John Anderson Wilkinson was born to Joseph E. and Mary Wilkinson on June 21, 1880, in Sidney, Ohio. He received his B.S. (1904) from the Ohio State University and his Ph.D. (1909) from Cornell University. He served as Assistant Professor (1909-1912) at Cornell University.

Dr. Wilkinson joined the staff at Iowa State College (University) as Associate Professor (1913) in the Department of Chemistry. He left briefly to serve as a Major (1917-1919) in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. He returned to Iowa State after the war and was promoted to Professor (1921) in charge of analytical and inorganic chemistry. During 1946, Dr. Wilkinson served with the Atomic Energy Commission, an agency whose functions are now overseen by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U. S. Department of Energy. Dr. Wilkinson resumed teaching at Iowa State and towards the end of his career he was placed in charge of the chemistry department alumni file. The file contained information on nearly 1200 chemistry graduates. He remained at Iowa State until his death.

Dr. Wilkinson's primary research interests included the chemistry of Portland cement, adsorption, and the study of nonaqueous solvents as reaction media. He published nearly a dozen papers related to his research on liquid hydrogen sulfide solutions.

Dr. Wilkinson was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Lambda Upsilon, Alpha Chi Sigma, and the American Chemical Society. He served two terms as the chairman of the local chapter of the American Chemical Society. In January of 1965, Iowa State alumnus Dr. Franc A. Landee (B.S. 1933) and the Dow Chemical Company established the Dow-Wilkinson Chemistry Teaching Award in Iowa State University's Department of Chemistry in honor of Dr. Wilkinson's superior qualities as a teacher. The award is presented annually to recognize meritorious, inspired teaching in the Chemistry Department.

John A. Wilkinson married Elizabeth Dorothy Hall of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1912. He later married Marie Schneyer. He had no children. Dr. Wilkinson passed away on October 6, 1965, in his home in Ames, Iowa. He was interred in the Iowa State University Cemetery.

The collection (1916-1980, n.d.) contains biographical information, article reprints, and letters presented to Dr. Wilkinson during a recognition dinner held in his honor. The article reprints document his research in adsorption and reactions in liquid hydrogen sulfide. A large portion of the collection consists of 243 letters of appreciation presented to Dr. Wilkinson at a 1951 recognition dinner held in his honor.

The collection is organized alphabetically.