Newcomen Society of the United States

The Newcomen Society of the United States was a non-profit educational foundation for "the study and recognition of achievement in American business and the society it serves." It was responsible for more than 1,600 individual histories of organizations, from corporations to colleges, which were distributed to libraries and its membership. In 2007, the chairman and trustees announced the society's closure.

It was patterned after the Newcomen Society of Great Britain, founded in London in 1920, a learned society formed to foster the study of the history of engineering and technology. Both groups took their name from Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729), the British industrial pioneer whose invention of the atmospheric steam engine in 1712 led to the first practical use of such a device -- lifting water out of mines. Newcomen's invention helped facilitate the birth of the Industrial Revolution. He is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Industrial Revolution."

The Newcomen Society of the United States began as The Newcomen Society in North America, founded at New York City in 1923 by Leonor F. Loree, then dean of American railroad presidents, together with a group of other prominent business leaders. The original members were nominated from leaders in business, industry, education, the military and other professions. Its declaration of purpose was to:

Established soon after the ascent of communism in the Soviet Union, The Newcomen Society in North America championed American capitalism, material civilization and entrepreneurship. But the English and American branches together counted only 323 members in 1933, the year leadership for The Newcomen Society in North America went to its co-founder and Loree's friend, Charles Penrose, Sr. (1886-1958). A graduate of Princeton University with a career in engineering, Penrose found a new calling at Newcomen. Declining a salary, he became senior vice-president when the presidency was largely honorary, and under his dynamic governance the society achieved stature and prestige. He started sectional committees and aggressively recruited as members industrialists, educators, bankers and businessmen. Membership soared to 12,000, while the British chapter numbered less than 500.

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