Sources in the history of occupational health: the Turner & Newall archive.
Sources in the History of occupational health are scanty-a reflection perhaps of the contentious nature of the documentation. In the UK, asbestos company records have until recently been unavailable and consequently historians and policy-makers have been hindered from exploring a major public health issue. In 1995, however, Chase Manhattan Bank in New York sued the leading British asbestos producer, Turner & Newall, in a property-damage claim. During pre-trial discovery, Chase had copied a large proportion of Turner & Newall's vast archive and under American law was able to put the records in the public domain. This article describes how this collection of records-perhaps the largest anywhere on the history of an occupational health hazard-was generated. It also suggests ways of navigating the documents; discusses the nature of the material; and the archive's uses to medical and industrial historians.
Tweedale
G
G
Centre of Business History, Management Faculty, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. g.tweedale@mmu.ac.uk
D001109:Archives / Q000266:history*; D001194:Asbestos / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007221:Industry / Q000266:history*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000266:history*; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States
D001194:Asbestos