Among the abstracting publications that preceded CA were Chemisches Zentralblatt (1830), Bulletin de la SociÉtÉ Chimique de France (1863), Journal of the Chemical Society (1871), and the Review of American Chemical Research (1895). The latter became a supplement to the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1897, and was the immediate precursor of CA.

In its first year of publication CA contained a total of fewer than 12,000 abstracts. By contrast, CA published a million abstracts in 2006.

When Austin Patterson became the Editor of CA in 1909, he moved the editorial operation to the campus of the Ohio State University, Columbus, where he joined the faculty at the invitation of William McPherson, head of the OSU chemistry department.

1928-1955

CA offices remained on the OSU campus for 56 years, 1909 to 1965, and occupied several different locations. McPherson Chemical Laboratory was home to CA from 1928 to 1955.

1950s-1960s

An editorial team of global volunteers played a vital role in providing CA abstracts for many years. To help to instill the observance of rules and standards among the editorial staff, including a far-flung team of volunteer abstractors, CA Editor E. J. Crane distributed what he termed a "family bulletin" called Little CA. Initiated in May 1935, this publication continued into the 1950s. It was filled with advice, encouragement, and even verse penned by Crane himself.

1955

By the mid-1950s the CA staff had outgrown their floor space in the McPherson Chemical Laboratory. ACS and OSU joined forces to construct a new CAS building, which CA occupied from 1955 to 1965. Today this campus building is called Watts Hall.

1956

E. J. Crane became the first Director of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), when the organization became an ACS operational division in 1956. Crane had been CA Editor since 1915. With his deep knowledge of chemical nomenclature, he did much to develop CA indexing into a gold standard for secondary information services.

1965

ACS realized much more space would be needed for the staff and equipment needed to publish CA. The Society purchased a 50 acre site north of the university in 1962. Building A was ready for occupancy in 1965.

A new era dawned with the introduction of the CAS Chemical Registry System in 1965. Using the CAS Registry Number^® to identify substances without the ambiguity of chemical nomenclature, the CAS REGISTRY has proved to be a boon to chemical research, health and safety information, and the communication of chemical information in many media.

CAS management and technical teams devised an automated processing system that not only produced printed CA issues and indexes more efficiently but also fed a computer-readable database that could generate new kinds of services. CAS was an early adopter of the new photocomposition technology, and went on to produce services in print, microform, and magnetic tape. Pictured are Milton Harris, Chairman of the ACS Board; Fred Tate, CAS Assistant Director; and Dale Baker.

1968

Even before direct online input of data came into being, CAS applied the available technology to capture chemical information in computer-readable form. For example, operators keyed substance information into the Mohawk 1181 data recorder for storage on magnetic tape, which was later fed into the mainframe computer.

1980

CAS ONLINE was launched in 1980, making it possible for users (primarily information specialists) to search the CAS Registry database. Users with a specific model of intelligent graphics terminal, the Hewlett-Packard 2647A, could select structure features from a menu and then assemble them on the terminal monitor using a graphics tablet and stylus. These terminals could display answers with well-drawn structure diagrams. 

1995

CAS introduced the SciFinder^® research tool in 1995 to give scientists direct access to CAS databases with no need to learn a command language. With its intuitive, graphic interface, SciFinder simplified the exploration of the world's scientific literature, patents, and substance information, and made this activity "part of the process" for research.