Microscopists have been identifying particulate matter since the seventeenth century. Reference sets of study slides, identification keys, and even atlases of specific groups of microscopic substances were prepared throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, these types of resources grew in volume, but none of them attempted to be a comprehensive source.

In 1967, Dr. Walter C. McCrone and his colleagues changed the practice of microscopy with the publication of The Particle Atlas, Edition I. This single volume first edition, a photomicrographic atlas, illustrated and described 404 substances based on analyses using the polarized light microscope.