Description

Eugene R. Grasselli (1810-1882) came to the United States from Strasbourg, France in 1836. He established a chemical plant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1866 and pioneered the refining of sulfuric acid. The plant was incorporated as the Grasselli Chemical Corporation in 1885 with Eugene's son Caesar A. as its first president and other family members as directors. Caesar's son, Thomas S., followed him as president. The company grew to include 28 plants before it was sold to du Pont in 1928. The collection consists of personal and business papers of Eugene R., Caesar A., and Thomas S. Grasselli and other members of the Grasselli family, including wills, deeds, a marriage certificate, correspondence (with translations of some of the letters written in French), broadsides, minutes, invoices, receipts, diaries, ledgers, patents, letter press books, financial records, and drafts of Caesar A.'s autobiography.