The birth of the ALCA was not a sudden phenomenon. A group of leather chemists met at the annual convention of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) in 1893. Their sole concern was to find an accurate method for analyzing the tanning extracts used in the industry. Extracts were often altered by traders or experimented with by tanners. Thus, commercial interests — and not purely scientific pursuits — sparked the initial banding together of leather chemists.
These chemists did devise a method of measuring the amount of tanning material absorbed by dried, ground hide. Modifications in this method were made over the next several years and interest in the problem of tannin analysis was very high.
In 1897 by laws were written and officers elected for a leather chemists’ association, but the effort died and the group continued to meet as an unofficial part of the AOAC, though few leather chemists were actually members of this larger group. By 1903 the leather chemists again felt the need for their own organization. Nine of them decided to form the ALCA on November 22 of that year.
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