Guide to the NMAH Staff Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 archivescenter@si.edu http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Table of Contents Collection Overview... 1 Administrative Information... 1 Arrangement... 2 Scope and Contents... 2 Biographical / Historical... 2 Names and Subjects... 2 Container Listing...
Collection Overview Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History Title: Identifier: Date: 1867-1995 Extent: 150 cubic feet (267 boxes) Creator: Sterling Drug, Inc. Winthrop Chemical Company History Factory (Chantilly, Virginia) Bayer Company Language: English Digital Content: Image(s): Administrative Information Immediate Source of Acquisiton In 1991 Sterling Drug retained the History Factory to process, catalog and provide reference access to the collection, which it continued to do until Sterling Drug's divestiture in 1995. The History Factory contacted the companies having ownership of materials within the Sterling Drug, Inc. Collection, and received disposition rights. The History Factory donated the archival collection to the Archives Center in 2001, at which time they donated numerous artifacts to the Division of Science, Medicine and Society, National Museum of American History. Related Archival Materials The papers of the Winthrop Chemical Company, a subsidiary of Sterling Drug, Inc. are located in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Processing Information Collection processed by NMAH Staff, undated. Preferred Citation, 1867-1995, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Restrictions on Access Unrestricted research access on-site by appointment.,however, most of the collection is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it.,unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves. Page 1 of 3
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Fees for commercial reproduction. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Biographical / Historical Sterling Drug was founded in 1901 by William E. Weiss and Albert H. Diebold of Wheeling, West Viginia, to manufacture and sell a pain-relieving preparation called "Neuralgine". The company's original name was Neuralgyline. Within a few years, Weiss and Diebold realized that expansion required more product lines and that these would be best obtained by acquisition. This policy continued throughout the life of the organization. At least 130 companies were acquired between 1902 and 1986. Weiss and Diebold changed the name of the company in 1917 to Sterling Drug, Inc. Sterling Drug benefited from World War I. Because supplies of drugs from Germany were cut off by the Allied blockade, they set up the Winthrop Company to manufacture the active ingredients. After the war, Sterling acquired the American Bayer Company. They established a separate subsidiary, the Bayer Company, to market Bayer Aspirin. During the 1930s, Winthrop made Sterling a leader in the pharmaceutical field with such renowned products as Luminal, the original phenobarbitol; Salvarsan and Neo-Salvarsan, the first effective drugs in the treatment of syphillis; Prontosil, the first of the sulfa drugs; and Atabrine, the synthetic antimalarial that replaced quinine during World War II. The company expanded overseas in 1938, and eventually operated about seventy plants in about forty countries. Sterling was especially profitable in Latin America. In 1988, in order to avoid a hostile takeover by Hofmann-LaRoche, Sterling became a division of Eastman Kodak and remained one until 1994 when Kodak decided to dispose of its health-related businesses. Scope and Contents The collection contains domestic and foreign advertising for both pharmaceutical and consumer health care products; sales and marketing materials for pharmaceuticals aimed at physicians, such as brochures, package inserts, reports, catalogs, price lists, manuals; the company's business and administrative papers, including annual reports, news releases, clippings, newsletters and publications, financial and corporate files, histories, memorabilia, and photographs. Arrangement Divided into 4 series: Products, Advertising, Sales and Marketing, and Corporate Affairs. Names and Subject Terms This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Smithsonian Institution under the following terms: Subjects: Analgesics Page 2 of 3
Anesthesia Antibiotics Barbiturates Medicine Pharmaceutical industry advertising Types of Materials: Advertisements -- 20th century Brochures Business records -- 20th century Catalogs Clippings Financial records Manuals Newsletters -- 20th century Photographs -- 20th century Press releases Price lists Names: Eastman Kodak Co. History Factory (Chantilly, Virginia) Page 3 of 3