A Few Details

The Section

The idea of an Akron Section of the American Chemical Society dates to the Spring of 1922, when the Akron area members of the Cleveland Section of the American Chemical Society invited the entire section to a day's outing in the factories of Akron and a dinner at the Portage Hotel. The objectives for the activities on May 3 were three-fold; to find out if there were enough members and enough enthusiasm to start a local section in Akron, to convince the rubber company executives that a local section would not be detrimental to their interests, and to gain the consent of Cleveland members to a splitting of the section. The event was a grand success, with a crowd of two hundred or more at the dinner that evening, so a group of the Akron chemists started organizing. Many members had arrived in the area at the end of the first world war, and keenly felt the need for a local organization where they could get together as a group. They didn't like being forced to travel to Cleveland, which was an arduous trip at any time of the year, but especially arduous during the winter months.

The founders of the Akron Section got a waiver from the Cleveland Section on the five county territory which would become the new section, and arranged for the American Chemical Society to recognize an Akron Section. The new section was initially met with antagonism by the managements of the rubber companies, as managers believed that fraternization of chemists from competing companies was not proper, and an exchange of ideas would be detrimental to individual company's well-being. Eventually the antagonistic feelings were broken down, and the three largest companies in Akron contributed the first funds, with Goodyear and Goodrich each donating $100 and Firestone donating $75. The Akron Section was officially founded in January 18, 1923 when forty-seven chemists, largely associated with the rubber industry, held their first regular meeting at the University Club in Akron. The Cleveland Section let go of the Akron chemists with great reluctance, but realized that the split was inevitable.

The Akron area already had a burgeoning rubber industry by that time, with the first chemical laboratory established back in 1870 by the BFGoodrich Company. At the end of the year 1923, the membership roster had one-hundred and seven dues-paying members. At first the section only had a Chairman, with a Secretary-Treasurer added the following year. The section adopted a constitution in April of 1929, creating separate positions of Secretary and Treasurer. While most activities were centered around Akron's rubber companies, the section did hold events in the early years at diverse places like Ohio Agricultural Experimental Station in Wooster, Timken Roller Bearings in Canton, Congress Lake in Hartville, and Lake Stafford in Ravenna.

By the time the section celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, the format of programs and activities was established that remains familiar even today. There were monthly dinner meetings with a variety of outside speakers, friendly social gatherings, competitive examinations for high school students, and participation with the Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies and the national American Chemical Society.

In February of 1950, the Akron Section had eight hundred and fifty members and the rubber industry was thriving. The section had expanded in total membership and in diversity of interests, and included women as well as physicists, teachers, and doctors. In industry, a research center was just opened by the BFGoodrich Company in Brecksville, following the recent openings of research facilities by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and the General Tire and Rubber Company. Research in rubber was broadening into plastics, agricultural chemicals, and organic synthesis. Pittsburgh Plate Glass began pilot operations with its Columbia Chemical Division. Employment of section members by Goodyear, Firestone, Goodrich, Columbia, and General totaled 200, 180, 170, 50, and 22, respectively. Other employers of section members included the Seiberling Tire and Rubber Company, American Anode, and C P Hall with 11, 9, and 6, respectively. Akron University and the government each employed 13 members, other schools employed 8 members, other companies employed 60 members, and 25 members were women.

The Newsletter

The first issue of the yet-unnamed Akron Section newsletter appeared in April of 1987. The newsletter was a response to the Executive Committee's desire to communicate more information at less cost to the Akron Section members. In the decade preceding the newsletter, individual flyers were stuffed in envelopes and mailed to the members at significant expense to the section, and before that era of direct mailings, the section depended on the Cleveland Section to cover our Akron Section events in their newsletter, Isotopics. Jim Beecher, the 1987 Chair of the Akron Section, was the driving force behind creation of the newsletter, and Gary Mitchell volunteered to be the first Editor. The Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies, with Audrey Ludwick as Secretary, offered assistance with printing and distribution.

For the first issue of the newsletter, original material was prepared with a typewriter and an IBM PC computer having a daisy-wheel printer, and mass reproduction was done with a photocopier. The final product had two 14 by 8.5-inch sheets of paper which were folded and stapled to yield an eight page newsletter. Page one contained an announcement of the monthly general meeting; with details of time, place, cost, and agenda. Page two announced a contest to select a name for the newsletter. Additional pages provided abstracts and biographies of presentations and speakers (general meetings in the 1980's had multiple presentations and speakers) and information about other activities of the section. The last page contained brief notes of future events at the top and the appropriate postal service items and mailing label at the bottom. Note that every issue of the newsletter since the original has organized content in a similar manner.

In September of 1987, the third issue of the newsletter finally carried the name Akron ChemLine. Ed Myers was congratulated for submitting the winning contest entry to name the newsletter, and he was awarded a Tangier gift certificate. This and subsequent issues in the fall of 1987 established a pattern in which various committees of the section would report on their activities. For example, the Program committee announced the general meetings for the year, the Nominations and Awards committee presented names of candidates and winners of the local section elections, and the Chemistry Olympiad committee reported on results of competitions. By this time the newsletter was well established as a means of communication to the members of the Akron Section.

In January of 1988, Chuck Rostek took over the responsibilities of being Editor of the newsletter. His contribution to the development of the newsletter was to get more people involved in its production. Various officers and committee chairs would submit typewritten or computer-printed articles for the newsletter, and Chuck would cut and paste those articles (the old-fashioned way, with scissors and glue) into the final newsletter. During Chuck's term the monthly cycle of publishing the newsletter became a routine for the section, and Chuck set as a deadline for contributions the third Thursday of the preceding month, which is a schedule still used today.

Jim Hermiller became Editor in 1989 and brought the Akron ChemLine further into the computer age by preparing material with a word processor and a drawing program and printing originals with a laser printer. With early versions of Microsoft Word and Claris MacDraw software, a consistent format could be applied from page to page and from month to month, and placement of information throughout each issue could be standardized. Page 1 had a poster and artwork announcing the general meeting. Pages 2 and 3 had general meeting abstracts, biographies, and a map (since each general meeting was held in a different location). A few subsequent pages had 'news bits'; about section and community events. And the remainder of the newsletter contained articles from and about officers and committees. Each issue had between eight and sixteen pages. Jim had the capable assistance of Marian Rousek and Jim Visintainer, and in the following year Sibylle Ingold and Anoop Krishen joined the team. At this time, formal goals for the newsletter were established.

A complete redesign of the newsletter came in January of 1991 when Mike Kalbfleisch applied skilled graphic arts techniques to the creation of originals and Jim Hermiller took control of the mass reproduction of copies. With careful selection of typefaces, formats, layouts, and other graphic elements, more information could be conveyed in a professional four-page product than was possible in eight pages previously. By working with a printing company that caters to desktop publishers, offset printing could replace photocopying and high-quality paper and offset ink could replace standard paper and toner. There were cost savings to the section, too. Adobe PageMaker became the software of choice, as it offered the necessary advanced functions. The improvements were so substantial that the design has held to the present time and Rich Corbett at Consolidated Printing and Publishing continues to provide the printing services. Mike and Jim took turns as editor for two years, with assistance each year from Jim Visintainer and that year's Chair of the section. Harlan Wilk was Editor in 1993 and 1994, and Cliff Schrader was Editor in 1995, with Jim Hermiller providing support each year. From 1996 to the present, Harlan and Jim have shared the job of Editor.

In 1996, Harlan Wilk made perhaps the most important policy change since the inception of the newsletter. Beginning with the February of 1996 issue, an entirely electronic publishing process was instituted. Contributions from officers and committees were received on floppy disk or over networks; writing, editing, and drawing were shared by Jim Hermiller and Harlan using e-mail and file servers; and most importantly, the computer-based newsletter images are considered to be the final product. Rich Corbett continues to provide traditional printing services from those images, and Jan Ruthenburg of the Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies now handles distribution of the paper copies, but the existence of electronic images opened the potential for new methods of distribution. In the spring of 1996, Jim tried to create a system whereby subscriptions to the Akron ChemLine could be delivered through e-mail, but in August of that year he replaced the system with a World Wide Web site on the Internet. In November of 1997, Jim rebuilt the site and continued to add issues of the newsletter to the growing electronic archive. In October of 1998, Jim created the third version of the site with a more ambitious vision than before, and now the Akron ChemLine supplements other content on the site. Adobe PageMaker and Adobe Distiller remain important software tools for the newsletter, but numerous other programs have now a role in the whole process.