The idea of creating "a library of reference and a chemical museum" in the United States can be found in the Proceedings of the first meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1876.
The idea of a Science History Institute dates to 1976, when the nations bicentennial and the ACS centennial stimulated interest in history and chemistry. As part of the ACS centennial activities, John H. Wotiz of its history-of-chemistry division organized a session on the history of chemistry; he was a strong proponent of a national center for historical chemistry.