The National Plastics Center has officially moved to its new home at Syracuse University. A cargo van filled with items arrived Dec. 5 from Leominster, Mass., according to this story in the Syracuse, N.Y., The Post-Standard. "It's a lot of cubic feet of stuff. It's plastic artifacts wrapped in plastic bubble wrap stored in plastic bins, " Sean Quimby, director of SU's Special Collections Research Center, told the newspaper. "The very experience of doing this kind of drives home the importance of plastic." According to this news release from the Syracuse University Library, the collection includes:
- Nearly 3,000 books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and industry publications
- Papers, business records, and manuscripts from plastics companies, plastics-industry entrepreneurs, and members of the Plastics Hall of Fame, including the records of Union Products, maker of the iconic pink flamingo lawn ornament
- Thousands of artifacts, including molds and machinery, fine art, toys, car parts, medical devices, housewares, and jewelry. The artifacts include objects made of natural plastics such as horn, ivory, and tortoiseshell, semi-synthetic plastics including celluloid, and fully synthetic objects including those made of the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite.
