Eva Armstrong
{{Short description|American secretary, librarian, curator and historian of science}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Eva Vivian Armstrong
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| image = EvaVivianArmstrong.png
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1877|12|22|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = Key West, Florida, United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|1962|05|10|1877|12|22|mf=yes}}
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| occupation = Librarian, Curator, Historian of science
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| awards = Dexter Award, 1958
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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. The collection, which opened on March 1, 1931,{{cite journal|title=The Center for History of Chemistry: A Chronology|journal=CHOC News|date=1982|volume=1|issue=1|pages=3–5}} was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark on March 16, 2000.{{cite news|title=Smith Memorial Collection at the University of Pennsylvania: National Historic Chemical Landmark|url=http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/fahssmithcollection.html|access-date=11 March 2015|work=American Chemical Society}}{{cite web|title=The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry|url=https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/fahssmithcollection/smith-memorial-collection-at-the-university-of-pennsylvania-historical-resource.pdf|publisher=American Chemical Society}}
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.{{cite journal |last1=Deischer |first1=Claude K. |title=In Memoriam: To a Secretary, Librarian, Curator of a Library, and Historian, Eva Vivian Armstrong (1877-1962) |journal=Chymia |date=1964 |volume=9 |pages=13–17 |doi=10.2307/27757227 |jstor=27757227 }}{{cite journal |last1=Deischer |first1=Claude K. |title=Eloge: Eva Vivian Armstrong, 1877-1962: Historian and Friend of Historians |journal=Isis |date=December 1962 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=500–501 |doi=10.1086/349636 |s2cid=144390831 }}
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.
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.
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 until her retirement in 1949.{{cite journal |last1=Taggart |first1=Walter T. |title=THE EDGAR FAHS SMITH MEMORIAL LIBRARY ON THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRy |date=1933|volume=1|number=3 |publisher=The University of Pennsylvania|journal=University of Pennsylvania Library Chronicle |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=librarychronicle}}{{cite web |last1=Manning |first1=Kenneth |title=A History of Chemistry |date=2010 |url=http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/EFSmith.html |website=Pennsylvania State University Libraries |access-date=2 March 2020 |archive-date=27 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527201349/http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/EFSmith.html |url-status=dead }} 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.
''Chymia''
Armstrong was a founder of Chymia, a journal on the history of chemistry. She worked with Charles Albert Browne (1870–1947), who died before the first issue appeared,{{cite journal |last1=Deischer |first1=Claude |title=A Memorial Tribute to Dr. C. A. Browne, With a Bibliography of His Contributions to the History of Chemistry |journal=Chymia |date=1949 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=11–24 |doi=10.2307/27757111|jstor=27757111 }} and Tenney L. Davis (1890–1949), who served as editor-in-chief of the first two issues.{{cite journal |last1=Leicester |first1=Henry M. |last2=Klickstein |first2=Herbert S. |title=Tenney Lombard Davis and the History of Chemistry |journal=Chymia |date=January 1950 |volume=3 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.2307/27757143|jstor=27757143 }}
From the journal's foundation in 1948 to 1953, Armstrong was secretary of the Board of Editors.
In addition to serving on the board of Chymia, she published articles on the history of chemistry in Chymia{{cite journal |title=Editorial Board of Chymia |journal=Nature |date=April 1949 |volume=163 |issue=4147 |pages=633 |doi=10.1038/163633f0 |bibcode=1949Natur.163V.633. |doi-access=free }}
the Journal of Chemical Education, Isis, the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, the Library Chronicle, the Scientific Monthly, and other journals.
Awards
In 1958 Armstrong received the Dexter Award.{{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=Wyndham D. |title=Catalog of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry |date=1960 |publisher=G. K. Hall |location=Boston |page=v |chapter=The Dexter Award in History of Chemistry to Eva Armstrong }}{{cite web |title=DEXTER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY |url=http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/awards/dexter.php|website=American Chemical Society Division of the History of Chemistry |access-date=22 July 2019}}{{cite journal|last1=Ihde|first1=Aaron J.|title=The history of the Dexter Award. Part II: The First Decade|journal=Bull. Hist. Chem.|date=1988|volume=2|issue=2 |pages=11–14|doi=10.70359/bhc1988n02p011 |url=http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_open_access/num2/num2%20p11-14.pdf |access-date=22 July 2019}}
"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." The memorial plaque was inscribed, "To Miss Armstrong for her noteworthy contributions to the advancement of the History of Chemistry.
Selected publications
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=Some Treasures in the E. F. Smith Collection |journal=General Magazine and Historical Chronicle |date=1933 |volume=25 |pages=3–12 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=Some Incidents in the Collection of the E. F. Smith Memorial Library |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=1933 |volume=10 |pages=356–358 |doi=10.1021/ed010p356}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=Playground of a Scientist |journal=The Scientific Monthly |date=1936 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=339–348 |jstor=16089 |bibcode=1936SciMo..42..339A }}
- {{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=The story of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry |date=1937 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |location=Philadelphia }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=Jane Marcet and her "Conversations on Chemistry" |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=February 1938 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=53 |doi=10.1021/ed015p53 |bibcode=1938JChEd..15...53A }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |last2=Lukens |first2=Hiram S. |title=Lazarus Ercker and his Probierbuch. Sir John Pettus and his Fleta Minor |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=January 1939 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=553–562 |doi=10.1021/ed016p553 |bibcode=1939JChEd..16..553A }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |last2=Deischer |first2=Claude K. |title=Johann Rudolph Glauber (1604-70). His chemical and human philosophy |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=January 1942 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi=10.1021/ed019p3 |bibcode=1942JChEd..19....3A }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Eva V. |title=Dr. Henry Moyes, Scotch chemist |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |date=1947 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=169– |doi=10.1021/ed024p169|bibcode=1947JChEd..24..169A }}{{cite web |last1=Andraos |first1=John |title=Biographies found in the Journal of Chemical Education |url=http://careerchem.com/NAMED/JCE-Bios.pdf |date=June 2003 |access-date=2 March 2020}}
- {{cite book |author1=Edgar F. Smith Memorial Collection |author-last2=Armstrong |author-first2=Eva|author-last3= Smith |author-first3=Edgar F. |title=Catalog of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry |date=1960 |publisher=G. K. Hall |location=Boston }}
References
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Category:American historians of science
Category:American science writers
Category:American women curators
Category:Librarians from Florida