Allan Wilson Papers, 1953-1998, Bulk 1962-1991
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt958035w4 No online items Finding Aid to the Allan Wilson Papers, 1953-1998, bulk 1962-1991 Finding Aid written by Teresa Maria Mora Funding for processing this collection was provided by J.D. Stout Trust The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ © 2007 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid to the Allan Wilson BANC FILM 3175BANC MSS 95/22 c 1 Papers, 1953-1998, bulk 1962-1991 Finding Aid to the Allan Wilson Papers, 1953-1998, bulk 1962-1991 Collection Number: BANC FILM 3175; BANC MSS 95/22 c The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CaliforniaFunding for processing this collection was provided by J.D. Stout Trust Finding Aid Written By: Teresa Maria Mora Date Completed: July 2008 © 2008 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: Allan Wilson papers Date (inclusive): 1953-1998, Date (bulk): bulk 1962-1991 Collection Number: BANC FILM 3175 BANC MSS 95/22 c Creators : Wilson, Allan (Allan Charles), 1934-1991 Extent: Microfilm: 50 reelsNumber of containers: 15 cartons, 1 box, 1 volume, 1 oversize folderLinear feet: 20 Repository: The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ Abstract: The Allan Wilson Papers, 1953-1996 document Wilson's career as a biochemist. The bulk of the collection focuses on his twenty-six year tenure at the University of California, Berkeley, but his education is also well documented within the collection. Included are copies of his publications and those of his lab as well as working papers for both published and unpublished manuscripts. Also included are his lecture notes and other teaching materials. Wilson's correspondence files are especially rich, documenting not only his dialogues with colleagues but his close work with his students and numerous protégés. Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html . Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Allan Wilson Papers, BANC MSS 95/22 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Finding Aid to the Allan Wilson BANC FILM 3175BANC MSS 95/22 c 2 Papers, 1953-1998, bulk 1962-1991 Alternate Forms Available The collection is available on microfilm with the exception of Series I which consists of materials that can be found in published journals. Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. Wilson, Allan, (Allan Charles), 1934-1991 Faculty papers History of science and technology collection University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Biochemistry University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology Human evolution Mitochondrial DNA--Research Human genetics Acquisition Information The Allan Wilson Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Leona Wilson on December 12, 1994. Accruals No additions are expected. System of Arrangement Arranged to the folder level. Processing Information Processed by Teresa Mora in 2007. Biographical Information Allan Wilson was born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, on October 18, 1934 and raised on a farm at Helvetia, Pukekohe. He began his education in New Zealand where he earned a B.S. in Zoology and Chemistry from Otago University. Wilson moved to the United States to pursue his graduate education, earning a M.S. from Washington State University in Zoology and Physiology and completing his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley (1961). Upon completing his Ph.D., Wilson worked as a post-doctorate fellow at Brandeis University. In 1964, Wilson joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry (now the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology) at UC Berkeley. Allan Wilson first came to world attention when he published a paper titled Immunological Time-Scale For Human Evolution in Science magazine in December 1967. Together with doctoral student Vincent Sarich, Wilson argued that the origins of the human species could be seen through, what he termed, a "molecular clock" and, using this reasoning, the two deduced that the earliest proto-hominids evolved only five million years ago. Most contemporary anthropologists, who favored a date of around 25 million years, dismissed his work. In the early 1980s, as his findings for the age of the proto-humans were starting to be more widely accepted, Wilson again dropped a bombshell on traditional anthropological thinking with his best known work with Rebecca Cann and Mark Stoneking on the so-called "Mitchocondrial Eve" hypothesis. By comparing differences in the mtDNA Wilson believed it was possible to estimate the time, and the place, modern humans first evolved. With his discovery that human mtDNA is genetically much less diverse than chimpanzee mtDNA, he concluded that modern human races had diverged recently from a single population while older human races such as Neanderthal, Java erectus and Pekin erectus had become extinct. He and his team compared mtDNA in people of different racial backgrounds and concluded that all modern humans evolved from one "lucky mother" in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Despite the initial controversy of many of his theories, Wilson was well respected. He trained more than 200 graduate students and post-docs in his Berkeley laboratory. His lab published more than 300 papers. He was elected to the Royal Society of London, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded the 3M Life Sciences Award and the MacArthur Prize. Wilson was diagnosed with leukemia in 1990 and died on July 21, 1991, at the age of 56, while undergoing treatment for the disease. -Largely taken from the Allan Wilson Centre Web Page (http://awcmee.massey.ac.nz/) Scope and Content of Collection The Allan Wilson Papers, 1953-1996, document Wilson's career as a biochemist. The bulk of the collection focuses on his twenty-six year tenure at the University of California, Berkeley, but his education is also well documented within the Finding Aid to the Allan Wilson BANC FILM 3175BANC MSS 95/22 c 3 Papers, 1953-1998, bulk 1962-1991 collection. Included are copies of his publications and those of his lab as well as working papers for both published and unpublished manuscripts. Also included are his lecture notes and other teaching materials. Wilson's correspondence files are especially rich, documenting not only his dialogues with colleagues but his close work with his students and numerous protégés. The collection was compiled after Wilson's death by Ellen Prager, a member of the Wilson laboratory. Dr. Prager made comprehensive notes on individual folders and documents further putting specific documents in context. Material was often duplicated throughout the collection and for the most part duplicates, including proofs and camera ready artwork for Wilson's publications, have been discarded. The basic series structure instituted by Dr. Prager has been retained and comprises eleven series: Publications; Manuscript Preparation; Correspondence; Sabbaticals and Special Trips; Lectures; Teaching Materials; Education; Professional; Early Career; Research; and Death and Fate of Lab. The final series, Death and Fate of Lab, consists of only a few folders of materials compiled by Dr. Prager documenting Wilson's illness, the academy's reaction to his death, and the fate of his laboratory. Also included in the collection are numerous scientific papers authored by the lab after Wilson's death. Series 1 Publications 1957-1998 Physical Description: Carton 1; Carton 2, folders 1-110 Arrangement Arranged chronologically. Scope and Content Note Includes reprints of articles authored by Allan Wilson and his laboratory as well as complete bibliographies of the published work of Wilson and the laboratory. Carton 1, Folder 1 Bibliography 1994, 1996 Allan C. Wilson Publications Carton 1, Folder 2 A Quantitative Examination of Testicular Growth in the White-Crowned Sparrow. 1957 Carton 1, Folder 3 The Annual Cycle of Thyroid Activity in White-Crowned Sparrows of Eastern Washington. 1960 Carton 1, Folder 4 Regulation of Flavin Synthesis by Escherichia coli. 1962 Carton 1, Folder 5 Control of Enzyme Activity in Higher Animals. 1963 Carton 1, Folder 6 Functions of the Two Forms of Lactic Dehydrogenase in the Breast Muscle of Birds. 1963 Carton 1, Folder 7 Enzymes and Nucleic Acids in Systematics. 1963 Carton 1, Folder 8 Comparative Aspects of Metabolic Control. 1963 Carton 1, Folder 9 Enzyme Structure and its Relation to Taxonomy. 1964 Carton 1, Folder Evolution of Lactic Dehydrogenase. 1964 10 Publications from Allan C. Wilson Laboratory Carton 1, Folder D(-)-Lactate Dehydrogenase in Lower Fungi. 1966 11 Carton 1, Folder Evolution of Male Dehydrogenase in Birds. 1966 12 Carton 1, Folder Peafowl Lactate Dehydrogenase: Problem of Isoenzyme Identification. 1966 13 Carton 1, Folder Quantitative Immunochemistry and the Evolution of Primate Albumins: 14 Micro-Complement Fixation.