Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1984 Herman Frasch (German Immigrant Chemist, Standard Oil, Petroleum; Ohio, Louisiana). William Ralph Sutton Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Sutton, William Ralph, "Herman Frasch (German Immigrant Chemist, Standard Oil, Petroleum; Ohio, Louisiana)." (1984). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3971. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3971 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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University' Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8425886 Sutton, William Ralph HERMAN FRASCH The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical Col.Ph.D. 1984 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1984 by Sutton, William Ralph All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. HERMAN FRASCH A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by William R. Sutton B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1964 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1970 May 1984 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © 1984 WILLIAM RALPH SUTTON All R ights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION L. Russell Keene, II, a businessman from Sulphur, Louisiana and Key West, Florida, suggested the life of Frasch to me as the subject of a biography In the summer of 1982. Keene, who grew up near the old sulphur mines, the Frasch school, and the Frasch park, , has had a life-long Interest In the man who so changed the economy of south­ western Louisiana and, Indeed, the United States. Over the last decade, he had gathered together a collection of material on the scientist, Including Williams Haynes' book on the Frasch sulphur industry, the articles from The Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry on the Perkin Medal presentation to Frasch, copies of most of his patents, and articles on Frasch and the sulphur mines from various sources. Keene has led efforts to memorialize Frasch's work in a number of ways, from supporting his inclusion in the United States Postal Service's great scientist stamp series and the Patent Office's Inventors Hall of Fame, to the establishment of a Herman Frasch Memorial Foundation. When I agreed to attempt the biography, he made available his private collection of Frasch material, provided introductions to other interested parties, and financed the further research and the writing of this work. This is his project. Without his inspiration and encouragement it would not have been completed. In addition to the other forms of support, he also gave me complete freedom in telling the story of Frasch's life and work. Any errors of omission or commission, therefore, are my responsibility alone. I am grateful to him, his wife Susan, and their three children, Russ, Jennie, and Kris, who have all endured our long discussions'of Frasch ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and this project, for their contributions to this undertaking. I hope in this treatment of the life of the scientist of sulphur that I have merited the trust and confidence they have given me. It is dedicated to the Keene Family. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research and writing of this dissertation were made possible by generous private grants from L. Russell Keene II. My graduate education at Louisiana State University was largely financed by the people of the United States generally, and the people of Louisiana especially, through NDEA Title IV grants, teaching and grading as- sistantships, and Graduate School travel grants. The Warrick Founda­ tion helped with a grant from its privately-endowed funds. I am grateful to the sources of these monies and to the faculty of the History Department at LSU for gaining access to them for me. All of the members of the faculty of LSU under whom I have had the pleasure of working and studying, in particular the members of the examining committees, have been generous in their time and encouragement. I owe special thanks for all they have given me to three men in the History Department — my major professor, Burl Noggle; the chairman, John Loos; and the late T. Harry Williams. My major professor has borne with me patiently and tried to teach me how to write. The chairman has listened to my problems and solved many of them. Professor Williams, besides serving as an example of the finest type of scholar and teacher, once did a young graduate student the personal kindness of looking in late one afternoon and informing me, unofficially, that I had passed the general exams. Besides the faculty I owe much to my many fellow graduate students at LSU who helped to show the way. A large number of people helped in the preparation of this work on the life of Frasch. In the Dedication I have tried to indicate my debt to Russell Keene. Early in the project Dwight C. Spates, the iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. former postmaster of Sulphur, who grew up on the mine property, granted me an interview and took me on a tour of the mines. Mr. Spates also introduced me to the Brimstone Museum, located in Frasch Park in Sulphur, which contains many clippings relating to the mines and a model of the Frasch sulphur process. Coleen Turner was working as the curator in the summer of 1982 and she was most helpful in allowing me to look through their collection. Frasch's grandson gave a small collection of his papers to the Chemists' Club in New York City. Mildred Hunt, the assistant librarian, searched the premises of the crowded library until she located them for me. Mrs. Elsie Lim, the librarian, Dr. John Mellecker, the historian of the Club, and Dr. Sidney Tuwiner were also helpful in tracing Frasch's rela­ tionship with the Chemists' Club, which incidentally provided a roaring fire in the club room that was most attractive in the New York winter. I owe thanks to the staff of the LSU Library, the General Libraries of The University of Texas at Austin, the San Antonio Public Library, the New York Public Library, the Cleveland Public Library, the Philadelphia Public Library, the National Ar­ chives and Records Service Branches at Philadelphia and Fort Worth, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. Milton Mustin of the Philadelphia City and County Archives, Joseph Ernst of the Rockefeller Archive, James Casey of the Western Reserve Historical Society, and Kenneth Lohf of Columbia University generously provided access to relevant information in their manuscript collections. A number of people replied to correspondence from this author requesting information about Frasch. As did the people I met in the various v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. libraries and document rooms, they uniformly expressed interest in the project and showed me great courtesy. Professor Bennett Wall took time to lend me encouragement and give me leads on information.