Landmark designation

Alice Hamilton and the Development of Occupational Medicine

Landmark designation

The American Chemical Society designated the pioneering work of Alice Hamilton in industrial toxicology a National Historic Chemical Landmark on September 21, 2002. The plaque commemorating the event reads:

In 1897, Dr. Alice Hamilton (1869-1970) came to Hull-House, a social settlement founded to address the needs of immigrants living on Chicago’s Near West Side. Through living and working in the Hull-House neighborhood, she identified occupational diseases plaguing those who worked in the "dangerous trades": rubber, dyes, lead, enamelware, copper and mercury production, and explosives and munitions. Collaborating with the U.S. Department of Labor, Hamilton documented the occupational diseases from which these workers suffered. Her reports on the effect of lead on industrial workers, particularly women, established her as a leader in the field of chemical health and safety

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