The History of the Standard Oil Company for Standard Oil and lived through what Ida called "hate, suspicion, and fear that engulfed the community." As a direct witness to the schemes and horizontal integration of John D. Rockefeller and his associates, Tarbell began building the foundations of "The History of the Standard Oil Company" early with growing senses of interest and discontent. After her education and accumulate writing experience, Tarbell began working at "McClure's" Magazine, where she wrote several successful series on historical figures. After this initial success, her shift turned to John D. Rockefeller. She began by interviewing Henry H. Rogers, one of her father's fellow
Standard Vacuum Oil Company refineries in Indonesia) merged their interests in the Far East into a 50–50 joint venture. Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or "Stanvac," operated in 50 countries, including New Zealand, China, and the region of East Africa, before it was dissolved in 1962. In 1937 the Standard Vacuum Oil Company of New York helped establish and fund an exploration team to explore for oil in China. They joined with some wealthy Chinese backers who had an oil concession covering several provinces in north-western China, to make an assessment of recent oil discoveries and to possibly join them in the development of oil resources