The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Born in 1844 in Indiana, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley grew up in a log cabin on his parents’ farm. His unshakable moral foundation can be traced to his parents’ progressive, egalitarian values. Dr. Wiley’s defense of pure food came from his upbringing, as he gradually took increasing responsibility for chores on the farm. He developed the barometer by which he measured what pure food was supposed to be from his own experiences of food in its purest state. Alongside his farm work, his father was a pastor, and both of his parents were committed to social justice. His mother and father were both abolitionists, and his father was responsible for an eight-mile stretch of the Underground Railroad, over which he would guide enslaved people northward. From his father’s often dangerous, direct efforts to help others attain the freedom he deeply believed they deserved, Dr. Wiley learned from a young age that one was expected to practice what they preached.

Dr. Wiley fought for the Union Army during the Civil War; and his decision to attend medical school originated in what he witnessed befalling his fellow soldiers in battle. He earned his degree in medicine, and then a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, which led him to his appointment as chemistry professor at Purdue University. His studies abroad in cutting edge food chemistry brought him national recognition, and he was hired as the Chief Chemist at the Bureau of Chemistry at the age of 39. Dr. Wiley served for almost 30 years as the Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, retiring to accept a position at Good Housekeeping magazine, where he furthered the fight for pure food legislation and regulation. In 1910, he proposed marriage to his one and only love, Anna Kelton, a former USDA librarian and fiercely devoted suffragist. Together, they had two children and split their time between Washington, DC and their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.