History of Plastics | The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation

On this segment of Innovation Nation, Mo Rocca talks with Senior Conservator Clara Deck to learn about the history of plastics and how they're conserved in museums.

Bakelite was the first truly synthetic plastic, marketed as ‘the material of a thousand uses’ and patented by the American inventor Leo Hendrik Baekeland in 1907. Very soon, dozens of household and technical uses were found for it from fountain pens and ashtrays to electrical and communications equipment, including radios and radio equipment.

Early plastics were mostly seen in novelty items, like hair combs and glasses. Plastic eventually became to be associated with cheap imitations.

As useful as plastics are, many do not degrade and harm the environment.