Video of a symposium held for the opening of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. The event includes remarks from Arnold O. Beckman; Arnold Thackray, director of the CHOC; Charles C. Price from the American Chemical Society; Stanley I. Proctor from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; John W. Eckman; Franklin A. Long; Mary L. Good, President of the American Chemical Society; and Ernest Eliel. The symposium footage includes scenes from a documentary about Arnold O. Beckman called The Beckman Story (1955), with his own commentary following the excerpts. All copies of this footage held by the Science History Institute include few seconds of missing image at 21:02, an error which was likely present in master copy.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry would later evolve into the Chemical Heritage Foundation, which is now the Science History Institute.