Tag: asbestoshistory

Where History Means Knowledge. Be Informed.

Manville, The Early Years: Joe and Stella Utasi First Hand Account and Escape from the Coal Mines of Pennsylvania to the Asbestos factory in Manville, New Jersey

I would like to once again bring history to life through the use of Ellis Island, the Coal Mines, to the Asbestos Capital of the World published by the Manville, NJ Public Library in 1987. The statement by Joe and Stella Utasi covers so many areas including, like many of the other stories in the…
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COMMUNICATING THE ASBESTOS MESSAGE: Search Engine Optimization

Asbestos related lawsuits in the United States make it difficult and expensive to effectively use social media to communicate about asbestos related issues, such as my recent thesis on the failure of the Space Shuttle Challenger’s asbestos containing putty. If you haven’t yet read my thesis, you can find it at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9723. This disconnect with…
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The Human Tragedy of Asbestos: October 22, 1981.

October 22, 1981 is when my dad passed away from Mesothelioma, likely arising from asbestos exposure during World War II while in the Navy. My understanding is that, in his agony, my mom may have used an especially heavy thumb on the morphine feeding machine that day. If she was able to muster that amount…
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Johns-Manville, The Story of Ted Kowalski

Rather than me telling a story this week, I have picked out a first hand recollection from the 1987 book entitled Ellis Island, the Coal Mines, to the Asbestos Capital of the World. I have chosen the comments by Ted Kowalski beginning on page 133. Mr. Kowalski, like many in his generation, moved to Manville,…
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Asbestos: In the Post-Civil War Era. A Trip Through History.

I enjoy our trips down history lane. We hear a lot of antidotal evidence about when the commercial use of asbestos became viable, with many people pointing to the then newly discovered mines in Canada during the 1870s. However, shortly after General Robert E. Lee gave up the ghost at Appomattox on April 9, 1865,…
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36th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy: A Retrospective by Martin Ditkof

Thank you for joining me. You can find my thesis dated January 28, 2022, thirty-six years after the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, to review or download at: https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Space-Shuttle-Challenger-Thesis-1282022.pdf I have titled the thesis “Space Shuttle Challenger January 28, 1986 Tragedy: 36 Years Later, A Retrospective on Causation and Moral Injuries.” Please feel free to share…
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Space Shuttle Challenger: One Slide and Three Minutes in the Grad Slam to Discuss Asbestos and Asbestos Substitutes

Having submitted my Master of History thesis on the Space Shuttle Challenger (we have three theses in this program, so don’t get excited), I decided to join the ultimate challenge for either an attorney or a historian; brevity. I need to condense my 74 pages down to a one page slide supported by a three…
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Why Ship Breaking is an Export for Developed Countries and an Import for those which are Underdeveloped: Asbestos Makes a Difference.

Ship breaking (scrapping) is a classic situation of developed countries (in World Systems terminology, “core states”) sucking up the good parts of technology, production, capital, and profits, while exporting the bad parts to lesser developed areas of the world (“periphery states”) willing to accept what the core countries allow, in exchange for taking risks otherwise…
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How to Research the Difficult; Ship Breaker Exposure to Asbestos

I am beginning my book project dealing with asbestos exposures arising from ship building, seafaring, and ship breaking (scrapping) that will be my focus for at least a couple of years. Fingers crossed on the detailed research and pulling it off informatively and with an interested readership. Right now, ship breaking is likely the most…
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1825: Asbestos and Talc Were Well Known in the United States

I didn’t know much about 1825, so I looked it up. On February 9, 1825, John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States without getting the majority of the electoral vote, the popular vote, or any shots being fired. Hand it to Henry Clay for doing the honorable thing. A great deal is…
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