Aluminum Company of America
Aluminum Company of America records, 1857-1992 (bulk 1900-1965).
Includes correspondence, advertisements, annual reports, publications, charts, ledgers, memoranda, minutes and other materials. Primarily documents the early history of Alcoa and its facilities, and the products manufactured by the company between 1890 and 1960. Series II, Biographies, includes biographies on aluminum inventors, including Hans Oersted. Series XIV, Research and Development, covers the years 1888-1984 (bulk 1904-1935) in three boxes, arranged alphabetically by folder title. Contains blueprints, clippings, correspondence, memoranda and reports. Of interest is documentation on the early experimentation and history of alumina, bauxite and smelting pots; experimental data memoranda which date from1897 to 1951 containing information on experiments with smelting pots, carbons and rods at Massena Works, Niagara Works and Little Tennessee Works; history of early aluminum research by Dr. Francis Frary, Director of Research and Development for Alcoa, 1918-1952. Very little research information exists past the year 1940.
Information on Charles Hall's experiments with aluminum can be found in Series IX, Management, which contains the original ledger from his experiments in Oberlin, Ohio.
The Aluminum Company of America (formerly the Pittsburgh Reduction Company) was incorporated in Pittsburgh, PA in 1888. It used a new and inexpensive process of smelting aluminum, which had been considered a semiprecious metal because of the expense in producing it. By the 1920s the company was expanding overseas to take advantage of ore deposits in Europe, Canada and the Caribbean, and aluminum became one of the most versatile manufactured metals. In the post-World War II years Alcoa was producing more consumer goods and developing innovative ways to market aluminum. This included building a new corporate headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, a 30-story aluminum structure. They also expanded into producing aluminum for cans as well as other types of packaging for all manner of consumer goods. In the 1970s they joined in the initiative to develop aluminum recycling technologies. Since 1980 they have also pursued high-technology businesses from aerospace to military applications.
Frary, Francis C. (Francis Cowles), b. 1884.
Hall, Charles Martin, 1863-1914.
rsted, Hans Christian, 1777-1851.
Industrial organization -- United States -- History.
Industrial research -- United States -- History.
Metallurgy -- History.
AIP-ICOS
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center. Library and Archives. 1212 Smallman St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, USA