Robert Shortridge papers
Overview
This collection contains miscellaneous academic and professional papers created by Robert Shortridge related to his work with the Ohio State University, Monsanto Chemical Company, Commercial Solvents Corporation, the University of Missouri's Technical Information Center, and the Midwest Research Institute from 1938 to 1983. This collection also includes correspondence associated with Shortridge's private consulting work as a technical information consultant from 1983 to 2005.
Dates
- Creation: 1937 - 2005
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
No access restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.
Biography of Robert Shortridge (1918-2012)
Robert Shortridge was born in 1918 in Newsport News, Virginia to L.P. and Nell (Swank) Shortridge and grew up in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Shortridge majored in chemistry at Wabash College in 1938 and received a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Ohio State University in 1943.
From 1943 to 1945, Shortridge worked as a research chemist at the Monsanto Chemical Company before working at the Midwest Research Institute (MRI), now called MRIGlobal, in Kansas City, Missouri. He remained at MRI until 1968 except for a brief stint with the Commercial Solvents Corporation of Terre Haute, Indiana.
In 1968, Shortridge became the director of the University of Missouri's Technical Information Center (TIC). TIC performed science and engineering literature searches for business and industry specialists. Shortridge retired in 1983, and during retirement, worked as a technical information consultant performing science literature searches for companies and patent law firms, including Hovey, Williams, and Timmons and Collins.
Robert William Shortridge died in 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas.
[Information was taken from obituary found here: http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Robert-William-Shortridge-94565623.]
Extent
2.25 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
This collection contains papers created by Robert Shortridge associated with his academic and professional work at the Ohio State University, Monsanto Chemical Company, Commercial Solvents Corporation, and the Midwest Research Institute, now called MRIGlobal, from 1938 to 1983. This includes interoffice and academic correspondence; academic publications; reference material; written research notes; company directories; strategic plans; newspaper clippings; copies of patents, brochures, and technical summaries; and correspondence from the Technical Information Center at the University of Missouri.
The collection also includes papers on Shortridge’s personal experiments and inventions, miscellaneous personal records associated with job hunting, and correspondence associated with Shortridge's private work as a technical information consultant from 1983 to 2005.
Physical Location
RH MS 1534
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift, Mary Jo Mensie, 2016.
Source
- Mensie, Mary Jo (Donor, Person)
Subject
- Midwest Research Institute (Kansas City, Mo.) (Organization)
- Commercial Solvents Corp. (Organization)
- Shortridge, R. W. (Robert William), 1918- -- Correspondence (Person)
- Monsanto Chemical Company (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the Robert William Shortridge Collection
- Subtitle
- Robert William Shortridge papers
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by cmp. Finding aid encoded by cmp.
- Date
- 2021-02
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Finding aid permalink
- http://hdl.handle.net/10407/3856655327
- Preferred citation
-
Robert Shortridge papers, RH MS 1534, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository