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Start Over Creator Oakes, Laura
James Madison University

Drugs in the valley: fifty years of Merck and Co. oral history collection

0.25 cubic feet 4 folders and 4 original sound cassettes
Collection is an oral history project comprised of a background paper and three audio recordings with corresponding transcripts of interviews conducted in July 1990 by Laura Oakes with former and current employees of the Merck and Co., Inc. pharmaceutical manufacturing plant located in Elkton, Virginia, known as the Stonewall Plant.
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Drugs in the valley: fifty years of Merck and Co. oral history collection 0.25 cubic feet 4 folders and 4 original sound cassettes

Oakes, Laura
Collection is an oral history project comprised of a background paper and three audio recordings with corresponding transcripts of interviews conducted in July 1990 by Laura Oakes with former and current employees of the Merck and Co., Inc. pharmaceutical manufacturing plant located in Elkton, Virginia, known as the Stonewall Plant.

George Elliot Reeke interviewed by Laura A. Oakes

This interview records the recollections of Mr. George Elliot Reeke who was a maintenance engineer from 1941-1980 at the Stonewall Plant at Elkton, VA., a manufacturing plant of the pharmaceutical corporation, Merck & Co. Reeke describes various aspects of work; the impact of the plant on the community and company, and events and changes which impacted on the plant, its employees and local area. Expresses viewpoints from the perspective of an employee who was present at the founding of the plant through its building years. Mentions the building of the plant and its physical layout; descriptions of jobs and key personnel; employment practices (wages, benefits, status of minorities and women); administrative research and production activities (ex. riboflavin process, thiamin, streptomycin, penicillin, atabrin, various vitamins); employer-employee relations; outside activities (clubs, etc.); communication within the plant, safety/quality control measures and health care; transportation of raw materials; company housing; community relations and economic impact; environmental impact (fish kill in the Shenandoah River); and the impact of WWII on the plant, employees and community. Recorded at the home of Mr. George Elliot Reeke of Harrisonburg, VA. on July 3, 1990.

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