Right at the end of World War II, the officers of the Milwaukee Section decided to publish a newsletter as a "trial balloon" that would be used for official announcements of the section as well as for unofficial "newsy" items about people in the section. During the period of 1919 to 1945, official announcements were printed in the Chemical Bulletin, the newsletter of the Chicago Section.

September 1945 saw the release of the first issue. The editorial staff were the Milwaukee Section Officers, with section secretary Roland Osborn serving as editor and the section officers serving as the editorial staff. They were not sure that a news letter would succeed, and thus no editorial staff was appointed until January, 1946. H.L. Gerhart was chosen to be the first editor.

First Amalgamator.

The Amalgamator was conceived to be a monthly publication, with 9 issues a year, September through May. At these early years there was a sizable staff, usually consisting of an editor and associate editor, business manager (who was also the section treasurer) and several assistant editors and/or department managers. There were a large number of advertisements in the Amalgamator, which meant that the publication of the newsletter was self supporting and usually provided a revenue stream for the local section.

During the first decade, the editors experimented with different "looks" of the cover. The January 1955 issue introduced of the Amalgamator logo. This is reproduced above. This has remained largely unchanged, except when I changed the background from a solid black to a pattern that represents an amalgam in September 1999. The covers of early issues were often printed in varying colors, and sometimes, the December issue would be printed in green or red instead of black.

During these years, the content consisted of various articles on chemistry or issues that were of concern to the local chemists. In the fifties, there was a series on the chemical companies in the Milwaukee area. Member directories were also printed each year.

December 1958 was the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the section and the Amalgamator marked the occasion with a special Golden Jubilee issue. This issue has an extensive history of the section with pictures. It will be a reproduced and be available at the Amalgamator web site.

During the early seventies, the number of advertisers dropped and the Amalgamator was no longer self supporting. Starting with Volume 28, Number 1 (1973), the Amalgamator changed it's publication schedule from monthly to bimonthly, with 5 issues from September to May. Initially, alternating months were used to distribute an ACS newsletter. (I was not able to find out for how long this newsletter was printed.) With the decrease in advertising revenue, the Amalgamator was no longer self supporting. Membership dues were required to keep printing the Amalgamator. The bimonthly format is still in use. Since the seventies, the content changed to be largely of official announcements of the section. By the eighties, the editorial staff shrank to just an editor and an advertising manager, and then in the nineties, to just an editor.

The April 1976 edition of the Amalgamator celebrated the Centennial of the American Chemical Society. The issue was devoted to a very extensive review of the accomplishments of 68 years of the Milwaukee Section. This issue will also be reproduced and available on line at the Amalgamator web site.

In September 1999, the Amalgamator went on line. Two years earlier, a Milwaukee Section web page was started by William Edgemond of the Medical College of Wisconsin. In January 2000, when Edgemond moved from the area, the section web page was incorporated into the Amalgamator web page. Currently, the Amalgamator web site is the web site of the Milwaukee Section. Having the Amalgamator web site has allowed the Amalgamator participate more closely in the activities of the section. The web page is now an active part of the section's participation in National Chemistry Week, in that it serves as the home base for some of it's activities such as the "Web Scavenger Hunt" for high school students.

In 2001, I started printing, as well as posting on the web site, the results of visits I made to the classes of the "Teacher of the Year". This is an important award of the section and requires more than a brief mention in the Amalgamator. It is also an enjoyable activity as editor to visit with these talented teachers. The Amalgamator has also been able to print articles about our talented students and their success in the "Chemistry Olympiad".

In the September 2003, the Amalgamator started including TAGLines, the news letter of WiSE TAG, the sections Technician Affiliate Group. I am also editing their web site.

A complete bound set of the Amalgamator is available for viewing in the McFarland Learning Center in the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A second bound set of the Amalgamator may be found in the Chemistry Department at Marquette University. However, it is only complete from 1952 to present.

The Amalgamator is always changing. The web version of the Amalgamator has become a resource of what is going on in our section, past and present. Often articles and reports are deferred to the web with nothing more than a brief note in the printed edition. Perhaps in the not too distant future, the printed version will cease to exist.