http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf8s20065p No online items Guide to the Thomas Hunt Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 Processed by Charlotte E. Erwin; machine-readable finding aid created by James Lake Archives California Institute of Technology 1200 East California Blvd. Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626) 395-2704 Fax: (626) 793-8756 Email: [email protected] URL: http://archives.caltech.edu © 1998 California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Guide to the Thomas Hunt 1 Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 Guide to the Thomas Hunt Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 Archives California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California Contact Information: Archives California Institute of Technology 1200 East California Blvd. Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626) 395-2704 Fax: (626) 793-8756 Email: [email protected] URL: http://archives.caltech.edu Processed by: Charlotte E. Erwin Date Completed: June 1996; updated July 1998 Encoded by: James Lake © 1998 California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Thomas Hunt Morgan Papers, Date (inclusive): 1916-1946 Extent: Number of containers: 10 boxes Linear feet: 5 Repository: California Institute of Technology. Archives. Pasadena, California 91125 Language: English. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Copyright has not been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Preferred Citation [Identification of item, Box and file number], Thomas Hunt Morgan Papers, Archives, California Institute of Technology. Biographical Sketch Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) is best known for his study of heredity in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. He also contributed significantly to descriptive and experimental embryology, cytology, and evolutionary theory. For his work in establishing the chromosome theory of heredity--the idea that genes are located in a linear array on chromosomes--Morgan was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1933. After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1886, Morgan undertook graduate study in zoology at Johns Hopkins University. From there he took a position at Bryn Mawr College, where he remained until 1904, when he was offered the chair of experimental zoology at Columbia University. At Bryn Mawr he met and married Lilian Vaughan Sampson, who was Guide to the Thomas Hunt 2 Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 a distinguished cytologist and took an active role in her husband's work. In 1927, Caltech officials approached Morgan, who was then 62 years old, with the proposal to come to Pasadena to set up a new biology program. Funds were to be provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and various private donors. In 1928, Morgan began the last phase of his career, the recruitment of a first-rate team of experimental geneticists to Caltech, among them A. H. Sturtevant, Calvin Bridges, Theodore Dobzhansky, Albert Tyler, the Dutch biologist C. A. G. Wiersma, and in plant genetics, Ernest Anderson and Sterling Emerson. Scope of the Collection The Morgan papers contain correspondence, technical and course material, papers relating to the formation of the Biology Division at Caltech and other administrative matters, and a small amount of biographical material. A portion of the materials relating to Morgan's career prior to Caltech have been assembled from the American Philosophical Society (correspondence) and Princeton University (the E. G. Conklin Papers). These are in xerographic form in Box 6. The original arrangement and description of the collection was done in 1971 by Phoebe Sturtevant, the wife of A. H. Sturtevant. Descriptions of the contents of folders, as well as the item counts, are hers and have been retained in the present guide. In 1996, files pertaining to the Marine Biology Laboratory at Corona Del Mar, originally included by Mrs. Sturtevant in the Morgan papers, were removed to the Albert Tyler Papers. Users of the collection should consult the Tyler papers, as well as those of C. A. G. Wiersma, and A. H. Sturtevant for further Morgan material. Charlotte E. Erwin Associate Archivist Box Boxes 1-2 SECTION I: CORRESPONDENCE Additional Note [Four folders, 2.1-4, are not listed in Mrs. Sturtevant's original guide.] Box-folder 1.1 American Philosophical Society 1935 Re: appointment to nominating committee, reply on back [1 item] Box-folder 1.2 Beadle, George W. 1935-1937 Sponsoring letter from THM for Rockefeller Fellowship; also acceptance of appointment at Caltech [4 items] See also: Minnesota, University of Box-folder 1.3 Bonner, James 1934-1935 His stay in Holland; one-year position offered by THM for physiological work [5 items] Box-folder 1.4 B misc. Baker, W. L. 1934 Re: her son Leon's death; he is the man who saved THM's life after an auto accident [1 item] Banta, A. M. 1935 (with honors) Bartsch, Paul (Smithsonian Institution) 1935 [1 item] Bateson, W. 1924-1925 Congratulatory note to THM upon receiving the Darwin Medal; discussing the pending purchase of Darwin's house [2 items] Belling, John L. 1932 (to L. Morgan) [1 item] Blakeslee, A. F. 1935 [3 items] Borsook, Henry 1933 [1 item] re: Gaddern, Matthews and Brown Campbell, W. W. See: National Academy of Sciences Box-folder 1.5 Carnegie Institution 1920-1935 (includes Merriam, Woodward, Wirtz, Gilbert) Re: research grants, budget proposal, salaries, estimates [55 items] Box-folder 1.6 Carnegie Institution, Drosophila exhibit 1934-1935 Box-folder 1.7 Columbia University (President Butler) 1927 Guide to the Thomas Hunt 3 Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 SECTION I: CORRESPONDENCE THM's resignation from Columbia to accept the organization of the Department of Biology at Caltech [3 items] Box-folder 1.8 Columbia University Press (Proffitt, Rostand) 1934 Re: publication and French translation of Embryology and Genetics [7 items] Box-folder 1.9 Conklin, Edwin G. 1904-1946 Re: THM's marriage plans, birth of his son in 1906; Conklin to L. Morgan expression of sympathy and his recollections of THM [23 items] Box-folder 1.10 C misc. Cleveland, L. R.(Harvard Medical School) 1934 [1 item] Crane, M. B. 1934 [1 item] Box-folder 1.11 Darwin Medal of the Royal Society (W. B. Hardy) 1924-1925 Announcement of the award; also letter of gratitude from A. Shipley of Christ's College Marine Biology Lab for £100 THM turned over to them [4 items] Box-folder 1.12 Darwin Memorial (W. B. Hardy, A. Flexner) 1925-1928 Re: purchase of Down (Darwin's house) and turning it into a historical monument; also THM to H. Osborn of American Museum of Natural History to raise funds for the Darwin Memorial [7 items] Box-folder 1.13 DeVries, Hugo 1918 [This photocopied letter and accompanying documents were added to the collection in 1987.] Box-folder 1.14 D misc. Dahlgren, K. V. C. (Uppsala University) 1934 [1 item] Box-folder 1.15 Fleming, Arthur H. 1927-1928 Re: THM's coming to Caltech and building of Kerckhoff, equipment and plans [39 items] Box-folder 1.16 Flexner, Abraham 1943 Re: Dr. Gilman and his influence on THM and Johns Hopkins University [4 items] Box-folder 1.17 F misc. Fischer, W. K. (Hopkins Marine Station) 1934 [1 item] Fowler, H. G. 1935 [1 item, reply on back] Box-folder 1.18 Gager, C. Stuart 1935 Re: G. H. Shull and publication of Genetics magazine [5 items] Box-folder 1.19 Goodrich, H. B. (Wesleyan University) 1935 Re: spending his sabbatical at Caltech [2 items] Box-folder 1.20 G misc. Germantown Trust Co. 1934 See: Section II, Financial matters Granick, Sam (Michigan University) 1935 [2 items] Gustafson, F. G. (Michigan University) 1935 [2 items] Box-folder 1.21 Hale, George Ellery 1927-1928 Re: Rockefeller grant to establish Biology Division at Caltech with THM as head; building of Kerckhoff, salaries, etc. [52 items] Box-folder 1.22 H misc. Hardy, W. B. 1924-1925 See: Darwin Medal Harrison, Ross G. (Yale University) 1934 [2 items] Haselden, Reginald B. (Huntington Library) 1935 [2 items] Hoagland, Hudson (Clark University) 1934 [2 items] Holmgren, Gustav (Karolinska Inst.) 1934 See: Section II, Nobel Prize Hopkins County Assessor 1929 See: Section II, Financial matters Huettner, A. F. (New York University) 1934 [3 items] Hugentobler, Louise 1935 THM's secretary at Columbia, her death and settling of her estate [5 items] Hurst, C. C. 1925 [1 item] Box-folder 1.23 J misc. Jaffe, Bernard (from THM) 1934 [2 items] Guide to the Thomas Hunt 4 Morgan Papers, 1916-1946 SECTION I: CORRESPONDENCE Re: biography to be published in Outposts of Science Jones, D. F. (Genetics magazine) 1934-1935 [7 items] Re: Bridges' manuscript of salivary chromosome and Painter's letter of outburst regarding editorial practices Box-folder 1.24 Knoefl, D. K. (Vanderbilt University) 1935 Re: his coming to Caltech, correspondence with Hal Davis of Harvard Medical School regarding Knoefl's abilities [4 items] Box-folder 1.25 K misc. Kernof [sp?], J. 1937 Box-folder 1.26 L misc. Lambert, W. V. (Iowa State College) 1935 Invitation to THM to lecture [1 item] Lawton, G. L. (Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology) 1934 re: publication of article by THM [2 items] Li, J. C. (Yenching University) 1934-1935 Re: Li's visit to Caltech, fellowship from the China Foundation [3 items] Liljestrand, C. 1934 See: Section II, Nobel Prize Luck, J. M. (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1935, invitation to address the meeting of the Pacific Division [1 item, reply on back] Box-folder 1.27 Millikan, Robert A.