Plastics Literature donation from Huntsman Advanced Materials

The name of the Iron Library is world renowned and synonymous with rare and exceptional works about the history of materials science. Yet while ferrous in name, its holdings go far beyond iron. Alongside metals, wood, glass, and ceramics, plastics now play a major part in the collection.

As a library dedicated to the history of industrial materials, it is essential for us to also collect works on the history of plastics and the development of polymer technologies. Since 2014, this area has been a collection focus. As the crowning glory of the first decade of our work on the subject of “plastics”, we were able to agree with Huntsman Advanced Materials in Basel last year on the donation of their extensive research library.

At the end of 2024, during a visit to Basel to inspect their archives before a relocation, the team of the Iron Library had the opportunity to view the old research library at Huntsman Advanced Materials. The future of the library, part of it formerly the polymer library of Ciba (Gesellschaft für Chem. Industrie Basel), was uncertain. After taking an inventory and making a comparison with the Iron Library’s holdings, it was established that several thousand books, industry publications and journal volumes could be taken into our holdings. Huntsman have kindly agreed to donate these to our collection in order to make their library accessible to researchers and the general public.

This week 210 boxes of books and journals will be delivered to the Klostergut Paradies. Once catalogued it will make the Iron Library one of the world's largest private collections on the history of plastics.