Prohibition Bureau test still in the Treasury laboratory, Harris & Ewing (about 1927)
Harris & Ewing photograph of G.F. Beyer, chief chemist of the Prohibition Unit, with a small copper still set up in the laboratory atop the Treasury building. A copy is stored here.
- Date
- 1927
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Rights
- The Library of Congress item record states: "No known restrictions on publication." Collection: Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Call number: LC-H2- B-2513 [P&P]. Reproduction number: LC-DIG-hec-34743 (digital file from original negative).
The Library of Congress opens the long Harris & Ewing caption with “‘Uncle Sam has turned distiller’.” The caption says the Prohibition Bureau set up a miniature “commercial” still in the laboratory atop the U.S. Treasury building in Washington to test formulae for a non-poisonous denaturant for alcohol, and names G.F. Beyer, chief chemist of the Prohibition Unit, as the man shown.
The Library dates the item “[1927 or 1928].” The scene is a government laboratory test. It is not a seizure or a criminal operation, and it is filed here as part of the Prohibition-era context.