Eva Armstrong

Eva Armstrong (December 22, 1877 in Key West, Florida - May 10, 1962) was an American secretary, librarian, curator, and historian of science. She was the original curator of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] The collection, which opened on March 1, 1931,[2] was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark on March 16, 2000.[3][4]

Eva Vivian Armstrong
Born(1877-12-22)December 22, 1877
Key West, Florida
DiedMay 10, 1962(1962-05-10) (aged 84)
OccupationLibrarian, Curator, Historian of science
AwardsDexter Award, 1958

Armstrong also helped to establish the journal Chymia, working as secretary of the board of editors of the journal for the history of chemistry from 1948 to 1953.[5][6] She published on the history of chemistry in journals including Chymia, Isis, and the Journal of Chemical Education. Armstrong received the Dexter Award for contributions to the history of chemistry in 1958.

Education

Eva Vivian Armstrong was born on December 22, 1877 in Key West, Florida. Armstrong attended Atlantic City High School and was then a secretary, first at the Book Lover's Agency and then at the University of Pennsylvania beginning in 1906.[5]

Edgar Fahs Smith

From 1909-1920 Armstrong was secretary of the board for the chemistry faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, chaired by Edgar Fahs Smith. She became Edgar Fahs Smith's personal secretary when he retired in 1920. She helped to develop and catalog his extensive chemistry history collection of more than 13,000 objects.[1][7]

After Smith died in 1928, his widow Margie A.Smith bequeathed the collection to the University of Pennsylvania and appointed Eva Armstrong as curator, a position in which she remained from 1929[1] until her retirement in 1949.[7][2][8] Under her guidance, the collection expanded from approximately 600 manuscripts, 1800 prints and 3,000 volumes to 1,400 manuscripts, 3,400 prints, and 7,700 volumes. Both the collection and the knowledge of its archivist were important resources for scientists and scholars worldwide, who sought her out both as visitors and as correspondents.[1]

Chymia

Armstrong was a founder of Chymia, a journal on the history of chemistry. She worked with Charles Albert Browne[6] (1870–1947), who died before the first issue appeared,[9] and Tenney L. Davis[6] (1890–1949), who served as editor-in-chief of the first two issues.[10] From the journal's foundation in 1948 to 1953, Armstrong was secretary of the Board of Editors.[6] In additional to serving on the board of Chymia, she published articles on the history of chemistry in Chymia[11] the Journal of Chemical Education,[8] Isis, the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, the Library Chronicle, the Scientific Monthly, and other journals.[1]

Awards

In 1958 Armstrong received the Dexter Award.[1][12][13] "Miss Armstrong was chosen not for activity in a single field, but rather for the stimulation, inspiration and assistance that she contributed to the history of chemistry over a long period of years."[1] The memorial plague was inscribed, "To Miss Armstrong for her noteworthy contributions to the advancement of the History of Chemistry.[6]

Selected publications
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (1933). "Some Treasures in the E. F. Smith Collection". General Magazine and Historical Chronicle. 25: 3–12.
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (1933). "Some Incidents in the Collection of the E. F. Smith Memorial Library". Journal of Chemical Education. 10: 356–358. doi:10.1021/ed010p356.
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (1936). "Playground of a Scientist". The Scientific Monthly. 42 (4): 339–348. Bibcode:1936SciMo..42..339A. JSTOR 16089.
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (1937). The story of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (February 1938). "Jane Marcet and her "Conversations on Chemistry"". Journal of Chemical Education. 15 (2): 53. Bibcode:1938JChEd..15...53A. doi:10.1021/ed015p53.
  • Armstrong, Eva V.; Lukens, Hiram S. (January 1939). "Lazarus Ercker and his Probierbuch. Sir John Pettus and his Fleta Minor". Journal of Chemical Education. 16 (1): 553–562. Bibcode:1939JChEd..16..553A. doi:10.1021/ed016p553.
  • Armstrong, Eva V.; Deischer, Claude K. (January 1942). "Johann Rudolph Glauber (1604-70). His chemical and human philosophy". Journal of Chemical Education. 19 (1): 3. Bibcode:1942JChEd..19....3A. doi:10.1021/ed019p3.
  • Armstrong, Eva V. (1947). "Dr. Henry Moyes, Scotch chemist". Journal of Chemical Education. 24 (4): 169–. Bibcode:1947JChEd..24..169A. doi:10.1021/ed024p169.[14]
  • Edgar F. Smith Memorial Collection; Armstrong, Eva; Smith, Edgar F. (1960). Catalog of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry. Boston: G. K. Hall.
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References
  1. Miles, Wyndham D. (1960). "The Dexter Award in History of Chemistry to Eva Armstrong". Catalog of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry. Boston: G. K. Hall. p. v.
  2. "The Center for History of Chemistry: A Chronology". CHOC News. 1 (1): 3–5. 1982.
  3. "Smith Memorial Collection at the University of Pennsylvania: National Historic Chemical Landmark". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  4. "The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry" (PDF). American Chemical Society.
  5. Deischer, Claude K. (1964). "In Memoriam: To a Secretary, Librarian, Curator of a Library, and Historian, Eva Vivian Armstrong (1877-1962)". Chymia. 9: 13–17. doi:10.2307/27757227. JSTOR 27757227.
  6. Deischer, Claude K. (December 1962). "Eloge: Eva Vivian Armstrong, 1877-1962: Historian and Friend of Historians". Isis. 53 (4): 500–501. doi:10.1086/349636.
  7. Taggart, Walter T. (1933). "THE EDGAR FAHS SMITH MEMORIAL LIBRARY ON THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRy". Library Chronicle. The University of Pennsylvania. 1 (3).
  8. Manning, Kenneth (2010). "A History of Chemistry". Pennsylvania State University Libraries. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. Deischer, Claude (1949). "A Memorial Tribute to Dr. C. A. Browne, With a Bibliography of His Contributions to the History of Chemistry". Chymia. 1 (1): 11–24. doi:10.2307/27757111. JSTOR 27757111.
  10. Leicester, Henry M.; Klickstein, Herbert S. (January 1950). "Tenney Lombard Davis and the History of Chemistry". Chymia. 3: 1–16. doi:10.2307/27757143. JSTOR 27757143.
  11. "Editorial Board of Chymia". Nature. 163 (4147): 633. April 1949. Bibcode:1949Natur.163V.633.. doi:10.1038/163633f0. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  12. "DEXTER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY". American Chemical Society Division of the History of Chemistry. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  13. Ihde, Aaron J. (1988). "The history of the Dexter Award. Part II: The First Decade" (PDF). Bull. Hist. Chem. 2: 11–14. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  14. Andraos, John (June 2003). "Biographies found in the Journal of Chemical Education" (PDF). Retrieved 2 March 2020.
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