Frank Burnett Dains and his History of Chemistry Collections at the University of Kansas

Abstract

The history of chemistry collections that Frank Burnett Dains (1869-1948) amassed before and during his thirty plus years as Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Kansas have and continue to influence the faculty, students and staff at there. As a member of the American Chemical Society for more than fifty years, Dains was particularly active in the divisions of Chemical Education and the History of Chemistry. Chemists and historians of chemistry throughout the world have also benefited by Dains's collections and will continue to into the future in ways in which this paper will explain. Special emphasis will be placed on Dains's image collection, which is located in University Archives at the University of Kansas.