold medal of the Verein zur Befoerderung des Gewerbfleisses, Berlin, gold medal of Societe d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale of France. In 1917 Howe has been awarded the John Fritz medal for his investigations in metallurgy, especially in the metallography of iron and steel. The John Fritz medal is awarded from time to time for notable scientific or industrial achievement by the United Engineering Societies.

He died on May 14, 1922, at his residence in Bedford Hills, New York.

Acquisition information:
Source of acquisition--School of Mines Office. Method of acquisition--Found by Thomas T. Reed; Date of acquisition--1942. Accession number--M-42. 2nd group of materials -- Found by George L. Kehl - 1961.
Processing information:

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 07/--/89.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in one series: Series I: Henry Marion Howe papers, 1875-1917.

Accruals:

No additions are expected.

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

PREFERRED CITATION:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Henry Marion Howe papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th St.
New York, NY 10027, United States
Link to repository site
CONTACT:
(212) 854-5590
rbml@library.columbia.edu