Industrialists and manufacturers were challenged during the Second World War to find techniques for weapons perfection and improved production methods. In the national interest, groups of persons responsible for the quality of manufactured products formed small groups to share information. When emergency conditions ended, local control societies joined to form the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) in 1946. In July of 1997, the society's name was changed to American Society for Quality.

Duncan was one of the founders of the Baltimore section of ASQC in 1953. He was a member of the editorial board and participated in national and regional conferences. In Series 3 are correspondence, newsletters, revision work on standards, computations, research papers, and meeting agendas. Statisticians, manufacturers, and quality control specialists from the United States eventually joined with international colleagues to form the International Organization for Standardization. Final items in this series relate to Duncan's participation in the ISO 1973-1982. Printed material in these files relates to drafts of test applications for the development of international standards. Some of this material is in French.