Chemical Heritage Foundation

Chemical Heritage Foundation was a Philadelphia-based institution devoted to the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the life sciences. Founded in 1982, it built collections, exhibitions, research programs, and educational initiatives that connected scientific discovery with business, industry, medicine, and everyday life. Its headquarters and museum operations were centered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and its work reached scholars, students, and the broader public through a library, archives, oral histories, fellowships, and interpretive programming.

The foundation developed major research and public-history infrastructure around the chemical sciences. Its Othmer Library of Chemical History held books, manuscripts, images, and other materials documenting chemistry and related fields, while its museum and exhibition program interpreted topics such as alchemy, materials, pharmaceuticals, and scientific instruments for general audiences. Chemical Heritage Foundation also supported academic study through fellowships and travel grants for researchers using its collections, and it convened conferences, lectures, and digital history projects that linked science with social and economic change.