A Guide to the Genetics Collections at the APS
The American Philosophical Society began specifically collecting manuscripts and books relating to the history of genetics in the early 1960s at the instigation of the mouse geneticist L. C. Dunn, but it was the project conducted by H. Bentley Glass between 1977 and 1985 that led to truly outstanding growth. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, Glass surveyed and indexed the existing collections at the library and prepared a printed guide to them for researchers (the original basis of this one). The APS continues to seek out new collections in the history of genetics and to make them available to scholars. This online guide contains links to the collection descriptions prepared by Glass, to abstracts of collections acquired since, and, when available, the complete finding aids. Bentley Glass's original introductory sections provide a tremendous amount of background information on his research as well as a key to the descriptive conventions and abbreviations he used.
Foreword The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, seeking to increase the scholarly usefulness of our collections, made a grant in 1977 to the American Philosophical Society to prepare bibliographic studies on topics well represented in the Library's collections. The research for and publication of this guide to our genetics collections was supported by this program. Therefore, we would like to acknowledge the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation which made possible this work. We also are greatly indebted to Bentley Glass, who as Director of the History of Genetics Project of the American Philosophical Society Library, conceived and carried out the research and archival analysis that resulted in this publication. Dr. Glass, a distinguished geneticist with a deep interest in the history of his discipline, enriched the intellectual life of the Library by his presence, assisted this Librarian in the formation of collection policy, and generously donated a portion of his professional papers and books to the Society. We wish to thank Bentley Glass for the numerous collections which have been donated to this and other scholarly archives because of his efforts to make geneticists aware of the historical importance of their professional papers. Through these many activities and this Guide to the Genetics Collection of the American Philosophical Society, Dr. Glass has, and continues to, advance the cause of the history of science. April 1988
Acknowledgments The author would have been unable to accomplish the writing of this Guide even in its incomplete present state, without the indispensible assistance of the skill and devotion of Mardi Bettes Fuller and Ruth Brown. He gratefully acknowledges their labors in the preliminary indexing of a majority of the collections. In turn, their assistance was made possible by generous allocations of funds to the Genetics Project by the two Librarians of the American Philosophical Society during the course of the project, from 1977 through 1986. To Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., and to Edward C. Carter, II, I offer my deep thanks, and to the grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Library of the American Philosophical Society that made that support possible. For the constant support and assistance from the members of the Staff and of the A.P.S. Library I am also deeply indebted, and gratefully acknowledge their aid.
Bentley Glass
Introduction This Guide to the Genetics Collections of the American Philosophical Society has been prepared to assist scholars who are working on aspects of the history of genetics in America. The collections began in a desultory way with the bequest of their papers to the Society by members of the older generations of geneticists who had been honored by membership in the Society. Most of these collections came from persons whose own institutional libraries did not wish to perform an archival function, for which the Library of the Society is preeminently fitted. Thus were amassed the papers of Charles B. Davenport,
George Harrison Shull,
Herbert Spencer Jennings, and
Albert F. Blakeslee. To these were added by purchase on the part of the Library the papers of
Raymond Pearl, papers left in the possession of his heirs. Following his retirement from university duties in 1962,
L.C. Dunn, a notable geneticist and member of the American Philosophical Society, and who was already engaged in writing a
Short History of Genetics, became greatly concerned over the loss of invaluable historical materials because of the failure of working scientists to preserve their correspondence and other unpublished papers and to bequeath them to an appropriate repository. Dunn not only arranged to have his own papers deposited in the Library of the Society, but worked persuasively to get his friends to do so likewise. He was successful in enriching the holdings of the A.P.S. Library in genetics by securing the deposition there of the papers of
Milislav Demerec and
Theodosius Dobzhansky. The seven important collections named thus far already made the A.P.S. Library the greatest of all archives of materials for the study of the history of genetics, so far as the writer is aware. In 1977 two new activities were established that have considerably enlarged the A.P.S. Library's holdings in genetics. Whitfield Bell, Jr., then Executive Officer of the Society and also its Librarian, a historian deeply interested himself in the early history of American science, requested Bentley Glass to undertake the task of exploring and indexing the existing genetics collections of the Society, in order to prepare a Guidebook to inform scholars about the nature and extent of the genetics collections in the A.P.S. Library, and to aid in their use. Glass, like Dunn recently retired from academic responsibilities and likewise a member of the Society, agreed to do so, little realizing at the time how many years the task would take. Thus began the History of Genetics Project of the A.P.S. Library. With generous assistance from grants made by the Mellon Foundation, it was possible to cover travel costs for the director of the project from his home to Philadelphia, and to provide a full-time assistant trained in the history of science or in library research. The first assistant on the project was Mardi Bettes Fuller. After a year and a half she was succeeded by Ruth Brown, who continued until the beginning of 1985. The final phases of the indexing of the collections and the preparation of a manuscript have devolved upon the director of the project alone, and he accepts all responsibility for whatever incompleteness, error, or inadequacy the user may find. The second development of 1977 was the establishment by the Genetics Society of America (G.S.A.) of a standing committee on the preservation of historical materials. The current president of the G.S.A. in that year, David Perkins, was deeply concerned by the loss of a very great amount of such material by simple failure on the part of geneticists to prepare in a timely way for the disposal of their valuable records. He persuaded the Society to establish the committee and appointed Tracy Sonneborn to chair it. The roster of the committee included Bentley Glass as vice chairman, George W. Beadle, James F. Crow, Donald F. Poulson, Marcus M. Rhoades, George D. Snell and, ex officio, Whitfield T. Bell, Jr., Librarian of the A.P.S., and Frederick B. Churchill, editor of
The Mendel Newsletter. The charge to the committee deserves to be quoted in full:
- To seek out, identify, and ensure the preservation of significant archival materials relevant to the development of genetics, the careers of geneticists, the professional societies and institutions concerned with genetics, and the relation of genetics to popular thought and to social and political institutions.
While primarily concerned with archival materials -- manuscript letters, journals and records -- the committee should also be concerned that representative collections of printed materials are preserved and organized so as to be available to scholars, with emphasis on documents not ordinarily acquired by libraries. These should include not only historically significant monographs and reprints, and representative textbooks; they should also include unfruitful books, popular, diversionary, and "lunatic" literature and ephemera necessary to document the social history of genetics, its impact on thought, and its abuses. Attention should also be given to mimeographed or xeroxed reprints of committees, conferences and meetings; grant applications and panel reports; and representative editorial records and correspondence of journals.
- To promote the efforts of libraries, archivists, and historians concerned with the history of genetics. Specifically, to advise and cooperate with the Library of the American Philosophical Society and its publication The Mendel Newsletter: Archival Resources for the History of Genetics and Allied Sciences.
- To communicate to geneticists the importance of preserving historical records and documents, and to inform them of available repositories and procedures.
- To encourage the production of bibliographies and descriptive lists of relevant library holdings.
- To encourage the recording of memoirs by persons whose careers have embraced genetics and the related sciences.
In its first year of activity, the committee established liaison with the comparable Survey of Sources for the History of Biochemistry and with a number of archivists, librarians, and historians of science in order to develop guidelines for its activities. It began to collect and codify information on what genetic materials of historical interest had already been deposited and where; made a list of deceased geneticists of historical importance and attempted to find out whether their papers had been preserved and where, and to arrange for their deposition in an archival library if that had not been done. It also made up a list of living geneticists of distinction and began to contact them, beginning with the older ones. Arrangements were made with the A.P.S. Library to receive collections of papers from these geneticists if they did not prefer to deposit their papers elsewhere. The consultations of the committee with historians of science, archivists, and librarians led to a further explanation of what kinds of materials definitely ought to be included in such personal collections of papers. Many of these, it plainly appeared, were not well represented in the existing collections and needed special emphasis. Tracy Sonneborn's listing, with comments, is definitely illuminating. It was as follows:
Letters when they contain more than mere family chit-chat and when not consciously fabricated or altered "for the record." Letters from minor figures are held often to be more revealing than guarded letters from major personages. Extended exchanges about scientific matters of consequence are also important. Letters and even scribbles of important geneticists may come to be solely in the hands of others on whom their preservation depends. Arrangements can (and perhaps should normally) be made to protect the writer and the subjects involved for an extended period. The same safeguards can apply as desired to any of the following:
- All diaries.
- Applications for grant support and annual reports of progress.
- Reports on students, research projects, grant proposals, referee reports, letters of recommendation.
- Photographs, identified and dated, and other memorabilia.
- Biographical and autobiographical sketches.
- Ephemera, crank letters, and unfruitful papers (published or unpublished). Such items tell a lot about the cultural setting for scientific research and even dead-end research projects may reveal much about the nature of scientific growth.
- Documents (letters, minutes, reports) concerning institutions, scientific societies, committees and journals.
- Complete lists of students, post-docs, and assistants are enormously useful.
The committee next compiled two lists, one of deceased American geneticists of distinction, and one of still living leading geneticists, to the number of 179. Distinction was based on such criteria as election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, or the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; election to the offices of president or vice-president of the Genetics Society of America, the American Society of Human Genetics, or the American Association for the Advancement of Science; principal editorship of
Genetics, the
American Naturalist, the
Journal of Heredity, the
American Journal of Human Genetics,
Annual Review of Genetics,
Advances in Genetics, or the like. Subjective choices were entered whenever the Committee unanimously endorsed a nomination. Inquiries about the locations of the papers of the deceased geneticists were directed to the librarians of all those institutions where the person had worked, or to other likely repositories. For the living geneticists, a direct approach, in person or by telephone, was made by one of the committee members, the total being divided up and assigned on the basis of proximity or close friendship. A short questionnaire was provided, asking whether the geneticist had already made arrangements for the deposition of his or her papers, and if so, where; if not, would he or she consider doing so either with the archives of a current institutional affiliation or some other library of preference; or with the Library of the American Philosophical Society. By mid-1980, 100 responses had been received. From 79 individuals (44.1%), no answer could be elicited. The breakdown of the answers was as follows:
During subsequent years, the number of geneticists solicited with respect to the deposition of their papers was increased somewhat, to a total of about 120. More effort was spent in urging the individuals in categories (2) and (3) to make definite arrangements. Already it was becoming evident that a principal difficulty in securing the preservation of historical materials is that procrastination in the needed actions commonly leads to a significant number of deaths before the proper steps have been taken. Only too often no provisions can be found by the executors of a will directing them to deposit the individual's papers in a particular repository. Sometimes the verbal assurance given is not known to the spouse or other heirs of the deceased person, and deposition elsewhere than intended, or even destruction, of the papers may result. For lack of funding, members of the Genetics Society's Committee were never able to meet together and discuss what measures to adopt in order to overcome these problems, and collaboration by mail or phone proved inadequate. In 1981 the American Society of Human Genetics established a parallel committee for the preservation of historical materials. It has likewise operated from the Library of the American Philosophical Society as a base. Both of these genetical societies have also made the A.P.S. Library a depository of their official records. The scientific journal The American Naturalist has done likewise. Like the records of the older Eugenics Society of America, these records are largely those of the respective presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, treasurers, and committees. The records of the journal named consist of referees' reports on papers submitted for publication, as well as edited manuscripts, business matters, and determinations of policy. These collections have not yet been indexed in detail. The information referred to in the foregoing account is summarized and tabulated in Tables I to IV.
Table I. Repositories of the Papers of Deceased American Geneticists
At the American Philosophical Society
- Blakeslee, A. F.
- Bridges, C. B.
- Caspari, Ernst W.
- Castle, W. E.
- Chargaff, Erwin
- Cohen, Seymour N.
- Davenport, Charles B.
- Demerec, Milislav
- Dobzhansky, Theodosius
- Dunn, L.C.
- Goodale, H. D.
- Jennings, H. S.
- Kaufmann, B. P.
- Lerner, I. M.
- Price, Bronson
- Luria, Salvador E.,
- McClintock, Barbara
- Neel, James V.
- Pearl, Raymond
- Schultz, Jack
- Shull, George H.
- Simpson, George Haylord
- Stalker, Harrison
- Wallace, Bruce
- Wilson, E. B.
- Wright, Sewall
- Zirkle, Conway
Table II. Positive Responses from Solicited Geneticists [An asterisk before a name indicates that the individual has a file in the Survey of Sources in the History of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, or that autobiographical material was contributed by that person to the Survey.]
Committed to the APS
Table III. Papers Not Saved
- Adelberg, E. A.
- Auerbach, Charlotte
- Castle, W. B.
- *Dulbecco, Renato
- Edgar, R.S.
- Ruddle, F.H.
- Strandskov, Herluf
- Swanson, Carl P.
Table IV. Matters Undecided
- Baker, William K.
- Berg, Paul
- Boyd, W.C. [now deceased)
- Britten, Roy J.
- *Brown, Donald D.
- Burnham, Charles R.
- Campbell, Allan M.
- Carlson, Elof A.
- Carson, Hampton L.
- Cooper, Kenneth W.
- Cotterman, Charles W.
- Crouse, Helen
- *Davis, Bernard D.
- Dempster, Everett R.
- Doermann, A.H.
- Dorfman, B.
- Englesberg, Ellis
- Fraser, F. Clarke
- Gall, Joseph G.
- Garen, Alan
- Giblett, Eloise
- Gilbert, Waiter
- Giles, Norman H.
- Gluecksohn-Waelsch, Salome
- Green, Melvin M.
- Herskowitz, Ira
- Hirschhorn, Kurt
- Hogness, David S.
- *Hotchkiss, Rollin D.
- Huebner, Robert J.
- Hurwitz, Jerard
- Ives, Philip T.
- Kaiser, A. D.
- Khorana, H. Gobind
- Kimura, Motoo
- *Kornberg, Arthur
- Laughnan, John R.
- Levine, Myron
- Levine, R. Paul
- Levinthal, Cyrus [deceased]
- Lindegren, C.C.
- Lindsley, Dan L.
- Littlefield, John W.
- Margoliash, Emanuel
- *Markert, Clement L.
- *McCarty, Maclyn
- Meselson, Matthew S.
- *Miller, Stanley L.
- Mintz, Beatrice
- Moses, Montrose J.
- Motulsky, Arno G.
- Nanney, David L.
- Nelson, Oliver E.
- Newcombe, Howard B.
- Nilan, Robert A.
- Nirenberg, Marshall W. -- NLM
- Nomura, Masayasu
- Novitski, Edward
- Perkins, David M.
- Pollister, A.W.
- Preer, John R., Jr.
- Ptashne, Mark S.
- Reed, Sheldon C.
- Rick, Charles M.
- Ris, Hans
- Russell, Elizabeth S.
- Russell, Liane B.
- Russell, William L.
- Sager, Ruth
- Sandler, Lawrence M. [deceased]
- Schull, William J.
- Schwartz, Drew
- Seegmiller, J. Edwin
- Singer, Marine F.
- Smithies, Oliver
- Snyder, L.H. [deceased]
- Sprague, George F.
- Stahl, Franklin W.
- Stern, Herbert
- Streisinger, G. [deceased]
- Sueoka, Noboru
- Swift, Hewson
- Temin, Howard M.
- *Thomas, Charles A., Jr.
- Uchida, Irene A.
- Wagner, R. P.
- Weinstein, Alexander
- Weir, J. A.
- Witkin, Evelyn M.
It will be evident from these lists that the category of geneticists has been interpreted broadly by the committee. Biochemists, cytologists and cell biologists, developmental biologists, evolutionists, systematists, and even paleontologists have been included whenever it seemed that their work greatly interacted with problems of genetics, or whenever they had contributed significantly to the establishment of the modern evolutionary synthesis, which has genetics as its basis. In this era of molecular biology, it is hard to demarcate boundaries between molecular genetics and biochemistry. Rather than risk slighting the borderline areas of genetics in the effort to preserve historical materials, the committee was of one mind -- better to be too inclusive than too exclusive. The large number of individuals listed in Table IV does not signify that no response from such individuals was elicited. Many of them did in fact respond that they were considering what to do, but had not at present made a final selection of a depository for their papers. The Guide to all the manuscript collections of the A.P.S. Library, prepared by Stephen Catlett, former archivist of the Library, includes in more abbreviated form the genetics collections described and indexed in the present Guide to the Genetics Collections. In September 1986 the manuscripts department of the A.P.S. Library began entering descriptions of its manuscript collections, based on the Catlett Guide, into RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network). This is an automated information retrieval system operated by the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Whereas other libraries use the system for interlibrary loan transactions, cataloging books, serials, maps, scores, sound recordings, and visual materials, the A.P.S. participates only in the AMC (Archives and Manuscripts Control) format. As of 12 January 1987, there were 80,834 records (that is, descriptions of manuscript and archival collections) in RLIN's AMC file. These records include entries from such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, the New York Historical Society, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Research libraries are able to search the AMC file for names and subject headings. If, for example, a scholar wished to search the file for Albert F. Blakeslee, all entered manuscript collections that had Blakeslee as a main entry, added entry, or subject entry would be displayed. Thus, for the Blakeslee Papers at the A.P.S. Library, a brief sketch of Blakeslee's life and professional career would be followed by the provenance of the collection; finding aids, such as the existence of a table of contents; the location of the Library; and 30 numbered items, commencing with Blakeslee himself, his principal correspondents, societies, institutional affiliations, fields and subjects of research, and listing under 'Geneticists--United States', 'Genetics--Research', 'Germany--Description and travel', and 'Lectures.' The scholar could then contact the manuscript department of the A.P.S. for additional information. This procedure would lead the scholar to the present Guide to the A.P.S. Genetics Collections and to the detailed card index prepared by the History of Genetics Project.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Subjects
Institutions and Societies
