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Gulf Oil Research and Development Company Records

 Collection
Identifier: MS 582
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of materials created or collected by Abraham J. Teplitz between 1926 and 1966, before and during his career with Gulf Oil Research and Development Company. The earliest item is a notebook recording data from oil wells drilled between Nov. 8, 1926, and May 12, 1927. A second notebook records ideas and drawings, 1937 to 1958. There are 16 technical reports of which Teplitz was either author or joint author. The materials also include several manuals and report-type publications relevant to Teplitz’s work as a specialist in the technology of oil well drilling. There are two folders, one of photographs related to oil well drilling and the other of memorabilia from Teplitz’s career, such as Gulf Oil Corporation certificates of service, newspaper articles and photographs related to retirement, and letters of appreciation from professional colleagues.

Dates

  • 1926-1966

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the Gulf Oil Research and Development Company Records Collection must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical / Historical

The Gulf Oil Research and Development Company Records represent the entire thirty-six-year-long career of Abraham J. Teplitz as a research scientist-engineer with Gulf. Teplitz, a native of Boston born in 1901, attended the University of Kansas, where he received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1926. In April 1927, with Cecil T. Langford, he filed application for a patent received in 1931. Its title is a Method for Separating Bitumin from Bituminous Sands and Similar Bituminous Materials. Teplitz was chosen to be a Mellon Institute Research Fellow, and in 1929 he was hired by Gulf Oil Research and Development Company in Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1935 he did pre-doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Among his accomplishments at Gulf was development of a new method of oil well cementing. In November 1955 he applied for a patent on a process titled Squeeze Cementing and received the patent in 1957. Having become involved in deep water drilling, he was sent in 1958 as a technical advisor to the Mene Grande Oil Company, one of the Gulf Oil companies in Venezuela. In 1961 Teplitz was promoted to be Director of the Production Engineering Division, and he retired in 1966 as Director of the Production Division.

Extent

1 Linear Feet ( (1 box))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

The collection consists of material representing the work of Abraham J. Teplitz, research scientist-engineer at Gulf Oil Research and Development Company, from 1926 through 1966. It includes technical reports either authored or jointly authored by Teplitz, a specialist in the technology of oil well drilling. Also included are two notebooks related to patents and a folder of memorabilia and one of photographs.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a gift donated by Paul V. Teplitz August 19, 2011.

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Gulf Oil Research and Development Company Records, 1926-1966
Status
Completed
Author
Mary Tobin
Date
2012
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892