Scope and Content Note
The papers of Arthur Dehon Little (1863-1935) span the years 1886-1973, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1900-1935. The papers consist mainly of business records and reports relating to Arthur D. Little, Inc., a chemical firm founded in 1886 by Little and Roger B. Griffin. Included in the series of Arthur D. Little, Inc., files are client lists, financial records, chemical reports, technical analyses, and related matter. Also in the collection is a small Personal Papers file containing letters received, correspondence and tributes on Little's death in 1935, newspaper clippings, biographical material, and drafts and reprints of speeches and articles.
Arthur D. Little came of age during the industrial expansion of the United States following the Civil War. After studying chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1885-1886, he was hired by a sulfate wood pulp mill in Rhode Island and a short time later became its chief engineer. Following Roger B. Griffin's death in 1893, Little incorporated the firm of Griffin and Little as Arthur D. Little, Inc., in 1909. The Little firm developed into a leading research, consulting, and chemical engineering organization with offices worldwide.
The first series, Personal Papers, focuses on Little as an individual and entrepreneur. Included are two volumes of scrapbooks entitled “Tributes” containing personal correspondence, notices of awards, messages of gratitude, other biographical data, and a small subseries of speeches and writings. Featured in the speeches and writings are talks, lectures, and presentations Little gave around the country and various publications regarding the efficient use of chemical processes and the importance of industrial research to economic growth and development. Topics range from commentary on the role of chemistry in society, as reflected in titles such as “The Chemist's Place in Industry” and “The Romance of Chemistry,” to many of the technical expositions of the processes Arthur D. Little, Inc., developed and patented in the areas of papermaking, use of wood and wood waste, vitreous cellulose or artificial silk (“On the Making of Silk Purses from Sow's Ears”), gasoline refining (cracking), and airplane dope (antiknock gasoline additive) and filter development for military use in World War I.
The Arthur D. Little, Inc., Files treat the business and research aspects of the company from its founding in 1886 until after Little's death. Included are case registers of clients, 1909-1934, documenting the names of clients and subjects of inquiry; financial records, 1907-1939, consisting of journals and ledgers; laboratory notes on experiments, 1886-1911, containing analytical reports of calculations, drawings, and other information relevant to the firm's technical work on behalf of clients; and laboratory procedures, 1909-1942, reports compiled for staff use which recorded the exact methods employed while determining the chemical composition of substances during experiments and investigations.
The largest and most comprehensive section of the Arthur D. Little, Inc., Files consists of more than 250 volumes of certificates of analysis, miscellaneous technical reports, special reports, and other reports containing the findings and conclusions the company submitted to clients following the completion of various projects. Included in the reports are technical descriptions of problems studied, the methods and procedures used in investigating them, the outcome or final analysis, and recommendations and suggestions regarding possible implications for individual clients or for industry in general. Among the businesses and corporations which contracted with Little to undertake chemical analyses of products or materials were the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, General Electric Company, General Motors Corporation, and Lever Brothers. Among the products, methods, and materials which the firm specialized in studying and developing were wood products, wood-waste recovery, new methods for gasoline cracking, papermaking, industrial alcohols, viscose products, foodstuff, and cost management.