21 linear feet, 36 boxes
Content Description
Materials in the Tom Hager Papers include letters, publications, handwritten notes, notecards, audiocassettes, administrative forms, interview transcripts, newspaper clippings, biographical sketches, and genealogical documents. Highlights of the collection include Hager's interviews and correspondence with Linus Pauling, audiocassettes and transcriptions of interviews with a wide range of Pauling's colleagues and family members, a small collection of photos of Linus Pauling, and a handful of multimedia recordings related to Hager's promotion of Force of Nature.
Biographical Note
Thomas Hager (born 1953) was raised in the Portland, Oregon area. After receiving master's degrees in medical microbiology/immunology and journalism, he began his professional career as a communications intern at the National Cancer Institute. He then worked as a freelance medical writer, contributed regularly to American Health, and became the West Coast news correspondent for the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In 1983, Hager's career began to move more towards editing and publishing. He was founding editor of LC Magazine, a trade publication for scientists, and edited Oregon Quarterly for ten years. He also worked for a number of years as director of communications and marketing at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, during which he restarted the University of Oregon Press. More than 100 of his articles have been published in periodicals ranging from Reader's Digest, the Wall St. Journal, and Self, to American Health, Cardio, and the Medical Tribune.
Hager has also had a hand in writing about a dozen books, including Aging Well (with Lauren Kessler, Fireside Press, 1990), The Alchemy of Air, Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker (edited with Clifford Mead, Oregon State University Press 2001), and Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling. Currently, Tom Hager lives in Eugene, Oregon with his wife and three children.
Books by Tom Hager
- Aging Well, New York: Facts on File, 1987.
- Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Linus Pauling and the Chemistry of Life, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker, Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 2001 [ed., with Clifford Mead].
- The Demon under the Microscope, New York: Harmony Books, 2006.
- The Alchemy of Air, New York: Harmony Books, 2008.
Arrangement
The Hager collection is divided into three series.
Series 1 - Subject Files and Research Materials is divided into a number of subseries including Scientific Topics, People, Peace Activism and Political Controversy, Linus Pauling Personal and Family, and General Research. A wide range of assorted archival materials collected by Tom Hager while researching Force of Nature can also be found in this series.
Series 2 - Interviews: Audio Cassettes and Transcriptions contains the audio recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted by Tom Hager in his development of Force of Nature. Also contained in this series are various audio-visual materials related to Pauling's life and to Hager's promotion of Force of Nature.
Series 3 - Administrative Records is comprised of correspondence, contractual agreements and editing notes compiled by Tom Hager over the course of his researching and writing Force of Nature. The administrative records include correspondence between Hager and prospective publishers, annotated draft chapters, promotional materials, and reviews of the completed book.
Restrictions on Access
Permission to examine the Hager Papers will be granted to qualified researchers upon completion of an "Application for Use" form, and contingent upon the researcher's agreement to abide by the rules and policies governing the use of manuscripts.
Preferred Citation
Courtesy of the Tom Hager Papers, Special Collections, Oregon State University Libraries
Processing Information
Final arrangement by Ben Jager and Chris Petersen.
Acquisition Information
Accessioned from Tom Hager in December 2006.
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