Nash (Charles and Alta) Papers on Direct Steel Process Company, 1920-1925

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Summary

Title:
Charles and Alta Nash Papers on Direct Steel Process Company
Dates:
1920-1925
Creators:
Nash, Charles H. Nash, Alta Direct Steel Process Company
Abstract:
Extent:
.25 linear feet
Language:
Preferred citation:

Charles and Alta Nash Papers on Direct Steel Process Company. History San Jose Research Library

Background

Scope and content:

Small collection of correspondence and corporate records related to Charles H. Nash and wife Alta (Louden) Nash's involvement with Herbert Lang and the Direct Steel Process Company between 1920 and 1925. The Nash couple were residents of San Jose and part owners of The San Jose Transport Company when Charles Nash became a director and shareholder of the Direct Steel Process Company, created to profit from a new method of smelting steel from black sand invented by metallurgist Herbert Lang. The letters between Charles and Alta Nash, Lang, and other investors Howard and Maude Bardue, document the establishment of the company, efforts to conduct a demonstration for investors in Santa Cruz, a potential royalty scheme with a developer in Montana and Utah, and the eventual demise of the company.

Biographical / historical:

According to an article in the San Jose Evening News (August 20, 1897), Charles Nash was a director of an earlier mining venture, Rodman-Morrell Mining and Milling Company, incorporated in San Jose that month, in which he invested an initial $5100. Herbert Lang was the author of Metallurgy, Volume I (1911), and is described by references in an article, "Direct Steel Process Maneuvers Exposed" (Santa Cruz newspaper, April 12, 1921) as "a skillful metallurgist and an honorable man. I have had the pleasure of publishing many valuable technical articles written by him." (T. A. Rickard, president and editor of the Mining and Scientific Press of San Francisco). Another reference writes, "We consider Herbert Lang a metallurgist of the highest caliber." Lang and his wife were living in Oakland and Berkeley during the time of his involvement with the Nashes; they appear from letters to have originally stayed at the Nash home before moving to a hotel in Oakland, and then moving to a rental in Berkeley. It is not clear whether he is the same person as Herbert O. Lang or Herbert V. Lang. What became of him after the correspondence stops in 1922 is not known.

Acquisition information:
Donated to History San Jose in 2023 by a great-granddaughter of Charles and Alta Nash.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid created by History San Jose Research Library staff.
Date Prepared:
1920-1925
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:54 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to the public by appointment with the Research Library & Archives.

Terms of access:

Materials may be reproduced and used with appropriate credit.

Preferred citation:

Charles and Alta Nash Papers on Direct Steel Process Company. History San Jose Research Library

Location of this collection:
1661 Senter Road
San Jose, CA 95112, US
Contact:
(408) 287-2290
research@historysanjose.org
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