The maize geneticist Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) is credited with the discovery of "jumping genes," that is chromosomal "crossing over" and translocation. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983. The collection is organized into six series: I. Correspondence, 1931-1991; II. Subject files, 1938-1989; III. Works by McClintock, 1944-1989; IV. Works by others, 1927-1991; V. Research notes, notebooks, and card files, 1930s-1990s ; VI. Photographs, 1928-1991.

Thomas F. Anderson (1911-1991) was a biophysicist and electron microscopist whose research included Raman spectroscopy; the physiology of yeast; the biological effects of radiation; the biological applications of electron microscopy; and the genetics of bacteria, bacterial viruses, and bacteriophage. He was a Professor of Biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Member of the Institute for Cancer Research in Fox Chase.