Merle B. Shaw was born in Windham, Maine, in 1891. He graduated in 1910 from Windham High School and in 1911 from North Yarmouth Academy. He then enrolled in the University of Maine at Orono, graduating with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1915. He first worked in Massachusetts on heavy chemicals, TNT, and other explosive materials. He then went to Columbia University to work briefly with Professor Ralph H. McKee, a former head of the Chemistry Department at the University of Maine, on various war problems. Shaw served in the Chemical Warfare Service in World War I, working on poison gases and in ordnance on explosives. Following his discharge from the Army, he went to work in 1919 for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington. There he worked for the rest of his career in the Paper Section, doing research on paper and paper products. He was especially involved in developing paper for use in currency and research on paper resistance to wear and weather exposure, especially in war maps for use in World War II. He was the author or co-author of numerous articles published by the Bureau of Standards or in paper trade journals. Merle Shaw retired from the Bureau in 1949. He returned to Maine in 1975 and died in 1977.
From the description of Papers 1914-1975 (bulk 1922-1950). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 54110973
