A National Historic Chemical Landmark: Havemeyer Hall

Havemeyer Hall

The Chandler Chemical Museum
The east end of Havemeyer's main corridor was originally devoted to the Chandler Museum. Begun by Charles Frederick Chandler as a means of illustrating his chemical lectures, the collection soon included rare and valuable objects as well as the finest classroom exhibits, including nearly every inorganic salt known at the time and a collection of more than 4000 organic compounds, 1000 of them first developed in the laboratories of Columbia University; vegetable, petroleum and essential oils; explosives dating back to the Civil War; tanning and fertilizer exhibits; resins, varnishes, and pigments; a comprehensive electrochemical exhibit; colloids; an excellent collection showing the history of ceramic arts; a nearly perfect set of early-19th century apothecary jars; a collection of the earliest photographs; and an exhibit of rare earths.

Of particular importance was a complete set of pre-World War I German dyes and a large collection of synthetic dyes. The Chandler Museum collection was the only one available for use by the U.S. government for standards after German dye patents were confiscated during the war.

Much of the museum's content survives to this day, though only a small percentage of the artifacts are displayed in Havemeyer Hall.

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