Title: Howard L. Gottlieb Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1922-1960

Creator:

• Gottlieb, Howard L., 1918-

Call Number: Mss 769; Micro 1171; PH 3866

Quantity: 5.4 c.f. (4 record center cartons and 4 archives boxes), 1 reel of microfilm (35mm), and 105 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, mainly 1940-1957, of Howard L. Gottlieb, a scientist employed in a wide variety of industrial and academic fields. Primarily covering the years when he lived in Madison, Wisconsin as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin and an industrial biochemist, the papers include personal correspondence to and from parents and friends, files on outside activities such as Consumer Cooperative Services and the Wisconsin Section of the American Chemical Society, and files from his employment. Present are records concerning research work at Oscar Mayer and Bjorksten Research Laboratory, and fragmentary records on work for the American Foundation for Biological Research and the Wisconsin State Board of Health. The personal correspondence and diaries concern his education and research, his friendships with men and women, and Jewish family life primarily during the 1940s.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00769

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1918, February 22	Born in Chicago, Illinois to William and Hattie Lewin Gottlieb; raised in Racine, Wisconsin.
1936-1940	University of Wisconsin-Madison. B.S. degree in chemistry.
1940	National Adhesives and Starch Co. salesman.
1945-1950	Oscar Mayer; research and development of meat products and packaging.
1947	M.S. degree in Biochemistry. Thesis: “The Biological Determination of Vitamin E.”
1950	Married Judith Kirsch; four children.
1950	Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry. Thesis: “Alpha-tocopherol in the Auto-Oxidation of Fats.”
1950-1957	Bjorksten Research Laboratories, Madison. Research and development chemist.
1957-1958	Trionics Corp., Madison. Director of nuclear research.
1958-1959	Q.E.D., Inc., Milwaukee. President and project leader.
1958	Wisconsin State Board of Health. Planner for civil defense.
1958	Madison General Hospital. Clinical chemist.
1958-1959	UW School of Medicine endocrine seminars. Consultant.
1965-1967	Chicago College of Osteopathy. Assoc. professor of biochemistry.
1968-1969	Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital. Supervisor of clinical microbiology, co-director of clinical chemistry, and director of environmental studies.
1969	Northwestern University. Instructor in pathology.
1969-1973	Edgewater Hospital, Chicago. Director of clinical chemistry and pathological research.
1973-1974	Duraclean International. Director of research and development and quality control.
1975-1976	Oakton Community College. Science instructor.

While the Howard L. Gottlieb Papers are insufficient for a complete life study (there being no documentation on his career after he left Madison), they do provide some rare and useful research information. Perhaps the most valuable portion of the papers concerns Gottlieb's association with Oscar Mayer as head of its product research department from 1945 to 1950, the period when he was completing his graduate research. This section is important not only because of the specific data it contains about the development and packaging of new food products but also because of the light it sheds on scientific research and development within the private sector. The papers also provide some information on Oscar Mayer, an important Wisconsin company that is under-documented in archival sources at the Historical Society. Gottlieb's other primary employer in Madison was Bjorksten Research Laboratory, which carried out sponsored industrial research in many scientific areas. Once again, the collection includes unique information about a Wisconsin company. The overall picture of research at the lab and even Gottlieb's own activities at BRL is less complete than the material on his research at Oscar Mayer, although some materials touch on Gottlieb's expertise in nuclear energy and there is information on some of the work which led to Bjorksten's personal reputation in the plastics field. Finally, the collection parallels Gottlieb's work for these two employers with a run of personal correspondence. Although the letters touch only infrequently on scientific or research matters, users of the Society's Wisconsin Jewish Archives will find that the letters to and from his family and a succession of girlfriends (one of whom eventually became Mrs. Gottlieb) are a useful source for studying the dynamics of Jewish family life during the 1940's.

The collection is organized as personal papers and correspondence, business papers, and other records.

The PERSONAL PAPERS AND CORRESPONDENCE include a long run of general correspondence principally covering the period 1940 to 1959; a section of letters concerning his World War II deferment; photographs; and several small diaries covering the period 1933-1937. The diaries contain brief entries concerning his activities as a high school student in Racine. The correspondence contains copies of handwritten letters from his parents and from his brother Kenneth concerning his service in Italy during World War II (in one letter he enclosed a snapshot of the body of Mussolini which he witnessed in Milan), together with Gottlieb's letters to his parents which were returned to him. Unfortunately, the majority of Gottlieb's own letters were written either with faint pencil or with ink which spread on contact with the high-acid paper which Gottlieb used. This paper has been copied onto bond paper to halt its deterioration, but the combination of its porous nature with Gottlieb's writing materials frequently makes his letters difficult to read. The photographs include images from his childhood, early adult life, and operations in a laboratory.

The correspondence covers aspects of his graduate education and his social life. The parents' letters generally cover family matters and health. The relationship between Gottlieb and others (his mother, especially), while not overtly religious, implies a strong Jewish heritage. Gottlieb's extensive correspondence with several girlfriends provides information on their respective personal and professional lives.

The BUSINESS PAPERS are arranged chronologically by employer. The series begins with a file on the National Starch Co., for whom Gottlieb briefly worked as a salesman in 1940. Included are product literature, samples, and in-house newsletters.

The Oscar Mayer material is arranged as an alphabetical subject file. The contents primarily cover the period of Gottlieb's employment although several folders contain material pertaining to Oscar Mayer's military contracts during World War II. A large part of the file consists of reports, memoranda, and handwritten notes and data on research with which Gottlieb was involved. The dated reports and memoranda, frequently present only in the handwritten form Gottlieb prepared for his secretary to type, have been removed from the various files in which they were originally found and microfilmed for preservation.

The majority of the files deal with packaging, especially the introduction of frozen foods and the use of plastic wrap and its impact on product quality and taste. Several files concern the development of the department's library and the acquisition of its research facilities. Together with the reports on Gottlieb's travels, these papers offer insights into the manner in which industrial researchers interacted with their academic colleagues.

The small personnel file contains payroll material, scattered information on employee benefits at Oscar Mayer (especially the retirement program for salaried employees), an employee handbook, a 1948 corporate financial statement, and memoranda. Two of these contained corporate policy statements on an election called to vote on union representation by the Office Employees International Union in 1949. In a 1947 memo President Oscar G. Mayer regrets the passing of a time when he knew all of his employees personally. Elsewhere in the series are files on the company's recreational activities.

The Bjorksten Research Laboratory files are divided into appointment calendars, correspondence, subject files, and numbered project files. The correspondence is arranged as inter-lab correspondence memoranda and general correspondence. The first category contains company newsletters written by Johan Bjorksten concerning his development trips and other matters, lists of employees, mimeographed memoranda on company policies and procedures, memoranda to and from other staff members concerning specific contact research projects, annual financial statements, and other administrative matters. The chronologically-arranged general correspondence contains requests for information, supplies, and equipment pertaining to specific research projects with which Gottlieb was involved. Gottlieb's growing involvement with nuclear research and radioisotopes and BRL's sale of isotopes is documented here.

Elsewhere in the BRL files is information on Gottlieb's involvement in the development of research proposals at the lab, while the subject files also contain reports on several projects with which he appears not to have been involved, such as the work on plastic laminates for which Johan Bjorksten was well known. Subject files which could not be identified by title are filed instead by project number. The largest of these consists of typed and handwritten notes, memoranda, correspondence, reports, data, and background information concerning work on radiotracer techniques. Also filed here are several folders of articles Gottlieb wrote, as well as a few reprints of articles by Johan Bjorksten.

Gottlieb's remaining employers during the 1950's are incompletely documented. For some, such as the American Foundation for Biological Research, it is even difficult to determine the nature of his employment, although it appears to have concerned bovine sperm metabolism and ice crystal formation. The file on the latter also contains a large file of reprints of articles of AFBR staff. The research Gottlieb did for the Wisconsin State Board of Health is represented by drafts and working papers for the 1958 civil defense manual section which he authored on health and medical services.

OTHER RECORDS are arranged chronologically and include files on topics of interest to Gottlieb either personally or as a professional sidelight. He served as editor of the newsletter of the American Chemical Society-Wisconsin Section for some time, and that file contains copies of the newsletters he put together. Several files relate to his activity with the Consumer Cooperative Services during the early 1950's.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Howard L. Gottlieb, Madison, Wisconsin, 1965-1978. Accession Number: M65-308, M66-060, M78-359

Processing Information

Processed by Christine Long (Intern) and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1989.

	Series: Personal Papers and Correspondence
Mss 769	Correspondence
Box   1	1922-1950
Box   2 Folder   1-17	1951-1962
Box   2 Folder   18	, Undated correspondence and personal miscellany
Box   2A Folder   2	Selective Service deferment, 1941-1946
Box   2A Folder   1	Diaries, 1933-1937
PH 3866	Photographs
Mss 769	Series: Business Papers	⇧
Box   2A Folder   3	National Starch Products, Miscellany, 1940
	Oscar Mayer and Co., 1945-1950
Box   3 Folder   1	Canning tests, 1942-1947
Box   3 Folder   2	Clinics, meetings, etc., 1936-1946
Box   3 Folder   3	Color photography, 1947
Box   3 Folder   4	Cooling and shrinkage of animal carcasses, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Cost-price determination, 1945-1946, undated
Box   3 Folder   6	Dog food, 1942-1945, undated
Box   3 Folder   7	Fats, oils, and detergents, 1942-1945
	Freezing
Box   3 Folder   8	Foods in general, 1943-1946, undated
Box   3 Folder   9	Chili, 1946-1947, undated
Box   3 Folder   10	Meat products, 1947, undated
Box   3 Folder   11	Packaging in Saran plastic, 1947, undated
Box   3 Folder   12	Pork, 1949-1950, undated
Box   7 Folder   1	Golf team, 1945-1948
Box   3 Folder   13-16	Information requests
Box   3 Folder   17-18	Memo books, undated
Box   3 Folder   19	Miscellany
Box   3 Folder   20	Oesting, R.B., file, 1942-1945
Box   7 Folder   2	Personnel file
Box   3 Folder   21	Project assignment sheets, 1945
Micro 1171	Reports and memoranda, 1945-1949
Mss 769 Box   3 Folder   22	Reports from non-OM labs, 1947
Box   3 Folder   23-24	Research diary, 1947-1949
Box   3 Folder   25-26	Smokehouse research and design, 1945, undated
Box   7 Folder   3	Sports leagues, 1948-1949, undated
Box   3 Folder   27-29	Taste tests, 1945-1947, undated
Box   4 Folder   1-3	Tests, Miscellaneous, undated
Box   4 Folder   4	Tests, Notes for numbered projects series, 1945
Box   4 Folder   5	Tests, Wieners, ham and bologna, 1947-1949
Box   4 Folder   6	Weed and pesticide use, 1945-1946
Box   4 Folder   7	Wiener development during World War II, 1941-1944
Box   4 Folder   8	Wiener and sauce special studies, undated
Box   4 Folder   9	Yield tests, 1945, undated
	Bjorksten Research Laboratory, 1950-1957
Box   4 Folder   10-16	Appointment calendars, 1951-1957
	Correspondence
Box   4 Folder   17-19	Inter-lab correspondence, 1950-1957
Box   4 Folder   20-33	General correspondence, 1950-1957, undated
	Subject files
Box   7 Folder   4	Background information
Box   4 Folder   34	Background information on proposals, 1953-1956
Box   4 Folder   35	Bjorksten staff writings, 1952-1956
Box   4 Folder   36	Carbon 14 synthesis, 1948-1953
Box   4 Folder   37	Fiber treatment data notebooks, 1950-1951
Box   4 Folder   38	Food irradiation for flavor retention, 1955-1956
	Glass fiber sizing (Project 222), 1951-1952
Box   4 Folder   39-40	A-B
Box   5 Folder   1	C
Box   7 Folder   9	Industrial nuclear technology conference presentation, 1957
Box   5 Folder   2	Leather chemistry presentation, 1956
Box   5 Folder   3-5	Miller Beer, 1956
Box   5 Folder   6	Paint chemistry article, 1952
Box   5 Folder   7	Parker Pen, undated
Box   7 Folder   5	Patent assignment, 1951
Box   5 Folder   8	Pillsburg Mills eggwhite substitute report, 1956
Box   5 Folder   9-12	Plastic laminate reports, 1951
Box   5 Folder   13	Phosphate and laminate experimental data, 1951
Box   5 Folder   14	Polyvinyl chloride plastisols, 1950
Box   5 Folder   15	Radioisotope proposal, undated
Box   5 Folder   16	Radioisotope safety, 1950, undated
Box   5 Folder   17	Veterinary science experiment, 1954-1955
	Numbered project files
Box   5 Folder   18	#205, 1951-1952
Box   7 Folder   6-8	#211, 1955
Box   5 Folder   19	#211-239 data summaries, 1951-1952
Box   5 Folder   20	#254, undated
Box   5 Folder   21-23	#274, 1955-1957
Box   5 Folder   24	#3001, 1955-1957
Box   5 Folder   25	#3007, 1955
	Trionics, Inc., 1957-1958
Box   5 Folder   26	Correspondence, 1957-1958
Box   5 Folder   27	Armour Co., 1957
Box   5 Folder   28	Sausage comminutation project, 1958
Box   5 Folder   29	Madison General Hospital, 1954
Box   5 Folder   30-31	American Foundation for Biological Research, 1952-1957
	Wisconsin State Board of Health, 1958
Box   6 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1958
Box   6 Folder   2-3	Drafts and working papers for Annex 0, 1958
Box   6 Folder   4	Drafts and working papers for appendices, 1958
	Series: Personal Activities	⇧
Box   6 Folder   5	American Chemical Society, Wisconsin section, 1945-1959
Box   7 Folder   10	Atoms-in-industry encyclopedia article, 1957-1958
	Consumer Cooperative Services
Box   6 Folder   6	Minutes, newsletters, and mailings, 1951-1953
Box   6 Folder   7	Patrons list, circa 1951
Box   7 Folder   11	Community Welfare Council of Madison, Committee on Aging, 1958-1961
Box   6 Folder   8	Cooperative Credit Union, 1954-1959
Box   6 Folder   9	Job search correspondence, 1947-19597
Box   6 Folder   10	Resumes
Box   7 Folder   12	Science textbook project, 1957-1958
Box   7 Folder   13	Miscellaneous correspondence, 1959-1960