Allerton Seward Cushman

Allerton Seward Cushman was an American chemist whose government and industrial research addressed materials, corrosion, fuels, and the durability of structures. He worked with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Public Roads before becoming associated with research organizations concerned with engineering materials. The Preservation of the Exterior of Wooden Buildings was prepared with Henry A. Gardner and issued as a practical technical study. It examines how moisture, weathering, surface preparation, pigments, oils, and paint performance affect wooden walls and exposed structural elements. The collaborative authorship joins Cushman’s chemical analysis with Gardner’s expertise in protective coatings. The Preservation of the Exterior of Wooden Buildings belongs to an era when federal scientific bureaus increasingly translated laboratory investigation into guidance for builders, manufacturers, and property owners. Rather than treating paint as decoration alone, the report explains it as part of a protective system whose success depends on the condition of the wood, the composition of materials, and careful application.