The Library & Archives of Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has received a 2011-2012 Documentary Heritage
Program (DHP) grant for “Arrangement and Description of the Hidden Collections
of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Legacy Institutions, 1890-1974.”
The amount is $ 17,034 and was awarded as part of the DHP’s
mission to ensure the survival of historical records documenting economic
change in New York
State during the 20th and
21st centuries.
The records pertinent to the grant belong to the entities representing
the contemporary Laboratory’s predecessor institutions, and span the period
1890-1974. The project also has provided for basic processing of three personal
collections that offer further insight into the work and daily lives of
scientists at the Laboratory during that time; and for processing of the collection
of the Eugenics Record Office (ERO), which existed at Cold Spring
Harbor from 1910 to 1944.
The collections are currently available via CSHL’s online
Digital Collections Database (http://archives.cshl.edu/) and online catalog,
and will be available through the New York State Archives’ Historical Document
Inventory (Archives Grid), as well as other union catalogs (National Union
Catalog of Manuscripts
http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/index.html)
and digital repositories, according to Mila Pollock, Executive Director of the
CSHL Library & Archives and project director of this effort.
“The entire CSHL community and other users of these and
related CSHL Archives collections will learn more about the origins and history
of CSHL, and recognize the value of these collections in documenting the
history of science education and research at CSHL and its connection to New York State’s bioscience industry in the 20th
and 21st centuries,” Pollock says.
Here is a more detailed description of the collections whose
processing has been made possible by the DHP grant award:
The Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences’ Biological Laboratory Collection
This collection documents the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences’ investment in the marine biological
laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor,
NY, and its evolution from a
summer school for biology teachers into a dedicated scientific research
laboratory. The collection contains photographs, letters, student lists, Board
of Trustees minutes, Directors’ reports, booklets, annual reports, student
registration cards, and fundraising records.
The LIBA Biological
Laboratory Collection
In 1924, the Brooklyn Institute of
Arts and Sciences withdrew its support and a group of wealthy neighbors took up
the cause to sustain science education and research at the Long Island
Biological Association (LIBA) Biological Laboratory. This collection contains
correspondence, minutes of the Board of Directors, administrative
correspondence files, photographs, research files, employment records and
financial ledgers.
The Carnegie
Institution of Washington
Station for Experimental Evolution; The Department of Genetics; and The
Genetics Research Unit Collection
In 1904, the Carnegie Institution
of Washington established the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring
Harbor. It was this
research facility that later merged with the Biological Laboratory to form Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory. This collection contains extensive correspondence
files, institutional administrative files, photographs, lantern slides,
financial ledgers, employment records, and research files.
Eugenics Record
Office (ERO) Collection
This collection includes
correspondence, documents, photographs, journals, and books from 1910 to 1944, the
period during which there was a Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring
Harbor, supported by the
Carnegie Institution of Washington. The ERO played a dubious, but significant,
role in the social history of the United States. Thus it is important
that the ERO Collection should be conserved and preserved.
Hugo Fricke
Collection
Dr. Hugo Fricke was the first
full-time investigator hired by the Long Island Biological Association in 1929.
His research in biophysics, endocrinology, and pharmacology led to future
programs at the cutting edge of scientific research. The collection contains
laboratory notebooks, correspondence, lantern and glass slides, and reprints.
Amos Avery
Photographic Collection
Avery was an associate in plant
breeding for the Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Genetics.
This collection of photographs, negatives, and scrapbooks gives a view of the
scientific and personal lives of scientists during the early days of the
Department of Genetics.
Barbara McClintock
Collection
Nobel-prize-winning cytogeneticist
Barbara McClintock worked at CSHL for 50 years. The McClintock Collection
contains photographs, correspondence, reprints, and a slide collection, all
annotated by Dr. McClintock. The collection also includes actual corn kernels
and photocopies of Dr. McClintock’s field notebooks and card files. Recently
accessioned materials from Dr. McClintock’s laboratory include books, published
materials, microscope, office equipment, and laboratory equipment.
About this project
and the Documentary Heritage Program, NYS Archives
“Arrangement and Description of the Hidden Collections of
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Legacy Institutions, 1890-1974” was made
possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New
York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/records/mr_hrecords_dhp.shtml
