The Elof Axel Carlson Collection - Part 3

The following is the third post in a series about processing the Elof A. Carlson Collection under the NHPRC Basic Processing Grant.

Elof Carlson: Renaissance Man

The Elof A. Carlson Papers span Dr. Carlson’s career from his first teaching post at Queens University, Canada through his retirement and second career as a writer. As the bulk of Dr. Carlson’s career was spent at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY on Long Island), the majority of documents reference his life at work at and around that institution. Carlson hand-wrote a significant portion of his work and when donating his papers he was kind enough to include a guide to deciphering his handwriting. He was a habitual doodler and very skilled amateur artist. Many of his academic writings contain hand drawn illustrations. He also authored poetry and plays.

The first major group of papers are in the collection the Teaching Files, which are labeled by course. Titles include "Fall 1969 Biology 101", "Spring 1974 Biology 1974", and "Fall Biology 1975". Many are handwritten and some are on oversized index cards.

Elof Carlson lecturing in the 1970s.

Next, are Carlson’s Research Files, which also arrived organized in labeled folders, alphabetical by person or subject. The files contain photographs, manuscripts, and correspondence spanning 1967-1989. The major themes covered include birth defects, genetic history, mutations, drosophilia, Mendelian inheritance, and eugenics.

Carlson's files were organized and well labeled, which greatly aided the archivist processing the collection.

The collection continues with Carlson’s non-Muller manuscripts. He authored text books for Stony Brook and the general biology industry, and also wrote books for the general public. The CSHL Library has a complete set of his published books. As Dr. Carlson is a prolific writer, his articles, essays and papers are interspersed throughout his collection, often filed under the subject of the paper. There is an extensive reprint collection of his published articles as well. The gem of this section is Medical Genetics Rounds, Seminars and Library Notes which is a handwritten manuscript with Dr. Carlson’s illustrations.

Elof Carlson: A Man of the People

Biographical statement and self-portrait by Carlson.

One of Carlson’s fundamental beliefs was that biology should be taught to, and understood by, the average person so that they may make informed decisions about their life. He noted that today’s society is increasingly complex, where a person may be adamantly against the death penalty and anti-war but may approve of genetic testing and abortion. With this in mind, much of his lay writing explores biology in terms that are easy to understand and with themes that are relevant to the general public. He wrote a series of articles for the Southampton News that draws on the life sciences to help explain controversies such as genetic counseling, eugenics, elective abortion, intelligence testing, racism, racial mixing, the induction of cancers, smoking and health, radiation hazards, sperm banks, cloning and so called “test-tube babies.”

…we make our decisions with incomplete knowledge. The principles which explain why a dividing cell dies when its chromosome is broken, do not tell us what values to choose. But deciding about the safety of nuclear reactors, dental x-rays, diagnostic medical x-rays, and the testing of nuclear weapons is very much dependent on that biological knowledge…Unless science is taught in a human context that strikes right into our bodies, our family, our awareness, we leave it for science-mavens to lap up.

Elof Carlson: A kindred spirit of Samuel Pepys

Carlson’s collection concludes with his personal diaries from 1963-1997, most of which were indexed with illustrations. The diaries document both his personal and professional lives. Additionally, Carlson has indicated he has another 300 indexed volumes which he will donate to the CSHL Archives which contain important information on the history of SUNY, Stony Brook.



The above image is page from Carlson’s diary entitled “Journal Abroad 17 February 1973-28 February 1973” and includes a hand-drawn map of central Stockholm. Although this diary focuses on his European sojourn, it is peppered with scientific observations and drawings.

Overall, the EAC Collection provides insight into Carlson not only as a scientist, but also as a teacher, author, historian, and public spokesman. Researchers interested in Hermann Muller and scientific ethics in the 20th century will find a wealth of information in the papers of Elof A. Carlson.

- Amy Driscoll, Project Archivist

The Elof Axel Carlson Collection - Part 2

The following is the second post in a series about processing the Elof A. Carlson Collection.

Elof and Hermann

Elof Carlson’s Research on Hermann J. Muller can be divided into the following two sections: drafts of the manuscript and research files. The drafts of the manuscript include a long sheet galley proof and oversize drafts, both with handwritten edits. Additionally, there is a collection of reviews of the book, as well as an indexed guide to the manuscript. Dr. Carlson clearly enjoyed a close relationship with his mentor, Dr. Hermann J. Muller, as evidenced by the scope of personal material supplied both by Muller and his second wife, Dorothea.

Muller and his wife Thea

The research file section of this record group arrived in labeled folders from Dr. Carlson. Highlights include:

• Teacher’s Guide to the H.J. Muller Exhibit
• Notes on Lectures given about HJM and the book
• EAC handwritten research notes for book
• EAC notes and drafts for HJM obituary
• The files include a large series of letters between Carlson and Thea Muller. Because the correspondence between the two is so extensive, it encompasses several folders which appear to have been compiled under different auspices.

- Amy Driscoll, Project Archivist

To be continued...

The Norton Zinder Collection - Part 2

James D. Watson and Norton Zinder in 1991
The following is the second post in a series about processing the Norton Zinder Collection. Sadly, Norton Zinder, renowned scientist and long-time member of the CSHL community, passed away earlier this week. Below, our Project Archivist Elizabeth reflects on what she learned about the man while working on his papers.

Getting to Know Norton Zinder…

For the past few months I have had the privilege of working on the Norton Zinder Collection, which reflects over fifty years of his exciting and fulfilling scientific career. One of the many strengths of this collection is how clearly it illustrates his role as a powerful force that shaped national scientific policy from the 1960s to the 2000s. It raises the question of whether the scientific community truly understands the value of someone with Zinder’s ability to write and testify before Congress in a coherent, effective manner on the difficult scientific concepts that gnaw at society’s deepest fears and anxieties.

The Scientific Method

Zinder was an active participant in five dynamic decades of biological science, emerging from the confines of laboratory to national and international arenas addressing political and moral issues such as recombinant DNA research guidelines, the demilitarization of chemical weapons, abortion, scientific misconduct, and the Human Genome Project. Notwithstanding the demanding travel and Congressional testimony schedule, he maintained an active role in the transition of Rockefeller Institute into Rockefeller University, with all the mundane administrative issues thereto. At Rockefeller he mentored numerous students while conducting research in his lab. All the while he also engaged the public by speaking with school teachers and even corresponding with an 8th grader about their science project.

Included in the collection are more than 60 lab notebooks dating from 1953 to 2000. This compilation of data represents his bacteriophage research performed at Rockefeller University, where Zinder started as an Associate in 1953. He achieved the rank of Professor in 1964 and John D. Rockefeller Professor in 1977. Additionally, he served Rockefeller University as the Head of the Laboratory of Genetics until he retired in 1998.


Letter to Zinder from Salvador Luria congratulating him on his election to the NAS
National Service
A significant part of the Zinder Collection relates to his five decades of National Academy of Science (NAS) activities. He was elected to the NAS in 1966, early in his career, and actively participated in several capacities. During the 1960s he was involved in the reorganization of NAS. In the 1970s he testified before the US Senate regarding policy issues on the use of recombinant DNA. He also appeared before the US House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights and began his extensive committee work on the Disposal of Chemical Weapon Stockpiles. During the 1980s Zinder continued to research, organize and testify on behalf of the National Research Council (NRC) established under NAS auspices. The 1990s brought his active comment on the policies and procedures of the Human Genome Project. During this period, Zinder also wrestled with the unpleasant issue of scientific research misconduct and the ramifications on academic funding. In this new century, Zinder continued his nomination of NAS members, Foreign Associate members and manuscript reviews as well as giving general advice and comments to scientific leaders and policy makers.

Science vs National Secrets

In addition to his meticulous expense records for carfare and modest meals incurred in the trips to Washington D.C., there is included an interesting cache of 1970-73 correspondence regarding the issue of members of the National Academy of Science and its undertaking of classified work for the United States government, which at the time was in the throes of the Vietnam conflict. These research projects would not be shared or made available to other NAS members in alleged contravention of the principal purposes of the NAS, under its charter, to provide technical advice to the government by drawing upon the entire national scientific community by way of research funding. Some member scientists found a moral dilemma in the situation where “secret” work was performed by NAS members under NAS/NRC letterhead and forwarded to the Department of Defense without disclosure to all NAS members. A flurry of correspondence, meetings, and draft resolutions resulted as the NAS tried to reconcile the needs of the nation with their scientific mandate of information exchange. Zinder’s articulate writing, testifying, and commenting on scientific issues reflect a profound respect for the defense of the country that provided refuge to his immigrant parents, as well as the need for a free flow of scientific information.


- EDP, Project Archivist

The Elof Axel Carlson Collection - Part 1

The Elof Carlson Collection has proved to be the most educational and enlightening material I have worked with so far as Project Archivist for the NHPRC Basic Processing Grant. The breadth and scope of the collection range from weighty scientific research to humorous essays on modern society. Dr. Elof Axel Carlson is a professor, geneticist, and a historian of genetics. He received his A.B. in 1953 from New York University and his Ph.D. in 1958 from Indiana University where he studied under Nobelist Hermann J. Muller. Later he was employed a lecturer in the Biology Department at Queens University, Canada and then both Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology, University of California, Los Angeles. In 1968, he joined the Biology Department of the State University of New York at Stony Brook as full professor, later becoming Distinguished Teaching Professor in 1974. He retired from Stony Brook to become a full time writer in 2000.


A significant portion of the EAC Collection consists of material created and collected while writing the biography of his mentor:
Genes, Radiation, and Society: The Life and Work of H. J. Muller. As such, the collection has been divided into two record groups:

I. The Elof A. Carlson Papers, which includes his correspondence, research files, laboratory notebooks, manuscripts, reprints, clippings, photographs, and any other material that is unrelated to his Muller research.

II. Muller Biography Material: Genes, Radiation and Society , which consists of material collected or created while conducting research for Carlson’s seminal biography of Hermann Muller. Dr. Carlson received materials from Dorothea Muller (the second wife of H.J. Muller), as well as from assorted colleagues of HJM.

Additionally, the EAC Collection is closely related to the Hermann J. Muller Collections at the CSHL Archives. The Muller collections at Cold Spring Harbor include an additional set of Muller research material collected by Carlson while working on his biography, as well as a set of primary documents donated by Muller's son, David. The David Muller Collection of Hermann J. Muller Papers includes correspondence saved by David Muller’s mother (Hermann’s first wife), Jessie Marie Jacobs Muller Offermann.

- Amy Driscoll, Project Archivist

to be continued...