In 1929, the geneticist C. C. Little founded the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, a major center for the study of mammalian genetics, cancer, and related areas in basic biomedical research. An independent institution, the Lab has maintained a consistent scientific reputation both as a supplier of inbred strains of mice for genetic and biomedical research and for the scientific achievements of its researchers. Conducted by Susan Mehrtens in 1986, the Oral History Collection includes transcripts of extensive interviews with fifty scientists, administrators, and staff members of the Jackson Laboratory. At greater or lesser length depending on the subject, the interviews provide a detailed picture of the operations and administration at the laboratory, the culture of research, the sometimes contentious staff relations, and the research itself.

Correspondence and reports relating principally to medical research (tuberculosis, cancer, lymphatic system, pernicious anemia), writings and publications. There is material of note on the following organizations: American Association of Anatomists, American Association of University Women, American Woman's Association, Henry Strong Denison Medical Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (re. fellowships), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Institute for Advanced Study, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Medical Aid to China, Medical Aid to Spain, Naples Table Association (this existed to promote laboratory research by women); National Academy of Sciences, National Tuberculosis Association, Peking Union Medical College, Rockefeller Institute, Ellen Richards Prize (awarded by the Association to Aid Scientific Research by Women), Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, University in Exile (i.e. New School for Social Research), White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, and the World Center for Women's Archives. There are abstracts and notes of unpublished scientific papers, and also materials for her biography of Franklin Paine Mall, 1934.

Baruch S. Blumberg was a biomedical researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, PA, during the second half of the 20th century. His research into Australia Antigen and the Hepatitis B Virus led to a vaccine for the virus and a share of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Blumberg also served as chief of the Geographic Medicine and Genetics Section at the NIH (1957-1964), Master of Balliol College (1989-1994), the first Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (1999-2002), and President of the American Philosophical Society (2005-2011).

Britton Chance (1913-2010) was a biochemist and biophysicist as well as a pioneer in the field of biomedical optics. Chance received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940 and his Ph.D. in Biology and Physiology from Cambridge University in 1942. Over the course of his nearly eight decade career, Chance was dedicated to the application and transfer of basic scientific research and technology to clinical medicine. The Britton Chance Papers contain correspondence, research notes, experimental data, publication materials, and photographs stemming from Chance's life as a biochemist, biophysicist, and yachtsman. The collection is broken up into fifteen series that document every aspect of his scientific work.

For his pioneering research on the link between viruses and cancer, the pathologist Francis Peyton Rous was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1966. Working primarily at the Rockefeller Institute after 1909, Rous first came to notice for his theoretical construction of the first blood bank for use in France during World War I, a plan ultimately implemented by his assistant, Oswald H. Robertson. Subsequently, he left an important imprint on the development of experimental medicine, partly through his own research on the origins of cancer and his administrative activities at the Rockefeller, but also as editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine from 1921-1970. The Rous Papers include correspondence, lectures, articles, reports, laboratory records, reprints, and photographs that document all aspects of the life and work of Peyton Rous. Reflecting his work at the Institute are letters of colleagues, information on assistants, and reports to the directors (1909-1959). Additional material relates to Rous' diverse organizational interests, including the American Cancer Society, Century Association, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (at Yale University), Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Johns Hopkins University, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, New York Academy of Medicine, Royal Society of Medicine Foundation, and Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.

A pathologist and cancer specialist, James B. Murphy (1884-1950) spent most of career associated with the Rockefeller Institute (1911-1950) investigating the role of lymphocytes in tuberculosis, x-ray mutagenesis, and the nature of malignant tumors in fowls. The Murphy Papers contains professional correspondence and research notes relating to James B. Murphy's cancer research at the Rockefeller, and information on several of the organizations to which he contributed or belonged, including the American Association for Cancer Research; American Bureau for Medical Aid to China; American Cancer Society; Bar Harbor Medical and Surgical Hospital; Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory; Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer (New York City, ca. 1932-1950); National Advisory Cancer Council; and the New York Academy of Medicine (1923-1950). Murphy helped to develop mobile laboratories for hospitals in France during World War I.

Working on bacterial viruses in 1945, Seymour S. Cohen offered the first systematic exploration of the biochemistry of virus-infected cells and of how viruses multiply. His subsequent research included delineating the phenomenon of thymineless death, developing derivatives of ara-A compound, working on RNA synthesis, studying the effects of polyamines on metabolic systems, and studying plant viruses (including viral cations). Much of his research has contributed to the chemical treatment of cancer and viral infections.