http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt3c6031cw Online items available Jonas Salk Papers Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Copyright 2005 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 [email protected] URL: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/sca/index.html Jonas Salk Papers MSS 0001 1 Descriptive Summary Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla 92093-0175 Title: Jonas Salk Papers Creator: Salk, Jonas, 1914-1995 Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0001 Physical Description: 389 Linear feet(847 archives boxes, 12 cartons, 59 card file boxes, 28 flat boxes, 66 art bin items, 8 map case folders, and 2 films) Date (inclusive): 1926-1991 Abstract: Papers of Dr. Jonas Salk, noted physician, virologist, humanitarian, and founder of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California. Salk is best known for his development of the world's first successful vaccine for the prevention of poliomyelitis, licensed in the U.S. in 1955. He also conducted important research in the prevention and treatment of influenza, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The Salk Papers constitute an exhaustive source of documentation of Dr. Salk's professional activities, but very few materials relating to his personal life. Most of the papers cover the period from the mid-1940s to the 1980s. The papers include extensive general correspondence, files relating to polio, subject files, writings by Dr. Salk, photographs, sound recordings, records of the Salk Institute, and other research materials. Languages: English . Processing Information In general, the original order of the materials was retained in the first two major accessions. The General Correspondence remains in its original order: grouped by year, and thereunder alphabetically by name of correspondent. This order makes the tracing of correspondence with one particular individual difficult. Although the subject of polio permeates the entire collection, Dr. Salk's staff created a separate series of materials relating specifically to this subject. This separate series was probably created after 1955, when polio-related issues may have consumed a large percentage of staff time. Although it is possible that materials in this series were pulled from other files, the UCSD Library decided to retain the series intact due to the difficulty in determining the origin of the materials, and due to the importance of the series for evidential purposes. In some cases the original order of the collection has been altered, but only when logically necessary and logistically possible. Thus the subject files, which were originally grouped with correspondence from each year, are now combined into one alphabetical sequence. Materials generated from internal activities of the Salk Institute, although originally filed with yearly correspondence, are now combined with other Salk Institute files into separate series. As in the case of the Salk Institute files, many series within the Salk Papers have been formed around the provenance of the materials. Thus, those laboratory records maintained by individual members of Dr. Salk's staff remain separate ("Files of Others"). Although items in these separate groups relate directly to items elsewhere in the collection, combining these related items would have violated the provenance of the materials. The most recent major accession had been sorted and described after Dr. Salk's death in 1995 by his long-time staff member, Barbara L. Robinson. Materials were well-described in her inventory, but not in any particular order, so as unique materials were processed at the Library they were placed together in artificial series that mirrored the arrangement of earlier series. The Barbara L. Robinson inventory is linked to this finding aid and searchable for cross-referencing; her inventory numbers for documents have been included in the file descriptions. Scope and Content of Collection Papers of Dr. Jonas Salk, noted physician, virologist, humanitarian, and founder of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California. Salk is best known for his development of the world's first successful vaccine for the prevention of poliomyelitis, licensed in the U.S. in 1955. He also conducted important research in the prevention and treatment of influenza, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The Salk Papers constitute an exhaustive source of documentation of Dr. Salk's professional activities, but very few materials relating to his personal life. Most of the papers cover the period from the mid-1940s to the 1980s. The papers include extensive general correspondence, files relating to polio, subject files, writings by Dr. Salk, photographs, sound recordings, records of the Salk Institute, and other research materials. ACCESSION PROCESSED IN 1989 Jonas Salk Papers MSS 0001 2 Best documented are Dr. Salk's activities from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, activities largely related to the development of the Salk polio vaccine. This accession also includes materials created by Dr. Salk's laboratory staff members and papers generated by offices of the Salk Institute. Arranged in ten series: 1) GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 2) POLIO FILES, 3) SUBJECT FILES, 4) WRITINGS, LECTURES AND INTERVIEWS, 5) PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER IMAGES, 6) SALK INSTITUTE FILES, 7) FILES OF OTHERS, 8) AWARDS, HONORS AND CERTIFICATES, 9) MISCELLANY and 10) RESEARCH MATERIALS. ACCESSIONS PROCESSED IN 1995 This accession primarily documents Salk's fundamental role in the revival of the live versus killed polio-virus debate in the mid-1970s and 1980s. Included in the collection are the letters he wrote to the American Medical Association, the Center for Disease Control, the Institute of Medicine, the U.S. Congress, members of the media, and other influential sectors of society in an attempt to convince them that the oral live polio vaccine did indeed cause paralytic polio and that the killed vaccine was a safe and effective alternative. Also included are materials related to the inception, creation and eventual distribution of the enhanced inactivated polio vaccine or E-IPV. The Merieux Institute of France, the Connaught Laboratories in Canada, and the Rijks Institute in the Netherlands were the developers of this vaccine, and Salk worked extensively with these laboratories. Salk's collaboration with the Central Public Health Laboratory in Finland on the studies that tracked the incidence of polio in Finland, and his role in the lawsuits filed by victims of vaccine-induced polio are also well documented. There are some materials related to the internal affairs of the Salk Institute, dated 1982-1989, files that document the work of the San Diego Growth Management Task Force Group put together in 1984 by Mayor Roger Hitchcock and materials related to Salk's other interests and activities, most notably, his interest in developing a vaccine for HIV (see the WRITINGS series) and his advisory role in a broad range of different committees and foundations. Arranged in ten series: 11) CORRESPONDENCE, 12) WRITINGS AND LECTURES, 13) POLIO SUBJECT FILES, 14) CONFERENCES, 15) SAN DIEGO GROWTH MANAGEMENT TASK FORCE, 16) SALK INSTITUTE FILES, 17) NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, INTERVIEWS AND EPHEMERA, 18) AWARDS, 19) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 20) ORIGINALS OF PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPIES. ACCESSIONS PROCESSED IN 2015 Barbara L. Robinson worked in Dr. Salk's La Jolla office starting in 1966. In 1995, she began helping him organize his office and personal papers for transfer to the UC San Diego Library. After his death, Robinson continued that project for another six years, cataloging the papers in this accession and describing them in a numbered inventory (referred to here as the BLR Inventory). The BLR numbers given to each document have been retained in the folder descriptions. The BLR Inventory PDF may be cross-referenced by keyword, identification number (i.e., 009-069), or topical searches for additional description of documents in this accession. BLR Inventory Arranged in ten series: 21) CORRESPONDENCE, 22) SUBJECT FILES, 23) WRITINGS, LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS, 24) DAILY NOTES, 25) SALK INSTITUTE FILES, 26) RESEARCH MATERIALS, 27) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 28) MISCELLANEOUS, 29) PHOTOGRAPHS AND AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS, and 30) DIGITAL MEDIA. Biography Jonas Salk is best known for his discovery of the world's first successful vaccine for the prevention of poliomyelitis. In addition to this accomplishment, Dr. Salk has made significant contributions to the study, prevention, and treatment of influenza, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and other diseases. He is also known for the founding and direction of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, his work for a wide variety of humanitarian endeavors, and most recently for his involvement in AIDS research. Jonas Edward Salk was born in New York City on October 28, 1914. The eldest son of Daniel and Dora Salk, he grew up in East Harlem and the Crotona section of the Bronx. At 12 he began high school at Townsend Harris Hall, the preparatory school for the City College of New York. At 15 he entered the College itself. Taking an early interest in scientific research, he graduated from City College in 1934 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In medical school at New York University, Salk distinguished himself from the beginning. At the end of his freshman year he was offered a fellowship to study biochemistry. In 1936 he returned to classes and completed his medical degree in 1939. During his last year in medical school he made the acquaintance of Dr. Thomas Francis, at that time chairman of the Department of Bacteriology. Francis, who had conducted important research on influenza and other diseases, became Salk's close friend and mentor. After medical school Dr. Salk married Donna Lindsay, a graduate student at the New York School of Social Work and later a practicing social worker at the Jewish Child Care Association of New York. Before his internship, Dr. Salk spent a year of study with Thomas Francis and George Lavin, focusing primarily on research on influenza.