In 1920 Stuart Wilder Maher, a 1914 chemistry graduate who had just become chief chemist at Tennessee Eastman (Kingsport), wrote a letter to the alumni magazine and its readers suggesting that contributions be made to establish a reference library at UT to support research work. He started the reference collection with paid subscriptions to the Journal of Industry and Engineering Chemistry, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Chemical Abstracts. He also pledged $25 per year for the next five years to be used to purchase technical books and periodicals. In August 1922 Maher was killed in an explosion in an Eastman laboratory, and the Alumni Association immediately mounted a campaign to enlarge the Stuart Maher technical library. By June 1923, $2,000 had been raised for this purpose.