Summary Information
George W. Goetz Papers
1877-1897
- Goetz, George W., 1855-1897
Mss 136
0.4. c.f. (1 archives box)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of George W. Goetz, a Milwaukee metallurgist and inventor, including professional correspondence, notes, and reports; materials pertaining to patents he obtained, mainly concerning iron and copper refining processes; diaries from a tour with S. T. Wellman of European iron and steel works; and biographical materials. Correspondence includes exchanges with the Ore Reduction Company of Pittsburgh, the Illinois Steel Company of Chicago, and the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company of Michigan and Boston.
English
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Biography/History
George Washington Goetz was born in Milwaukee on February 17, 1855. Even at a young age he showed interest in scientific experiments and embarked on extensive self-instruction. While working as a telegrapher at the Milwaukee Iron Company, 1870-1876, he was encouraged to begin formal scientific studies. In October, 1876, he entered the School of Mines in Berlin, where he studied for four years, graduating with honors. During vacations he traveled, visiting mines and iron and steel works in Europe.
From 1881 to 1888 Goetz was engaged as a chemist at the Otis Steel Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1885 he went to Europe with S. T. Wellman of Otis Steel to study the process for making open-hearth basic steel, which Goetz subsequently first introduced successfully in the United States.
In 1890 Goetz established a Milwaukee office as a consulting metallurgist and engineer and worked for some of the most important mining and metal concerns in the world, including the Illinois Steel Company, Westinghouse Company, Wellman Iron and Steel Company, and the Fried Krupp Works at Essen, Germany. He also conducted many experiments in his chemical and electrical laboratory there.
George Goetz died on January 15, 1897. During his short lifetime he had registered eighteen patents and had become one of the best-known and most respected metallurgists in the United States. He was survived by his wife, Else Luedecke, whom he had married in Berlin in 1886, and their three children, Werner, George, and Elsie.
(The above biography was primarily written by Marcia Peterson, in 1967 a student at the University of Wisconsin Library School.)
Scope and Content Note
The George W. Goetz Papers, 1877-1897, consist of professional reports and correspondence, patents and related materials, technical notes, and biographical materials. The professional reports and correspondence are small in quantity and result mainly from the consulting work done by Goetz. Included are exchanges with the Ore Reduction Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Illinois Steel Company, Chicago, Illinois; the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, Calumet, Michigan and Boston, Massachusetts; and several individuals.
The folder of patents and related material contains twelve actual patents, mostly in metallurgy, in addition to submitted specifications, a caveat for a patent, and several diagrams. The technical notes concern Goetz' experiments, processes involving ferrous and copper ores, mine surveys, journal literature, and various similar subjects. Included here are diaries kept during Goetz' 1885 trip to Europe with S. T. Wellman, mainly recording observations of iron and steel works they visited. The biographical materials comprise an autobiographical letter written by Goetz to his wife and children, February 21, 1895, two obituaries, and a eulogy.
Also included in the collection are two volumes. One is a manuscript notebook kept by Goetz which he entitled “Metallurgical Notes, Freiberg, Saxony, Summer, 1879.” The other is a typewritten “Report of Wellman & Goetz to Philadelphia Co., January, 1895.”
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. Howard Greene, Genessee Depot, Wisconsin, October 29, 1957.
Processed by Karen Baumann and 1967 archives students, November 29, 1970.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Professional Reports and Correspondence, 1877; 1885; 1889-1896
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Patents and Related Materials, 1884-1897; undated
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Technical Notes
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Biographical Materials, 1895; 1897
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Box
1
Volume
1
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Metallurgical Notes, Freiberg, Saxony, Summer, 1879
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Box
1
Volume
2
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Report of Wellman and Goetz to Philadelphia Co., January, 1895
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