I. General Correspondence Files,, 1946-1972
Dates
- 1946-1972
Scope and Contents
Summary: The files contain correspondence to and from Waksman related to his extensive activities as a prominent scientist in the international community, including research, publications, travel, membership in scientific organization, awards, and speeches. Some letters are written in French and some in Russian. Copies of Waksman's letters are carbons which were typed on thin paper, as was the practice during this period.
There are many letters of interest throughout these folders. Listed below is a sampling of letters, which demonstrate the vastness of Waksman's interests and accomplishments. Items of very special interest are listed with an asterisk below:
- · June 30, 1948—Notification of election to membership in the Advisory Council of the Department of Biology of Princeton University for a three-year term.
- · December 20, 1949 (see under April 16, 1954)—Letter from U.S. Patent Office accepting Waksman's proposal that Rutgers University be considered as an official depository for cultures of actinomycetes.
- · November 27, 1950—Letter from G. DeBoisgelin, the attaché of the French Embassy, notifying SAW of his promotion to "Commandeur" in the national Order of the Legion of Honor.
- · December 14, 1950 (see under December 30, 1962)—Official Resolution in Spanish from the Minister of Public Health in Argentina inviting SAW to be an official guest of the government to discuss issues of standardization and utilization of streptomycin.
- · June 11, 1951—Letter from SAW to E. Allen of the National Institutes of Health giving his approval to Allen's suggestion of May 29, 1951 that the Public Health Service should initiate grants for research.
- · February 13, 1953 (see under April 16, 1954)—Letter to the Commissioner of Patents, U.S. Patent Office, clarifying the Stock Culture Collection of the Department of Microbiology, the largest assortment of types of cultures in the world, collected since 1915.
- ·October 23, 1953 (see under November 9, 1953)—Letter from C. Rhoads, M.D., Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, asking SAW to apply to the Public Health Service for a research grant to study antibiotics with the ability to injure neoplastic tissue.
- · March 19, 1956 (see under May 19, 1960)—Letter from J. Doull, Leonard Wood Memorial (American Leprosy Foundation), NYC, discussing the history of the first use of Promin (a sulfone) to treat tuberculosis and leprosy, along with two attached letters discussing the same topic. In the same folder is multiple correspondence between SAW and W. Feldman, of the Mayo Foundation, and H. Hinshaw, M.D., regarding SAW's offer to submit their work on the use of Promin to treat leprosy to the Nobel Prize Committee. In contention is the work of a group of French scientists led by Dr. Faget.
- · April 5, 1960—Letter to Director Splivalo of PLIVA, Zagreb, discussing the agreement by the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish an international center for antibiotics and an international culture collection at the urging of SAW and others. Further correspondence from February 24, 1961 to March 27, 1961 discusses the inability to set up this repository for antibiotics due to lack of funds.
- · October 5, 1960—Letter* to G. Gray, writer for Scientific American, with the story of the discovery of streptomycin from a swab taken from a sick chicken.
- · December 16, 1960 (see under April 6, 1961)—Signed deed of gift* to the Library of Congress of eight volumes of unpublished addresses and radio broadcasts and correspondence sent and received from 1916-1959.
- · February 17, 1961—Letter from J. Connor, President of Merck, thanking SAW for his speech before the Patents Committee of the National Association of Manufacturers in favor of strong patent protection for scientific inventors and for mentioning Merck's part in development of streptomycin.
- · October 5, 1961—Letter to Dr. Z. Ermoliva, Institute for the Manufacture of Antibiotics, Moscow, in response to his letter in Russian script regarding the publication of his journal, Antibiotiki.
- · November 29, 1961—Plea from SAW to establish the journal, Antibiotics and Chemotherapy to Council Policy Committee of the American Society for Microbiology.
- · November 13, 1962—Letter from Major General S. Sokhey of New Delhi, India regarding the problems with cooperation in obtaining antibiotics from the Unites States and Canada, but not from Russia.
- · December 19, 1962—Letter to Dr. Doty at Harvard to try to set up a joint symposium with Russian scientists.
- · August 27, 1965—Letter from Professor F. Dentice, Rome, detailing the story of the downfall of his Institute, the Istituto Superiore DeSanita, and the arrest of Professor Marotta, and the subsequent outrage of the scientific world.
- · February 1, 1966—Letter from P. Hirsch, Ph.D., Yale University, regarding his work on actinomycetes.
- · September 12, 1966—Letter from Dr. E. Borowski, Gdansk, regarding his research on Levorin A and B with characteristics similar to Candicidin.
- · November 29, 1966—Letter to Dr. Gale, Cambridge University, disagreeing with his definition of "antibiotic."
- · Undated letter* (c. 1966-67) to Dr. Stanier of the University of California, which describes the history of Waksman's work on antibiotics.
- · November 22, 1967—Letter to Dr. G. Szabo, Biological Institute, Debrecen, Hungary, acknowledging his discovery of a "Factor C" compound as important to the knowledge of microorganism metabolism.
- · October 9, 1968 (see under January 15, 1969)—Letter to W. Fondiller regarding the failure of Waksman's efforts to develop a program of research and teaching leading to the establishment of a base for the production of antibiotics in Israel.
- · January 1, 1969 (see under May 6, 1969)—Letter from Dr. C.B. Van Niel with his views on science and religion.
- · March 12, 1969—Letter to Professor Svartz, Sweden, regarding his refusal to attend a scientific conference in Jena, East Germany because of the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
- · June 14, 1969—Letter from A. Beer regarding science and the social fabric.
- · March 25, 1970 (see under March 30, 1970)—Letter from W. Cahill, governor of New Jersey, relating how his son was saved by streptomycin as a baby in 1947.
- · June 10, 1971—Correspondence regarding SAW's automobile accident.
- · July 1971-July 1972—Correspondence regarding the Waksmans' move on October 15, 1971 to New Haven, CT to be near their son and family.
The "Is There Life After Death Folders" refer to an article that ran in American papers in late 1957, in which Waksman claimed there was no scientific proof of life after death. Many members of the public disagreed with this claim and wrote to Waksman expressing their views. A number of religious pamphlets were also sent to Waksman and are included in these folders.
The Waksman—Isaacs correspondence folders include letters from Edward Robert Isaacs, who was executive secretary of the Institute of Microbiology.
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arrangement: The files are arranged in chronological order by year from July to June, except for 1971-1972, which is in alphabetical order. There is no correspondence for the years 1948-1949, 1951-1952, and 1957-1958. Throughout the correspondence files, letters concerning the same topic are clipped together for continuity and put in dated order by last received on top. They may, therefore, be out of normal sequence. An additional folder has been compiled containing the correspondence on Technion-Israel Institute of Technology for 1961-1972 (Box 3, Folder 1), because there was numerous correspondence on this subject spread throughout the correspondence files.
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