Atherton Seidell

Atherton Seidell

Atherton Seidell (1878-1961) was an American chemist and microfilm advocate.

Life

Atherton Seidell was born in December 31, 1878 in Hartwell, GA. He earned a Bachelors degree from the University of Georgia (1898), a Masters from George Washington University (1901) and a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University (1903). Seidell worked as an assistant chemist in the Bureau of Soils, Department of Agriculture, then the Bureau of Chemistry, 1905-1906. He worked for the Public Health Service from 1907 to 1939. He was also an Honorary Consultant to the Army Medical Library.

"In 1926 at Maison de la Chimie in Paris he became acquainted with microfilm. Two years later in France he had to leave his family and laboratory to travel to Monaco to peruse a specialized journal. It occurred to him that this time-consuming trip would not have been necessary if microfilm facilities had been available for scholars and scientists engaged in library research. Thereafter he never stopped his efforts to encourage libraries to develop free microfilm service for patrons." (Miles 1982, p. 279).

He died July 25, 1961.

Contributions

Seidell made contributions to solubility, vitamins, yeast, and related topics. For documentation he advanced the use of microfilms for research.

• Seidell was one of the founders of the American Documentation Institute.
• Promoted microfilm and, with M. de Saint Rat, developed the inexpensive Seidell microform viewer.
• Established the Medicofilm Service at the Army Medical Library (later renamed National Library of Medicine) and founded the Current List of Medical Literature which later became Index Medicus.

Publications

• Solubilities of Inorganic and Organic Compounds. New York, Van Nostrand, 1907 and several later editions. A compilation of the solubility of thousands of chemical compounds.
• "Microfilm copying of scientific literature." Science 89 (March 10, 1939): 219-220.

Awards

• National Microfilm Association. Pioneer Medal, 1961.
• French Legion of Honor.
• Order of the Crown of Italy.

Further reading

• Hirtle, Peter B. "Atherton Seidell and the Photoduplication of Library Material." Journal of the American Society fpr Information Science 40, no 6( ): 424-431.
• "Atherton Seidell, Ph. D. 1878- Chemist." In: Notable contributions to medical research by Public Health Service scientists; a biobibliography to 1940, comp. by Jeannette Barry. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1960, pp 73-75.
• Farkas-Conn, Irene. From documentation to information science: The beginnings and early development of the American Documentation Institute—American Society for Information Science. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. [1]
• Miles, Wyndham D. A history of the National Library of Medicine: the nation's treasury of medical knowledge. Bethesda, MD: National Library of Medicine, 1982, pp 279-282.

Papers

• National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Division. Atherton Seidell Papers. Collection MS C 399. 1899-1986. [2]
• Smithsonian Institution. Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Archives Center. Atherton Seidell Papers. NMAH.AC.0449 MAH Staff 1992. circa 1932-1964. Concerning microfilming.
• University of Georgia Libraries. Special collections. Coll UA0030. Atherton Seidell photo album. [3]