http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt300035nw No online items Stanley Miller Papers Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Copyright 2010 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 [email protected] URL: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/index.html Stanley Miller Papers MSS 0642 1 Descriptive Summary Languages: English Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 Title: Stanley Miller Papers Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0642 Physical Description: 92.7 Linear feet(227 archives boxes, 2 card file boxes, one flat box, and five map case folders) Date (inclusive): 1952-2010 Abstract: The papers of Stanley Miller, chemist, biologist, and professor at the University of California, San Diego, known for his research into the origins of life. The papers date from 1952 to 2010 and include correspondence, writing, referee reports, research and subject files, teaching materials, conference and meeting materials, grant proposals, and audio visual materials. Biography Stanley Miller was born in Oakland, California, in 1930. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1954. It was there, as a graduate student studying under Harold Urey, that Miller gained attention for his research into the origins of life. As part of his graduate research, Miller created an electric discharge experiment which showed how amino acids could be generated from chemicals thought to have been present on the primitive earth. Miller's results were published by the journal Science in 1953, attracting attention from both the scientific community and the popular press. After graduating from the University of Chicago, Miller took a year-long fellowship at Caltech. He went on to teach at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University from 1955 to 1960. He then joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1960 as a professor of chemistry. While at UCSD Miller served as a director of the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT) for studies in exobiology. Miller devoted much of his career to studying the origins of life, winning the Oparin Medal from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) in 1983. Along with his origins of life research, Miller helped to design and build a steam powered automobile, worked to create instrumentation for the search for life on Mars, and investigated the natural occurrence of clathrate hydrates. In 1995 Miller retired from teaching and became a professor emeritus. Stanley Miller passed away in 2007. Scope and Content of Collection The papers of Stanley Miller, a prominent biologist and chemist best known for his studies into the origins of life, document Miller's career and research, primarily while at the University of California, San Diego. The Miller papers date from 1952 to 2010 and are arranged in twelve series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, 4) WRITINGS OF OTHERS, 5) RESEARCH FILES, 6) GRANTS, 7) UC SAN DIEGO MATERIALS, 8) CONFERENCES & LECTURES, 9) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS, 10) REFEREE REPORTS & REVIEWS, 11) IMAGES & RECORDINGS, and 12) ORIGINS OF LIFE REPRINTS. SERIES 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS series is arranged in two subseries: A) General and B) Personal Travel. A) Materials in the General subseries include newspaper clippings about Miller and his work; personal papers such as curricula vitae, notes, calendars, passports and ID cards; typescripts of interviews with Miller; and posthumous materials such as a program from Miller's memorial service. B) The Personal Travel subseries includes Miller's scrapbooks detailing his travel from 1963-1997. The scrapbooks, created by Miller, contain ticket stubs, receipts, postcards, ephemera, and in most cases, Miller's handwritten accounts of each trip. Miller's love of cycling is illustrated in several scrapbooks, which record his bicycle trips in Europe and the United States. For information documenting Miller's professional travel, see Series 8: CONFERENCES & LECTURES. SERIES 2: CORRESPONDENCE Correspondence contains letters, postcards, telegrams, and email between Miller and his colleagues, students, editors and publishers, journalists, and researchers. Prominent correspondents include Leslie Orgel, John Oró, Linus Pauling, Carl Sagan, and Harold Urey. Letters are filed alphabetically, with works by unidentified correspondents, as well as miscellaneous invitations, located at the end. The bulk of the correspondence in this series is professional in nature. It is also important to note, while the subseries does include letters from the 1950s, it does not contain correspondence directly related to Miller's graduate study or his electric discharge experiment research done while at the University of Chicago. Stanley Miller Papers MSS 0642 2 At the very beginning of the series are several folders of student letters, arranged chronologically, comprised of letters requesting information about Miller and his electric discharge experiment, as well as instructions on repeating the experiment. Letters were written by students of all ages, from countries around the world. Immediately following the student letters are "Crackpot" letters, comprised of letters originally separated from the general correspondence in files labeled "crackpot" by Miller. The bulk of this subseries are letters written by either amateur scientists sharing their theories or by religious fundamentalists objecting to Miller's origins of life research. SERIES 3: WRITINGS The WRITINGS series is arranged in five subseries: A) Numbered Publications, B) Unnumbered Publications & Unpublished Writings, C) How Could Life Have Arisen on Earth?, D) The Origins of Life on the Earth (1974), and E) Abstracts. A) The Numbered Publications subseries consists of published works, arranged chronologically and numbered by Miller. Files include reprints, tear sheets, typescript and handwritten drafts, notes, research, and calculations. A complete bibliography, created by Miller, can be found at the beginning of the subseries. B) Unnumbered Publications & Unpublished Writings consists mainly of typescript and handwritten drafts of papers written by Miller. Papers are arranged chronologically, from 1952 to 2004, with undated papers filed at the end. C) The How Could Life Have Arisen on Earth? subseries includes materials produced while writing a teaching module about chemistry and the origins of life. The subseries contains the module and instructor's manual, correspondence with the publisher, contracts, and reviews of the module by students using it in the classroom. D) The fourth subseries is comprised of typescripts, page proofs, artwork, correspondence, and materials from the publisher related to the book The Origins of Life on the Earth (1974), written by Stanley Miller and Leslie Orgel. E) The Abstracts subseries contains abstracts for Miller's lectures, published writings, posters, and meetings. Abstracts are arranged chronologically and range in date from 1956 to 1998. SERIES 4: WRITINGS OF OTHERS Items in the WRITINGS OF OTHERS series include reprints, correspondence, and typescripts of articles, dissertations, and book chapters, most edited and annotated by Miller. The bulk of this work was written by students who had done research in Miller's lab. The series is arranged alphabetically by author and ranges in date from 1973 to 1999. SERIES 5: RESEARCH FILES The RESEARCH FILES contains research materials produced by Stanley Miller and students working in his lab at UCSD. In most cases, the folder titles were transcribed from the original files and the original filing order was retained. The series is arranged in five subseries: A) General, B) GC-MS Spectra Graphs, C) Student Research Files, D) Laboratory Notebooks, and E) Steam Car. A) Materials in the General files include chromatograms, annotated reprints, research notes and calculations produced by Miller and his students. Folder titles were transcribed from Miller's original files and the original order was retained. This subseries also contains materials for special projects in which Miller participated, including Miller's work with the Viking Lander Project and his research from two expeditions with the research vessel Alpha Helix. The standard set of reprints and instructions regarding his electric discharge experiment, which Miller would regularly send to inquiring students, can be found here as well. B) The GC-MS Spectra Graphs subseries contains research graphs produced by Miller and his students. The folder titles in this subseries were transcribed from original files and the original filing order was retained. C) Student Research Files are comprised of files dedicated to specific student's research. The folders are arranged alphabetically by student name, with unidentified files at the end. D) The Laboratory Notebooks subseries contains Miller's laboratory notebooks, as well as the lab notebooks of students who conducted research in Miller's lab. Notebooks are arranged alphabetically by researcher and range in date from ca.1954 to 2000. E) Materials in the Steam Car subseries include correspondence, grant proposals, progress reports, research, and press releases regarding the construction of a steam powered automobile by UCSD students in a project led by Miller. Also included are applications and rules for the 1970