This archive is composed chiefly of correspondence and membership applications. Also included are minutes of Board of Directors meetings, a few annual reports from officers, and materials relating to annual meetings, awards, committees, and associated organizations.

The American Eugenics Society Records is a small, selective collection offering information on various periods of the Society's development, including correspondence, membership records, and formal and informal material on its history. Of particular interest are the records of the Society's numerous committees, including the Executive Education, Population Genetics Research, Legislative, and local and state committees, and documentation of AES educational initiatives at state fairs and eugenic health exhibits and contests, especially the Fitter Family Contests. A scrapbook containing 97 images of Fitter Family and eugenic health exhibits, 1924-1926, provides valuable visual information of AES activities. One series in the collection relates to the numerous Princeton Conferences and to a genealogical survey of the populations of Shutesbury and Leverett, Massachusetts, and there is also material on the Population Council. The collection largely revolves around Frederick Osborn, the moving force in the Society for most of its later history, and it includes approximately 100 papers written or delivered by Osborn concerning eugenics, genetics, or population related topics. This note is currently under review for revision.

Alexander Hollaender was a leading researcher on the genetic effects of radiation. Born in Samter, Germany, in 1898 and arriving in the United States in 1921, Hollaender was educated at the University of Wisconsin, receiving his AB, MA, and Ph.D. there. He served on the faculty at the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He was director of the division of biology at the Atomic Energy Commission's Oak Ridge National laboratory from 1946 until 1966. The 4 linear feet of the Alexander Hollaender Papers contain incoming and outgoing correspondence and reports relating to the genetic effects of radiation, specifically atomic radiation. Also included are documents of the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy; the NAS Committee on the Biological Effects of Atomic Energy, Genetics Panel; the United Nations Scientific Committee on Atomic Radiation; and the World Health Organization all of which Hollaender was closely involved with.

This miscellaneous collection relates to numerous topics in genetics: cattle breeding (especially the American Jersey Cattle Club), longevity, radiation, International Congress of Genetics (the 10th, 11th, and 13th), Gregor Mendel, aid for refugee scientists, and the records of the Genetics Society of America (1947-1974). The photographs series accession # 1968 433pr, was added to the finding aid in 2016.

Frederick Henry Osborn was an administrator, humanist, and scientist. This collection includes letters, diaries, reports, speeches, drafts of articles and books, oral history interviews, and photographs. There are diaries and letters for his service in Europe with the American Red Cross during World War I. There are some letters and documents, such as patent applications and plans for inventions, from his "business career" period prior to 1928, after which he became a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History studying anthropology and population. This study led to his later important contributions to the redirection of eugenics study in the U.S. and the reorganization of the American Eugenics Society. His other related organizational work and publications relating to human and population genetics are also documented in this collection. There is significant material (letters, diaries, reports) related to Osborn's World War II contributions as the chairman of the Civilian Committee on Selective Service in 1940, and as head of the Morale Branch of the U.S. Army (later, the Information and Education Division of Special Services) in 1941. Also included are important documents, especially his diary, from his work as deputy representative on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the U.N. Commission for Conventional Armaments. His letters, writings, and speeches relating to foreign policy are extensive, spanning the period from the 1940s until his death, much of it from the Vietnam War years. The correspondence with Kathleen Harris is particularly rich in this respect. There is family correspondence reflecting his dynamic philosophy of life, with long series of letters to his parents (1917-1945) and to his children and grandchildren. His later civic and regional interests, as a long-time resident of Garrison, N.Y., are evidenced in the work he did on the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

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.

Arthur J. Cain is an evolutionary biologist whose research interests have included genetics, natural selection, biogeography, and systematics. Based at Oxford University and, later, the University of Liverpool, much of Cain's research was field-based, focusing on terrestrial gatsropods. This collection contains correspondence, grant applications, reports, programs for scientific meetings, unpublished papers and lectures, research notes, charts, graphs, maps, and manuscript reviews of journal articles and books. The Cain Papers is divided into three series: I. Correspondence ; II. Subject Files ; and, III. Papers by Colleagues. Arrangement is alphabetical by folder title, and chronological within each folder.

The population geneticist Hampton L. Carson spent the major part of his career at Washington University (1949-1963) and the University of Hawaii (1963-1985) investigating the cytogenetics and evolution of Drosophila. As one of the major figures in the Hawaii Drosophila project, he made particularly important contributions to the study of speciation and selective and non-selective evolutionary mechanisms. The Carson Papers (1921-1993) contain correspondence, subject files, manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Carson, papers by colleagues and students, research notes, course materials, photographs, and biographical information, which documents Carson's career as an evolutionary geneticist. The collection is organized into nine series.

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.

One of the four horsemen of the evolutionary synthesis of the 1940s, Theodosius Dobzhansky played a crucial role in bridging the gap between theoretical and empirical approaches in genetics and in promoting the Neo-Darwinian synthesis. His contributions to the biological species concept and to an understanding the evolutionary dynamics of wild populations of Drosophila were fundamental to the development of modern population genetics and evolutionary thought. The Dobzhansky Papers are a remnant of the correspondence and writings of the geneticist and evolutionary biologist, Theodosius Dobzhansky. The correspondence (7.5 linear feet) provides insight into Dobzhansky's scientific, philosophical, and social views, particularly during the last decade of his life. Equally valuable are the 54 notebooks (ca.1917-1975) which comprise an almost uninterrupted self-commentary on Dobzhansky's career, replete with typescripts of personal letters and short essays sent to colleagues and friends. The collection also contains two unbound volumes of annotated "reminiscences" from the Columbia Oral History Project, 1962; two bound volumes of papers dedicated to him on his 70th birthday; and 1.5 linear feet of photographs.

The correspondence in this collection concerns behavior genetics, evolution, heredity, etc. There is material relating to the congresses of the Permanent International Committee on Genetics, and the IXth (Bellagio, 1953), Xth (Montreal, 1958), and XIth (The Hague, 1963) International Congress of Genetics. There is also correspondence pertaining to the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology (1955), the Mendel Semi-Centennial Symposium (1950), the Soviet geneticists' visit to the U.S. in 1967, and to Anton R. Zhebrak.

The collection includes three accessions: (1) a portion of Lewontin's correspondence files (mainly A-L) and copies of papers acquired in 1979; (2) a 2003 accession with files on various subjects and correspondence with about 30 colleagues, and (3) a substantial 2018 accession of about 60 linear feet that includes correspondence, manuscripts, and subject files. The topics discussed in the letters are numerous, including much on contemporary scientific controversies such as race, Darwin, evolution, intelligence, and biological determinism.

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).

A bacteriologist from MIT, Salvador E. Luria's work with Max Delbruck on bacteriophage demonstrated that bacterial resistance to certain phages arose through genetic mutations. His later work showed that phages also mutate genetically. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969 with Max Delbruck and Alfred D. Hershey. The collection is organized into seven series: I. Correspondence, 1938-1992 ; IIa. Subject Files, 1938-1990 ; IIb. Personal Material. 1923-1991 ; III. Works by Luria, 1938-1987 ; IV. Works by Others, 1944-1990 ; V. Research Notes and Notebooks, 1941-1979 ; VI. Course Material, 1931-1991 ; VII. Photographs and Negatives, 1957-1982. Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title and then chronological within each folder.

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.

The geneticist Milislav Demerec emigrated from Yugloslavia in 1919, spending nearly his entire career in the Department of Genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Working initially on the genetics of maize and later on Drosophila virilis, his research interests included radiation and chemical mutagenesis, and during the Second World War, penicillin and the genetics of antibiotic resistance. Demerec served as head of the laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor from 1941 until 1960. The Demerec collection contains the extant professional papers of Milislav Demerec, dating primarily from the time of his arrival at Cold Spring Harbor until his retirement. In addition to his correspondence with colleagues, the collection includes interesting material on the administration of Cold Spring Harbor laboratory during the 1940s and 1950s, data and research notes, material relating to professional organizations (e.g. Genetics Society of America, American Society of Naturalists), a lengthy series of lectures given by Demerec, and a large number of photographs pertaining to Demerec's research, but also to his colleagues and Cold Spring Harbor itself. There is also a Register of visitors to the laboratory (1927-1945) and a Milislav Demerec reprint list.

Ernst Wolfgang Caspari was an important contributor to behavior and developmental genetics, working primarily on the mealmoth Ephestia. Trained in Alfred Kuhn's laboratory at the University of Göttingen (1933-1935), Caspari was forced from his position by the Nazis in 1933, escaping to the United States five years later. As a professor of biology at Lafayette College, Wesleyan University, and the University of Rochester, Caspari continued his research on Ephestia, mouse genetics, and behavior genetics until his retirement in 1975. The Caspari Papers includes correspondence, papers, grant reports, and lectures relating to Caspari's genetic research dating primarily from the period after his departure from Germany. In addition to substantial material on behavior genetics and human evolution, the collection includes correspondence relating to Caspari's editorial work for Advances in Genetics, and his involvement with the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Fifth Banff Conference on Theoretical Psychology, Genetics Society of America, International Conference on the Unity of Science, Social Science Research Council, Committee on Genetics and Behavior, and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

The psychologist and behavioral geneticist Bronson Price made important contributions to the study of the genetics of mental traits in twins. Receiving his doctorate from Stanford in 1934, Price began down a research path that led him to study under Aleksandr R. Luria in Moscow from 1934-1935, and thereafter to the Department of Psychology at Ohio State. In 1941, Price changed course professionally, entering into war-time government service, never to return to academia, working first with the National Office of Vital Statistics and later as a statistician with the Children's Bureau and the Office of Education. The Price Papers contains one linear foot of correspondence relating to Bronson Price's interests in genetics and eugenics, with an emphasis upon Price's post-doctoral experiences in the Soviet Union and his long-term interests in the genetic study of twins. In addition to fairly extensive correspondence with H. J. Muller and Lewis Terman, the collection includes interesting materials relating to the Foundation for Germinal Choice, eugenic sterilization, and an extensive bibliographic card file used by Price in his research on twins post-1940. This note is currently under review for revision.

Sewall Wright ranks among the most influential figures in the field of population genetics during the 20th century, and made important contributions to biostatistics, biometrics, and evolutionary theory. These papers contain much of Wright's professional correspondence, scattered research notes, and drafts of a small number of papers.

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.