Description
The collection consists of more than 130 pieces, including approximately 70 pages of
letters and invoices, from 40 different firms, and includes approximately 60 different
catalogues and brochures. The letters---on company letterheads, including some elaborate,
illustrated, engraved letterhead--present detailed, specific information on product
features, availability, prices and terms. The Heil Company noted that its customer base was
"mines, smelters, iron & steel works, schools, colleges, and universities," and it
principally sold items used in testing, such as for academic and industrial laboratories,
doctors' and hospital labs, medical schools, etc. The correspondence, product pamphlets and
catalogs, wholesale price lists, and other items--all from the suppliers to Heil--represent
a wide range of products, such as ampoules, syringes, water purification devices,
pharmaceutical machinery, sterilizers, measuring instruments, atomizers, cultures, Bunsen
burners, and gas (e.g., nitrous oxide) canisters. As responses to Heil Company's inquiries
to do public catalog resale of chemicals, drugs, equipment, and instruments, they document
the relationship between a distributor and mostly small manufacturing firms that supplied
specialized products. The materials originally were filed away by Heil in plain envelopes,
which were not retained. Most of the original stamped covers from the firms were discarded
at time of receipt, but some remain.
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical objects belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. All
other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not
hold the copyright.