The Syracuse University Library is pleased to announce that the National Plastics Center (NPC) has completed the accelerated transfer of ownership of its collection of plastics artifacts, books, and manuscripts to the SU Library. The collection has been on deposit since the National Plastics Center and Museum, located in Leominster, Massachusetts, closed in 2008. The NPC Collection is now a permanent part of the SU Library's Plastics Collection.
With the addition of over 2,000 artifacts in the NPC Collection, the SU Library Plastics Collection is now the largest university-based resource on the history of plastics. The entire collection can be viewed on the plastics website at plastics.syr.edu, which includes links to more than 40 archival collections on the history of plastics, and to the library's catalog of several thousand books and periodicals related to the history, science, technology, and business of plastics.
The Plastics Collection serves to advance the study and understanding of plastics in society, including its role in chemistry, technology, industry, medicine, art, design, sports, and other fields. The collection holds a variety of early plastics made of celluloid, thermoset plastics such as Bakelite and Catalin, as well as plastics made popular after WWII, such as acrylics, polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylon. The archival collection also contains material related to important plastics companies, such as sunglasses manufacturer Foster Grant, as well as the papers of inventors and entrepreneurs who helped make the 20th century the "Age of Plastic." Of special interest are plastics pioneer John Wesley Hyatt's patent books.
The Greenwald-Haupt Charitable Foundation and Harry Greenwald, an SU alumnus and member of the SU Library Advisory Board, provided funding for the Plastics website project. Continuing support from Greenwald and other members of the Plastics Pioneers will enable the ongoing development of the collection and plastics website.
For more information, contact Sam Gruber, curator of the Plastics Collection, sdgruber@syr.edu.