Herbert T. Pratt was born in Leaksville, North Carolina (now Eden, North Carolina) in 1926. An only child, Pratt grew up surrounded by books. His parents valued history, and he relays stories of his grandfather, Josiah Smith, and his great-grandfather Pratt. He mentions the role of education in his life and discusses growing up in a textile mill town. Pratt notes that his family was better off than most during the Great Depression due in part to his parents’ thriftiness. His early schooling was in a school four blocks from his home, and he reflects on his teachers in the first seven grades. When Pratt got to eighth grade, he became very interested in science. He remembers tinkering with his uncle when he was a child, but eighth grade was his first real exposure to science. He loved his chemistry and physics classes but does not remember much from his math class. Pratt graduated from high school in 1942 at the age of sixteen and started working at the local textile mill, Fieldcrest Mills. He relates a story in which he was burned by hot pyridine. He also worked as a “devil,” an apprentice for a local printer, Francis Slate. In that role, Pratt learned about layout and aesthetics of the printed page, knowledge that benefitted him the rest of his life. He next went to college at Tri-State College (now Triune University) in Angola, Indiana, because it allowed one to earn a college degree in twenty-seven months. At Tri-State, he worked hard, majoring in chemical engineering. He discusses chemical engineering, the lab environment at Tri-State, and the curriculum. Upon graduation, he took a position at the King-Seeley Corporation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he worked primarily on electroplating development. He worked there for one year before moving back to North Carolina to work at Fieldcrest where he set up quality control for chemicals.

While at Fieldcrest, Pratt met his wife Mary who worked in a lab set up by the Institute of Textile Technology based in Charlottesville, Virginia. When that project ended, she took a job at Fieldcrest. When they were considering getting married, the company would not let spouses work together, so Mary became a high school chemistry teacher instead. They started a family, and Pratt realized he needed a higher salary. He applied for a position at DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware, which he received. He started working on how to process Dacron in the Textiles Department. He reflects on work travel, his coworkers and supervisors, and the company culture at DuPont. Pratt also provides a broad overview of his work at DuPont, including mentioning serving as an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University. In one of his roles, he was in charge of quality management and helped to standardize definitions to make the company more open and honest. He also mentions becoming a certified chemical engineer. While he was at DuPont, Pratt got involved in forensic work. One case was in Atlanta, Georgia, and the other was in Delaware. He discusses the two cases in detail and mentions his role as an expert witness. He also speaks about his involvement in the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), editing Dyeing for a Living, written by Mark Clark, and the “I Remember When” column.

During the second session of the interview, Pratt discuss his collections. He recalls that he purchased the first book of his book collection in 1940 or 1941 and discusses building his collection, which consists primarily of chemistry books and hymnals. He mentions stores where he purchased books and brings out several chemistry-related books in his collection, including William Enfield’s Institutes of Natural Philosophy, Theoretical and Experimental and Henry A. Mott’s manuals. He discusses cataloging his books and insurance before mentioning his research on James Curtis Booth. He also compares The American Chemist and Chemical News. Pratt then moves to discussing his other collections of hymnals and coat hangers. He does not collect periodicals because they are an “ongoing thing.” He concludes by discussing his analysis of a vacuum cleaner bag.