Perkin Mauve
date: label: Date made
content: 1860
name: label: maker
content: Perkin, William Henry
notes: label: Description
content: In 1856, while studying at the Royal College of Chemistry, William Henry Perkin spent his spring vacation in a crude laboratory in the attic of his house in East London. There he discovered that aniline, a colorless aromatic oil derived from coal tar, could be transformed into a black gunk that, when mixed with alcohol, would turn fabrics bright purple. With patent in hand, Perkin established the artificial dye industry. Wealth and honors followed soon thereafter. In 1906, while Perkins was in New York for a lavish celebration of the 50th anniversary of the coal tar industry, he visited William John Matheson, an American who imported artificial dyes and pigments, and probably gave him this memento at that time. Matheson gave this memento to the Smithsonian in 1928.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mr. William J. Matheson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.318499
label: catalog number
content: 318499
label: accession number
content: 103216
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dyed fabric, sample
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: fabric strip: 7 in x 2 in; 17.78 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: box: 1 in x 6 1/4 in x 11 in; 2.54 cm x 15.875 cm x 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; box: 1 3/8 in x 11 in x 6 1/4 in; 3.4925 cm x 27.94 cm x 15.875 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; glass, each: 4 3/16 in x 8 5/8 in x 1/8 in; 10.63625 cm x 21.9075 cm x .3175 cm