Professor donating books to improve science ed

Joseph Schmuckler’s library includes rows of volumes chronicling the history of science

Science education professor Joseph Schmuckler views the many books in his library, dating back to 1809, as friends. Some of them will be leaving Ritter Hall to join the collections at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, which requested books and papers from Schmuckler’s personal collection. “I have a healthy respect for antiquity,” he said. “These books document the history of the science of chemistry.”

When science education professor Joseph Schmuckler goes to the library area of his Ritter Hall laboratory, he feels as if he’s visiting old friends.

“They are indeed my friends,” said Schmuckler, who moves from book to book, pointing out the work of prominent chemists and teachers he knows and has worked with in his 55 years of teaching.

Schmuckler moves to the next shelf, where the books, beautifully bound and illustrated, are appreciably older. The oldest, written in French, dates back to 1809. Others, written in the 1800s and early 1900s, focus on environmental issues or elementary household chemistry.
“They are my friends, too,” Schmuckler, 78, said with a grin. “I have a healthy respect for antiquity. These books document the history of the science of chemistry.”

Since he began teaching at Temple in 1968, Schmuckler’s library — which he began building from the first day he became a high school chemistry teacher at Haverford High School — has been a treasure trove of information for him and his students, both for teaching and research.
Now, scientists and teachers from throughout the nation will be able to use them. The Chemical Heritage Foundation, based in Philadelphia, has requested more than 50 volumes from his personal library.

The volumes, which he’s cataloging now, include a full set of the volumes used in the 1960s in the CHEM STUDY project, a national effort to improve high school chemistry teaching. Schmuckler worked in the program with Nobel Prize laureate Glenn Seaborg and prominent chemists George Pimentel of the University of California–Berkeley, and J. Arthur Campbell of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation also requested Schmuckler’s research papers and correspondence files, which will be placed in the foundation’s archival collection.

Donating the volumes makes perfect sense, said Schmuckler, whose laboratory was the setting for the filming of a “NOVA” documentary on the life of chemist Percy Julian last year. The lab also served as the setting for the Discovery Channel Series “Chemistry’s 100 Greatest Discoveries,” narrated by Bill Nye, renowned television science teacher.

“I know this will be servicing a need,” said Schmuckler, noting that it was with the encouragement of his four children that he donated the volumes for use by scientists, researchers and teachers.

“I was worried, very much, about what was to become of the books. This is a godsend to me. I feel very positive about it.”

Curiously, Schmuckler doesn’t go looking for vintage books. They somehow find him.

“I don’t have time to seek them. They come to me from many courses, especially from former students who know of my collection,” he said. “These are books that have come across my desk in the years I’ve been teaching. I believe that teachers should have science-related collections that they own to show kids they’re interested in what they teach.”

The volumes bespeak scholarship and teaching — and learning. Meticulous notes, written in the penmanship of bygone eras, are in many of the margins.

“That’s why they’re so valuable,” Schmuckler said.

A recipient of Temple’s Lindback Award in 1976 and the Great Teacher Award in 1989, Schmuckler has personal ties to many of the books. One book belonged to Robert Schenck, his mentor when he was a budding teacher, who, he said, had a profound effect on him. Schenck’s name is written inside, in his own hand.

Another, a large volume titled The Dispensatory of the United States of America, includes a personal inscription from its author, Arthur Osol, former president of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, now University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

“To Professor Joseph Schmuckler,” the inscription reads, “whose work on behalf of science among young students is one of America’s assets. March, 1958.”

- By Barbara Baals