New in the collection: Carolina Biological Supply blotter

Ink blotter with words Carolina cultures and showing images of microscopic organisms

“While teaching at Elon and working towards the doctorate at Duke, Powell perceived the need for a biological supply house that could provide schools and colleges with their laboratory specimens. At the time, only two other businesses in the United States supplied specimens for classroom use — teachers were expected to collect their own protozoan, frogs, and animal skeletons.

“Powell began his business on a part-time basis in 1927 in a woodshed beside a pond at Elon College. Nine years later he resigned his teaching position to devote full time to management of the growing company.”

— From Thomas Edward Powell Jr.’s entry (1994)  by George W. Troxler in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography

This ink blotter promotes the company as “a dependable culture service.”