Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Engineering Practice records

The records, varying by station, include project proposals, reports, and administrative files from a number of stations including Albany Station (General Electric), 1977-1989; Bound Brook Station (American Cyanamid), 1958-1975; Bayway Station (Esso Standard), 1958-1965; Bethlehem Station (Bethlehem Steel), 1982-1986; Boulder Station (Syntex Chemicals), 1987-1989; Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1987; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1948-1962 and 1966-1986; and Golden Station (Solar Energy Research Institute), 1987-1988. The records for Bangor Station (Eastern Manufacturing Co.), 1917-1957; Boston Station, 1917-1938; Buffalo Station (Lackawanna, then Bethlehem Steel Co.), 1921-1951; and Parlin Station (Hercules Powder Co.), 1938-1958, consist primarily of bound reports of the results of student projects. Reports from these stations were written by student groups and administrators of the program, at MIT and at the individual stations.

These reports provide extensive information about activities in the practice school. The records of the various stations deal with issues related to student life; housing; transportation; performance and evaluation of students and staff; stipends and recreation. For Oak Ridge, Bethlehem, and Bound Brook Stations there are newsletters and clippings from local papers. Additionally, for most stations there are files of correspondence with the MIT office and reports submitted to the director, as well as extensive series of "problem statements," the outlines of student projects, and reports dealing with these projects. In some cases these reports take the form of technical reports and published articles.

Administrative materials from MIT include the records of the annual director's conferences (1923-1980), student manuals, writings on chemical engineering and related educational issues by the practice school administration, and historical writings and notes on the practice school. Also included are proposals for program changes, contracts with industry, student fellowships and financial aid, and steering committee minutes (1971-1980); and the writings and correspondence of Professor Jefferson Tester, who was director of the school, 1980-1989.

Additional administrative material, which was held by John Mattill during the writing of his books The Flagship: The M.I.T. School of Chemical Engineering Practice, 1916-1991 (1991) and The Flagship Diversified: 1991-2004, (2004) was added to the collection in 2004.

Publications from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory series of reports were added to the collection in 2020.

The only digital material is found wthin the Boulder Station subseries in the Administrative files series, from a 5.25 inch floppy disk. The content consists of correspondence and reports in WordPerfect files and statistics in Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets.