Papers of the human geneticist, H. Eldon Sutton, including files from his tenure as editor of the American Journal of Human Genetics (1964-1969) and president of the American Society of Human Genetics (1979). Sutton was born in Cameron, Texas, and completed his B.S. in Chemistry, M.S., and Ph.D in Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin by 1953. He was recruited by Lee Dice to join the University of Michigan's Institute of Human Biology in 1952, where he worked with Jack Schull and Jim Neel. After leaving the University of Michigan in 1964, Sutton returned to the University of Texas at Austin as an associate professor in the Department of Zoology. There, he researched disease and population genetics by studying blood antigens and amino acid metabolism. Author of notable 1965 textbook An Introduction to Human Genetics. Materials such as correspondence regarding research, conferences, and service on other committees are also included in addition to draft materials of published works.

A modest Midwesterner who became one of the most influential geneticists of the first half of the 20th century, William E. Castle spent his career at Harvard and the University of California working on patterns of inheritance in mice, horses, and a variety of other mammalian taxa. An early proponent of Mendelian theory, Castle was director of the Bussey Institution at Harvard for almost thirty years, helping to train a number of important geneticists. The Castle Papers contain one linear foot of correspondence dating primarily from the period after Castle's "retirement" to Berkeley in 1936 until his death in 1962, dealing almost exclusively with his research on horse breeding and the inheritance of coat coloration in horses. Castle's correspondence with his former student L. C. Dunn is an exception, focusing on mouse genetics and ranging to a variety of topics from the conduct of scientific research during the Second World War to Castle's interests in the early history of genetics.

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.

L.C. Dunn was one of the most significant figures in the emerging field of developmental genetics in the 20th century. His T-locus work with the mouse established a number of important genetic principles, including ideas of gene interaction, the distribution of alleles in wild populations, and the factors that influence fertility. He wrote an important textbook of genetics, Principles of Genetics (1925), in collaboration with Sinnott (and later Dobzhansky); other significant books authored or co-authored by him include Heredity, Race and Society (1946), and A Short History of Genetics (1965). He worked in poultry genetics for eight years at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Storrs, CT, from 1920-1928. The remainder of his career was spent at Columbia University, where he worked with rats, mice, and fruit flies, and proved himself to be an inspiring teacher as well. His interest in international scientific collaboration led him to establish ties to Soviet scientists, and to help relocate refugee scientists during World War II. He remained active in his profession to the end of his life. This collection includes correspondence, reports, notebooks, lectures, and photographs. It is a rich collection, documenting the development of American genetics as well as Dunn's interests in humanitarian efforts and international affairs. There is significant material relating to American-U.S.S.R. contacts, particularly in the files on the American-Soviet Friendship Council and the American-Soviet Science Society. There is much, as well, on the impact of the Lysenko controversy in the U. S. Dunn's interest in European scientists can also be seen in the sizable amount of material on the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars. Material relating to the Kilgore and Magnusson bills for the support of science (predecessors to the NSF) are also in the collection. Of note are data on the following: National Research Council Committee on Experimental Animals and Plants; research on the population study of the Jewish community in Rome; and Columbia University. There is much in the correspondence concerning Drosophila, poultry genetics, and other such topics; Walter Landauer is Dunn's major correspondent.

The James V. Neel Papers document nearly every phase of the career of one of the founders of human population genetics in the United States. Neel was particularly thorough and organized, and retained virtually all of his significant scientific correspondence, committee reports, minutes of meetings, and drafts of manuscripts. The collection also includes data collected during Neel's work among the Xavante, Yanomanö and other indigenous populations. In a career that spanned the period from the late work of Thomas Hunt Morgan and Charles B. Davenport to the contemporary world of molecular genetics and nucleic acids, Neel knew, worked with, and corresponded with many of the most influential 20th century practitioners of genetics. The collection begins in earnest in 1943, after Neel had decided to focus on human genetics. Neel's work with Drosophila and none of his Drosophila manuscripts are found in the collection.

The Papers of Curt Stern include extensive correspondence, lectures (1920s-1970s, 1.5 boxes), autobiographical material, articles, zoological course notes, photographs, etc. Stern's various areas of scientific interest are documented in the collection: the chromosome theory of heredity, role of gene mutation and chromosome rearrangements in evolution, action and interaction of genes during individual development, and particularly his contribution to the development of human genetics as a discipline (centered on his popular and influential book, Principles of Human Genetics, 1949, 1960, 1973). Both his career in Germany and the United States is documented in his correspondence. After studying with T. H. Morgan at Columbia University on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1924-1926), Stern returned to Richard Goldschmidt's lab at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute (1926-1932). There is material of note in the collection concerning this period when Stern helped to establish the cytological basis of crossing over. After a short stay at the California Institute of Technology in 1932, Stern's temporary residence in the U. S. became permanent, and his later career at the University of Rochester, 1933-1947 (Chairman, Department of Zoology) and at the University of California, Berkeley, 1947-1970 (there is abundant material on the Department of Zoology) is covered in the collection. There is other material on: American Association for the Advancement of Science Inter-Society Committee on Science Foundation Legislation, 1946-1947; American Society of Human Genetics (Pres., 1957); Atomic Energy Commission (Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine, 1950-1955); Genetics (journal); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Advisory Committee for Biology, 1955-1968); and the Rockefeller Foundation. Stern's correspondence with friends and colleagues in Germany, England, and the U. S., during the 1920s-1930s, is of particular note as it documents not only the developments in genetics and the institutional and administrative networks supporting research, but it also offers general comments and observations on science, Germany, and politics. The photographs (2 boxes) include pictures of many prominent geneticists and scientists.