Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America works to facilitate communication among scientists with an interest in research and education in genetics and cognate fields. The GSA Records provide information on the history of the Genetics Society of America from the time of its founding in 1931. Included is correspondence between various officers, members, and outside individuals and organizations, files on standing and ad hoc committees, Records concerning accounts and finances, membership data, files relating to annual meetings, local meetings, and international meetings, and information on special commissions or ad hoc groups of the Society. Among the more noteworthy files are those for the Committee on Genetics, Race, and Intelligence, 1974-1975. This note is currently under review for revision.

A botanist and historian of science at the University of Pennsylvania, Conway Zirkle published on the history of evolutionary thought and genetics, with a particular interest in the discipline as practiced in the Soviet Union. The Zirkle Papers consist of approximately one linear foot of materials accrued by Zirkle during research for his book on Lysenko-era biology in the Soviet Union, The Death of Science in Russia (1949). Among the miscellaneous materials in the collection are four volumes (0.5 linear feet) of pressed specimens of ferns and algae.

This collection of correspondence, reports, and manuscripts concerns Stalker's research in genetics and evolutionary biology, particularly the evolutionary genetics of Drosophila. Most of the letters are scientific, although the usual academic politics in various departments is mentioned. There is also material on the Society for the Study of Evolution (1970).

Mostly concerned with Blakeslee's studies on beans, blood groups, colchicine, Datura, embryo cultures, and horticulture. Many letters relate to the support and direction of the Smith College Genetics Experiment Station, which he headed. Other letters are about the Carnegie Institution of Washington, "Biological Abstracts," American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Philosophical Society, Institut de France, University of Connecticut. Also contains travel letters from Germany and miscellaneous lectures.

Founded by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1890, the Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was little more than a languishing outpost until the arrival of Charles B. Davenport in 1898. Over the course of two decades, the ambitious young biologist used his extraordinary administrative skills to transform the institution into the premier center of eugenical study and, as its director, to position himself as the leading spokesman for eugenical research in North America. The Davenport Papers (ca. 63 lin. feet) is a large and nearly comprehensive body of correspondence, lectures, diaries (1878-1942, mostly brief entries of an uneven character), student notebooks and family correspondence pertaining to Charles Davenport and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The collection is divided into two series, the Charles Davenport Papers, which provides valuable documentation of the development of American biology, animal and plant genetics, and eugenics during the period 1898-1942, with some perspective on the international eugenics movement. Series II, the Cold Spring Harbor Records (ca.20 lin. feet), consists largely of administrative correspondence relating to the laboratory, including Davenport's correspondence with Carnegie administrators (esp. Robert Woodward and John Merriam), accounts and reports concerning financial matters, publications, salaries, material relative to the early history of Cold Spring Harbor labs, and records relative to the numerous professional assistants who worked under Davenport. Among the major correspondents are the American Breeders Association, Committee on Eugenics; American Eugenics Society; American Society of Naturalists; Committee on a Study of the American Negro; Galton Society (see also the extensive correspondence with William K. Gregory); Eugenics Education Society (see Mrs. S. Gotto correspondence); International Congresses of Eugenics; International Federation of Eugenic Organizations, Committee on Race Crossing; National Committee on Mental Hygiene; National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor; and the Pan-American Conference on Eugenics and Homiculture. There are correspondence and papers relating to the Station for Experimental Evolution, the Eugenics Record Office, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and a substantial series relating to a long-range study of children carried out at Letchworth Village, Thiles, New York. This note is currently under review for revision.