Following a number of years in which the Society was relatively inactive, the selection of Jane Wu as Chairman of the Society from January 1996 through June 1997 signaled a renewed interest in the Society. One of Jane's appointments was that of Joseph Sneddon in charge of publicity and a further request that he instigate a membership drive. As part of this drive, he felt that a history of the Society would be useful to potential new members. As editor of the Microchemical Journal (the Society's journal), it was natural that the History of the Microchemical Society be published in this journal. Dr. Sneddon, with the assistance of several long time members including Len Klein, Connie Paralusz, and Jane Wu, undertook this task. An excellent review of the ''The American Microchemical Society: An Informal History'' was published by Sabine and Alber in the Microchemical Journal (1979, 24,(265)(266)(267)(268)(269)(270)(271)(272)(273)(274). In fact, a good portion of this work is reproduced (with permission) for this publication, particularly from the beginning in 1935 through 1979.
At the 89th meeting of the American Chemical Society in New York City in the Spring of 1935, two sessions on chemical microscopy were scheduled. They were largely sponsored by Chamot and Mason of Cornell University (3), Benedetti-Pichler, Mason, Niederl, Schneider (1,2), and others and attendance was so great that the sessions had to be transferred to a larger room and an extra session added. So many people were interested that they agreed that the time had come for the formation of an independent group devoted to chemical microscopy, microanalysis, and general microtechniques. All those interested in such a move were asked to leave their names and addresses with Dr. Frank L. Schneider.
That fall, they all received notices calling for an informal meeting at the Washington Square Branch of New York University. An impressive crowd assembled. There is no authentic list of charter members. In fact the first meetings were quite informal and anyone who joined during the first year rightfully can be called a charter member.
Microchemistry was not a new discipline. Small-scale procedures date back almost as far as recorded history but the eighteenth century marks the beginning of true microanalytical methods. An abbreviated account of the historical development of