Collection search - Thistle, Mel, W. - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Thistle, Mel, W. - Interview

Item number (ISN):

440120

Series title:

[National Research Council Oral History Project]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1975-06-20

Item number (ISN):

440120

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA / CONSEIL NATIONAL DE RECHERCHES DU CANADA

Accession:

1975-0157

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1975-06-20

Release date:

1975-06-20

Production company:

National Research Council

Production credit:

interviewer, Don Phillipson

Description:

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Interview of Mel W. Thistle by Don Phillipson. Subjects discussed include: R. W. Boyle; J.G. Malloch; Bradley Pett worked with vitamins added to flour that made petrified bread; Kath Densmore became the Chemistry Division's Administrative Assistant, which made her one of the most powerful women in the NRC; she had Class I priority with Ethel Wheaton; Frank Underhill; McTaggart-Cowan anecdote on joint action to train meteorologists; J.D. Babbitt now custodian of the Inner Ring raw material, saved from loss by J.B. Marshall; C.J. Mackenzie persuaded NRC to fund prairie research on alkali cement damage; Glassco Commmission - Thistle edited science study under Bissel; J.R. Whitehead; W.H. Cook; B.G. Ballard; Thistle's history at NRC: 1938, employed to assist calculations by J. Hopkins; Thistle applied to Biology Division; Thistle attempted to join RCAF but was refused due to issue with health; war research included: human blood storage temperature; Food research (bacon, dried eggs) - W.H. Cook predicted convoy shipping creating a need for longer storage of food; problem was egg quality indicator; Jess Pearce; process totally reformed in six months primarily by cooling output; Wally Yesno; NRC role was to teach CDA scientific quality control - Thistle was the export egg controller; U.S. copied the Canadian system; by 1941, all Biology Division research was war-oriented; weekly biology division seminars continued into war period; later on during the war, Thistle was head of Food Engineering regarding storage and transport; in post-war, he was general editor of Biology Division's papers for C.J.R.; later during post-war, Thistle worked in Food Engineering Branch on: Railway refrigeration cars and truck refrigeration cars; F. Rosser; F.E. Lathe; NRC food preservation results were published for U.S. and Canadian industry; dangerous chemical warfare research was transferred to Suffield early on; many NRC staff served as guinea pigs for gas tests; Thistle was scanned in tests; later on soldiers were used and paid one dollar extra; E.A. Flood; NRC staff were happy to volunteer and provided pints of blood for Thistle's research; desalination of sea water (for survival of sunken ship crews) by precipitation of Na and Cl separately; project achieved low productivity and was deemed impractical; Dr. Norman Gibbons functioned as NRC physiologist during wartime; Jimmy Manson; bacon project; Johnny Marier; Mac Kuhring; Jack Hopps; M-58 opened in 1963; F. Rosser; and dried egg peak - when peacetime came shell egg was looked on as symbol of peace therefore dried egg technology was relegated to bakery mass production. <2h 9mn>

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Subject description taken from partial transcript in binder, National Research Council Oral History Project, Index R-Z.~2. Part of track 1 and 2 of PAC tape 555 (poor quality recording).~3. Thistle, Mel, "The Inner Ring: The Early History of the National Research Council of Canada", University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1966.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

674832

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C00555

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1117979

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

440120-C00555.WAV

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

BWF

Duration:

128:15

Made from:

C00555

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

GENCAT identity number:

GAD 0FD645

Restrictions on consultation:

open

Copyright status:

under copyright.

Reproduction access:

With written permission of copyright owner : No donor restrictions. Copyright belongs to the Crown. Credit Library and Archives Canada.

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