Object Details
sova.nmah.ac.0001
- Author
- Parke, Davis Company
- Collector
- National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Medical Sciences
- Names
- Pfizer Inc.
- Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis
- Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis. Pharmaceutical Research Division
- Davis, George S.
- Duffield, Samuel P., Dr. (physician, pharmacist)
- Parke, Hervey Coke , 1827-1899
- Topic
- advertising
- Antibiotics
- Architectural Blueprints
- Biologicals
- Chemistry
- Diseases
- Drugs -- 1900-1950
- Drug factories
- Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919
- Laboratories
- Medical scientists -- 1900-1950
- Patents
- Pharmaceutical industry -- 1900-1950
- Pharmacology -- 1900-1950
- Photographs
- Vaccines
- Provenance
- The initial collection of approximately 185 cubic feet was donated by the Warner-Lambert Company, through Jerry A. Weisbach, Vice-President and President of the Pharmaceutical Research Division, on February 3, 1982.
- Author
- Parke, Davis Company
- See more items in
- Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records.
- Summary
- The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of the largest and oldest pharmaceutical firms in America.
- Accruals
- Approximately 100 c.f. of materials documenting business records, photographs, historical materials, publications, and research materials, was donated by Pfizer Global Research and Development, through Deborah Salerno, 2006. Approximately .15 cubic feet of archival material (portfolio of prints) illustrating the history of pharmacology published by Parke, Davis was transferred from the Archives of American Art to the Archives Center on September 24, 2014.
- Historical
- Parke, Davis and Company traces it's origins to Samuel Pearce Duffield (1833-1916), a physician and pharmacist. Duffield was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and his family moved to Detroit when he was an infant. Duffield graduated from the University of Michigan in 1854 and he attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, latter leaving for Germany where he studied chemistry and sought treatment for his eyesight. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Ludwig University at Giessen in Germany. Duffield returned to Detroit in 1858 and established a retail drugstore with a strong interest in manufacturing pharmaceuticals. Duffield sought financial partners for his retail and manufacturing venture with A.L. Patrick and Francis C. Conant. Both men retracted their investments and Duffield met Hervey Coke Parke (1927-1899), a native of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Duffield and Parke formed a formal partnership in 1866. George S. Davis, a third partner and traveling salesman previously with Farrand, Sheley and Company, was added 1867. Augustus F. Jennings joined the company as a partner to head manufacturing. The company became known as Duffield, Parke, Davis, & Jennings Company. Duffield withdrew in 1869 and the name Parke, Davis & Company was adopted in 1871. The company incorporated in 1875 and began planning world-wide scientific expeditions to discover new vegetable drugs such as Guarana, Bearsfoot, Eucalyptus Globulus, and Coca. The company first showed a profit in 1876, and the first dividend paid to shareholders in 1878 and dividends paid until mid-1960s. Research was a major activity of the company. In 1907, Parke, Davis and Company bought 340 acres in northeast Avon Township, Michigan, and called it Parkedale Farm. The farm was dedicated on October 8, 1908, and included sterilization rooms and a vaccine propagating building. By 1909 the farm included 200 horses, 25 to 50 cattle, 150 sheep, and employed 20 men. The horses produced the antitoxin for diphtheria and tetanus, the cattle produced a vaccine for smallpox preventatives, and the sheep made serum. Only the healthiest animals were used and all were well cared for. Exotic plants were also grown on the site and used for drugs. Parke-Davis' chief products were antitoxins and vaccines as well as farm crops for feeding the animals. The farm continued to produce vaccines for diphtheria, scarlet fever, tetanus, smallpox, anthrax, and in the 1950s, the Salk polio vaccine. Due to a weakening financial position, the company became susceptible to take-over, and was purchased by Warner-Lambert in 1970. Warner Lambert, was then acquired by Pfizer in 2000. In 2007, Pfizer closed its research facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Source Rochester Hills Museum at Voon Hoosen Farm (last accessed on September 29, 2021 https://www.rochesterhills.org/Museum/LocalHistory/ParkeDavisFarm.pdf) Parke, Davis and Company. Parke-Davis At 100...progress in the past...promise for the future. Detroit, Michigan, 1966.
- Extent
- 365 Cubic feet (510 boxes, 43 map folders)
- Date
- 1866-1992
- Custodial History
- The intital donation in February 1982 was transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Medicine and Science in December 1982.
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0001
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Annual reports
- Blueprints
- Brochures
- Catalogs
- Correspondence
- Employee records
- Formulae, chemical
- Lantern slides
- Newsletters
- Newspaper clippings
- Notebooks
- Price lists
- 16mm films
- Sound recordings
- Tracings
- Trade literature
- Citation
- Parke, Davis Research Laboratory Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
- Arrangement
- Collection is divided into 13 series. Series 1: Corporate Materials, 1887-1951 Series 2: Financial Materials, 1880-1970 Series 3: Employee/Personnel Materials, 1900-1989 Series 4: Advertising/Sales Materials, 1868-1980 Series 5: Photographs, 1866-1992 Series 6: Notebooks, 1908-1968 Series 7: Control Department Records, 1884-1931 Series 8: Formulas, 1882-1967 Series 9: Equipment Data Files, 1922-1978 Series 10: Publications, 1968-1988 Series 11: Research Materials, 1920-1978 Series 12: Drawings, 1911-1971 Series 13: Addenda, 1867-1970 Series 14: Audio Materials, 1956-1957
- Processing Information
- The original acquisition in 1982 was processed by Robert S. Harding, archivist, 1983. Subsequent accruals were processed by Alison Oswald, archivist, between 2019-2021. Substantial portions of the records were reorganized between 2019-2021 into a more coherent arrangement, and new series were created to bring similar material together. The original arrangement and folder titles were retained in most cases.
- Rights
- Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Genre/Form
- Annual reports -- 20th century
- Blueprints -- 20th century
- Brochures -- 20th century
- Catalogs
- Correspondence -- 19th-20th century
- Employee records
- Formulae, chemical
- Lantern slides -- 1900-1950
- Newsletters -- 20th century
- Newspaper clippings
- Notebooks -- 1900-1950
- Price lists
- 16mm films
- Sound recordings -- Audiotapes -- Open reel
- Tracings
- Trade literature
- Scope and Contents
- The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of America's oldest and largest drug makers. Parke, Davis had the first research laboratory in the American pharmaceutical industry. The company played a major role in the development of some of the principle new drugs of the twentieth century and pioneered the field of drug standardization. They were one of the first American firms to produce antitoxins, hormones, and other biologicals. They introduced new and important drugs such as adrenalin, dilantin, chlorenpleniol, and other antibiotics. They also did important research on vitamins, disinfectants, and pencillin. The collection contains complete documentaion of all the research activities done, including research laboratory notes, correspondence, and published papers. The collection also contains corporate, financial, advertising and sales materials, photographs, and audiovisual materials. The collection is important for those researchers interested in the history of public health, the history of biologicals, pharmaceutical manufacturing and business history.
- Restrictions
- Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at [email protected] or 202-633-3270.
- Separated Materials
- Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History The division holds objects related to Parke, Davis that primarily include containers (boxes and glass bottles) that held phamrmaceuticals, biologicals (vaccines), crude drugs, and herb packages. See accessions: 1978.0882; 1982.0043; 1982.0043; 1984.0351; 1985.0475; 1988.3152; 1991.0415; 1992.3127; 2001.3066; 2012.0165; and 2018.5001.
NMAH.AC.0001
Large EAD
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8869c518d-5cbd-42cf-b508-e688de3bf14d
NMAH.AC.0001
ACAH
- Record ID
- ebl-1503512024184-1503512024240-0
