Form 990 for tax year 2023

Totals

Total revenue

$32,713,468

Total expenses

$9,524,284

Contributions and grants received

$0

Grants paid

$6,160,985

Program service revenue

$1,485

Investment income

$32,711,983

Other revenue

$0

Total assets, end of year

$213,908,006

Total liabilities, end of year

$1,740,791

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$212,167,215

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$9,265,751

Management and general expenses

$258,533

Fundraising expenses

$0

Program service expenses (Part III)

$9,265,751

Program services were 97.3% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2023

• THE DONALD F. AND MILDRED TOPP OTHMER LIBRARY OF CHEMICAL HISTORY IS AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH LIBRARY ENCOMPASSING THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY AND RELATED SCIENCES AND INDUSTRIES. THE LIBRARY NOW HOUSES MORE THAN 140,000 PRINT VOLUMES, RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS, ARCHIVAL MATERIALS, AND HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS. TOGETHER THESE COLLECTIONS-SPANNING NEARLY SIX MILES OF SHELVES-FORM AN UNRIVALED RESOURCE FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY AND RELATED SCIENCES, TECHNOLOGIES, AND INDUSTRIES. LOCATED IN PHILADELPHIA, THE LIBRARY IS OPEN TO RESEARCHERS BY APPOINTMENT. THE NUCLEUS OF OUR 7,000 RARE BOOK COLLECTION COMES FROM THE CHEMISTS' CLUB LIBRARY OF NEW YORK AND THE ROY G. NEVILLE HISTORICAL CHEMICAL LIBRARY. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COLLECTION INCLUDE LANDMARK WORKS ON THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY, WORKS ON THE EARLY CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE, AND A SET OF TEN 15TH-CENTURY ALCHEMICAL MANUSCRIPT VOLUMES AND MINIATURES. RELATED SUBJECTS REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTION COMPRISE MINING AND METALLURGY, ASSAYING, GUNNERY, PYROTECHNICS, BOOKS OF SECRETS, MEDICINE, PHARMACY, PHYSICS, AND BOTANY. THE MODERN MONOGRAPH AND JOURNALS COLLECTION MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE IN PRINT, MICROFORM, AUDIOVISUAL, AND/OR ELECTRONIC FORMATS. TOPICS COVERED IN THE COLLECTION RANGE FROM GENERAL CHEMISTRY FIELDS TO SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, SUCH AS BREWING, COSMETICS, DYES, PLASTICS, SOAPS, AND TEXTILES.

  Expenses $2,101,221 · Revenue $19

• THE SCIENCE HISTORY INSTITUTE ARCHIVES ACTIVELY COLLECTS AND PRESERVES THE PAPERS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS WHOSE WORK HAS SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCED OUR SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF CHEMISTRY, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, AND THE LIFE SCIENCES AND ITS ALLIED FIELDS. THE PROFESSIONAL PAPERS OF INDIVIDUALS, BUSINESSES, AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS OFTEN PROVE TO BE THE MOST VALUABLE SOURCES FOR RECORDING THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND HELP CONSTITUTE THE PRIMARY MATERIAL RECORD OF THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR TO INVESTIGATE AND SHAPE NATURE. ARCHIVES STAFF COLLECTS, PRESERVES, DESCRIBES, AND MAKES AVAILABLE THE UNIQUE, UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS THAT DOCUMENT THE PAST 200 YEARS OF OUR CHEMICAL HISTORY. SPANNING OVER 6,000 LINEAR SHELF FEET, THESE COLLECTIONS ARE A MAJOR ATTRACTION FOR SCHOLARS OF THE MODERN CHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR SCIENCES. WE ACTIVELY COLLECT ARCHIVAL PAPERS FROM OUTSTANDING SCIENTISTS, INDUSTRIES, AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. COLLECTION STRENGTHS INCLUDE THE FIELDS OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION, CHEMICAL EDUCATION, MATERIALS SCIENCE, QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

  Expenses $1,003,545 · Revenue $1,466

• GRANT TO THE SCIENCE HISTORY INSTITUTE.

  Expenses $6,160,985 · Grants $6,160,985

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

• SCIENCE HISTORY INSTITUTE

  $6,160,985

  GENERAL ASSISTANCE

Related organizations on this return

Schedule R Part II: tax-exempt organizations related to the filer by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

• SCIENCE HISTORY INSTITUTE

  501(C)(3) · MUSEUM AND PUBLIC OUTREACH · PA

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2023

Filed

20 February 2025

IRS schema version

2023v6.0

Source object

202510639349301861

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