Personal Papers
Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, 1873-2011
Linus Pauling (1901-1994), a 1922 OSU graduate and the only recipient of two unshared
Nobel Prizes, (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962) undertook a wide range of studies during
his seventy-year career as a scientist, humanitarian and peace activist. The collection,
comprised of over five hundred thousand items, contains all of Pauling's personal
and scientific papers, research materials, correspondence, photographs, awards, and
memorabilia. Not only does the Pauling archive reflect Linus Pauling's long and varied
scientific career, the presence of Ava Helen Pauling's (1903-1981) papers also indicates
their mutual devotion to world peace and to each other.
Quantity: 4,437 linear feet, 2,230 boxes, 4,111 books
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Ewan Cameron Papers, 1935-1997
Ewan Cameron (1922-1991), was a physician and researcher who, for many years, collaborated
closely with Linus Pauling in studying the potential benefits of treating cancer with
megadoses of vitamin C. His papers contain many of the personal and official letters,
research notes, manuscripts, and scientific offprints that he and his estate accumulated
over the years 1959-1994, with the bulk dating to his time of affiliation with the
Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, 1971-1991.
Quantity: 57 linear feet, 128 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Jack Dunitz Papers, 1927-2009
Jack Dunitz (b. 1923) is an internationally recognized crystallographer and expert
on molecular structure. Over the course of his lengthy career - including more than
three decades spent at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Dunitz has established
himself as a leading expert in his field. He is responsible for several major structural
discoveries, the refinement of numerous crystallographic techniques, and the publication
of nearly four-hundred scientific articles and reviews. The Dunitz Papers include
personal correspondence, institutional records, research notes, scientific articles
and reprints, teaching materials, manuscripts and photographs, the bulk of which date
from 1941 to 2008.
Quantity: 30 linear feet, 67 boxes, 42.9 megabytes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Paul Emmett Papers, 1918-2001
Paul Emmett
(1900-1985), a friend and colleague of Linus Pauling, graduated in 1922 from
Oregon Agricultural College and completed his doctoral work on heterogeneous
catalysis at Caltech in 1925. A major figure in the history of catalysis chemistry,
Emmett was
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1955 and worked at a handful of
institutions, including The Johns
Hopkins University, where he chaired the Chemical Engineering Department until
his
retirement in 1971. Special Collections houses Emmett's manuscripts, research
notebooks,
correspondence and awards.
Quantity: 114 linear
feet, 233 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Milton Harris Papers, 1925-1996
Milton Harris (1908-1991), a 1926 graduate of Oregon Agricultural College, was a lifelong
supporter of OSU who, in 1984, established the university's first fully-endowed professorship.
In 1945, Harris founded his own research laboratory, which later became a subsidiary
of the Gillette Company. A holder of 35 patents and a very active member of the scientific
community, Harris also enjoyed a six-year term as Chairman of the Board of Directors
of the American Chemical Society.
Quantity: 22 linear feet, 39 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Roger Hayward Papers, 1899-2007
Roger Hayward (1899-1979) was a talented artist, architect and inventor who collaborated
extensively with Linus Pauling as illustrator of many of Pauling's books and journal
publications. Hayward is also remembered as an expert on the subject of optics who
played an important role in the development of the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. His
papers contain a large volume of correspondence, dozens of manuscripts and a number
of sketchbooks that document both his artistic skill and his scientific acumen.
Quantity: 15 linear feet, 33 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Historians of Science Collections
The writers of history are a recent collecting focus for the Oregon State University
Libraries Special Collections. To date the Historians of Science Collections include
the catalogued papers of Thomas Hager, author of the 1995 biography Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling, and Margaret Osler, historian of 17th century science and philosophy. The Historians
of Science Collections also feature the uncatalogued papers of three distinguished
scholars from Oregon State University - 2006 Sarton medalist Mary Jo Nye, OSU Professor
Emeritus and former department chair Paul Farber, and OSU Professor Emeritus J. Brookes
Spencer.
Quantity: 2 Catalogued Collection, 3 Unprocessed Collections
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Karl and Erna Kordesch Papers, 1906-2011
Karl Kordesch (1922-2011) was a distinguished Austrian-American chemist widely recognized
for his contributions to battery and fuel cell research and technology. Kordesch
was jointly responsible for the invention of the alkaline primary dry cell battery,
significant developments in fuel cells, and the successful creation and operation
of hybrid vehicles. During his career, Kordesch was responsible for more than 100
hundred patents as well as numerous papers, articles, and books on the subject of
electrochemistry, effectively revolutionized the battery industry, and pioneered electric/fuel
cell vehicles. The Karl and Erna Kordesch papers contain records of much of Karl's
research and publishing efforts as well as biographical records, photos, and ephemera
documenting the Kordeschs' life in Nazi-occupied Austria and the United States.
Quantity: 14 linear feet, 36 boxes, 10 gigabytes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Bernard Malamud Papers, 1949-2007
Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), a major American novelist and short story writer, taught
at Oregon State University from 1949-1961. A prolific author, he received a Pulitzer
Prize (The Fixer, 1966) and two National Book Awards (The Magic Barrel, 1959; The Fixer, 1966) for his work. The Malamud Papers include an assortment of personal correspondence
relating to Malamud's tenure as professor and writer at Oregon State University. In
addition, the collection features several boxes of newspaper clippings, as well as
signed first editions and published translations of his books.
Quantity: 20 linear feet, 15 boxes, 130 books
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Fritz Marti Papers, 1909-2009
Fritz Marti (1894-1991), was a Swiss-born philosophy professor highly regarded as
an expert on post-Kantian idealism. His papers contain a significant trove of correspondence,
including letters with such figures as Jacques Barzun, Walter Lippman and John F.
Kennedy. The archive likewise features a wide swath of biographical items, research
notebooks and unpublished manuscripts. One particular highlight of the collection
is an annotated manuscript of Marti's unpublished translation of F. W. J. Schelling's
The Method of University Studies.
Quantity: 15 linear feet, 29 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Christopher Mathews Papers, 1962-2010
Chris Mathews (b. 1937) is a distinguished biochemist with contributions to enzymology
and virology. Through professorships at Yale University, the University of Arizona,
and Oregon State University, he has received significant recognition as a researcher,
administrator, and educator. As the author of four books and nearly 150 research articles,
director of 35 Ph.D. theses, and recipient of several major awards in the field of
biochemistry, Mathews is a valued member of the international scientific community.
Mathews' papers include professional correspondence from 1962-2010 regarding research,
publications, and professorial duties, and include institutional records of historical
interest from his long-term tenure as chairman of the OSU Department of Biochemistry
and Biophysics.
Quantity: 6 linear feet, 14 boxes, 154 megabytes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
David and Clara Shoemaker Papers, 1930-2000
David P. Shoemaker (1920-1995) served as chairman of the Oregon State University Chemistry
department from 1970-1981. Primarily an X-ray crystallographer, he was the recipient
of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947 and enjoyed a long career during which he was elected
to a number of leadership positions within the profession. His wife Clara Brink Shoemaker
(1921-2009), received her doctorate in chemistry in 1950 from Leiden University, where
her research focus was also X-ray crystallography. Clara Brink met David Shoemaker
in 1953 while working as a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- the couple wed in 1955. Clara Shoemaker was promoted to the rank of senior research
professor at Oregon State University in 1982 and, as with her husband, retired as
professor emeritus.
Quantity: 39 linear feet, 78 boxes, 266 books
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Eugene Starr Papers, 1911-1988
Eugene Starr
(1901-1988) enjoyed a widespread reputation as a distinguished scientist and
engineer. A 1923 graduate of Oregon Agricultural College, he achieved international
recognition for his work in the fields of electrical
engineering and nuclear physics. In 1958 Starr was awarded the Department of
the Interior's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, for his work
with the Bonneville Power Administration. Starr's papers include personal
correspondence and scientific reports, with a focus on his work in nuclear
fission and the transmission of high-voltage electricity.
Quantity: 115 linear
feet, 235 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
William Appleman Williams Papers, 1877-2009
William Appleman Williams (1921-1990), an influential American historian and writer,
was a member of the History faculty at Oregon State University from 1968-1986. He
is regarded to be a founder of the "revisionist school" of American diplomatic history.
A prolific author, Williams's The Contours of American History (1961), was named, by the Modern Library, one of the 100 best non-fiction books written
in English in the twentieth century. The Williams Papers consist of correspondence,
newspaper clippings, books, photographs and memorabilia.
Quantity: 21 linear feet, 34 boxes, 29 books
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Other Collections
Apollo Moon Missions Photographs, 1971-1972
The Apollo Moon Missions Photographs collection documents the Apollo 15, Apollo 16
and Apollo 17 manned space expeditions to the lunar surface. The OSU photographs
represent a duplicate of the original photographs collection, which has been catalogued
and digitized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Links to the
NASA finding aids and images are as follows: Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17
Quantity: 36 linear feet, 73 boxes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Atomic Energy and Nuclear History Collections
The history of the atomic era is a major collecting interest for the Oregon State
University Libraries Special Collections. The Atomic Energy and Nuclear History Collections
consist of the vast History of Atomic Energy Collection, the smaller Hacker Nuclear
Affairs and Maki Nuclear Power Collections, and the unprocessed Hanford Site Forty-Year
Environmental Data Collection.
Quantity: 5 Collections, 344 linear feet
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Canine Research Collection, 1801-2010
In the fall of 2000, Noreen Cartwright donated her personal collection of rare and
antique dog
books to the OSU Libraries Special Collections. That gift formed the nucleus of a
Canine Research Collection to which additional donations have been made by
like-minded individuals. The collection provides opportunities for research on the
history of canines in art and literature, the development of specific dog breeds,
current issues in canine genetics, developments in training methods and the history
of major dog show competitions, among many other related topics.
Quantity: 486.5 linear feet, 317 boxes, 1933 books
Status: Catalogued, EAD
History of Science Books and Dissertations, 1575-2002
Located in the Douglas Strain Reading Room, this growing collection documents the development of science and technology within
the past 150 years, with a particularly strong focus on quantum physics and chemistry.
Highlights of the collection include Niels Bohr's doctoral thesis; the first edition
of Marie Curie's Traite de Radioactivite; and the first and only edition of Avogadro's Hypothesis.
Quantity: 237 linear feet, 2,512 items
Status: Catalogued, EAD
McDonald Collection, 2041-1763 BC, ca. 960-1941 AD
In the early 1930s, Mary McDonald (1848-1935), concerned with the preponderance of
scientific and technical books at most land grant universities, donated a rare book
collection to the Oregon State University library. In 1934 the McDonald Rare Book
Room was established with gifts to the library of items from her collection. Since
then, the McDonald endowment has enabled the acquisition of over 2,000 rare books
and fine bindings. Included in the collection are numerous incunabula (books printed
before 1501) and pre-1600 manuscripts. Among the exceedingly rare items housed in
the McDonald Collection is Bernard de Gordon's Lilium Medicinae, Lyons, 1480, as well as three cuneiform tablets, the oldest of which dates to 2041
BCE.
Quantity: 55 linear
feet, 2,680 items
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Nursery and Seed Trade Catalogues, 1832-1966
The Nursery and Seed
Trade Catalogues represent a comprehensive resource for researchers
interested in the history of agricultural nurseries. The collection consists primarily
of flower and seed catalogues, most of which were printed in Great Britain, Holland
and the US between the years 1832-1950. The materials provide a historical record
of prices, seed sources, and descriptions of plants and seeds offered for sale by
nurserymen and growers over time.
Quantity: 30 linear
feet, 51 boxes, 23 bound volumes
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Philosophy of Nature Books, 1811-1993
The collection's focus is on material that illuminates the ways in
which humans have conceptualized their place in the natural world as well as their
relationship to nature, both individually and as societies. The theme is inclusive,
but takes
as its central core the reconceptualization of humans and nature that occurred
during the 19th century with the ideas and discoveries of, among others, Kant,
Darwin, and Huxley. The collection also documents the effects of industrialization
on
Western society. Comprised chiefly of books and manuscripts, the Philosophy of
Nature Collection was acquired through the generosity of a grant from Michal and William
Rieckmann.
Quantity: 25 linear feet, 80 items
Status: Catalogued, EAD
Wilson Room Collection, 1493, 1592-1908
The Wilson Room Collection holds an assortment of literature, historical texts, artifacts,
and antiques from Britain's 18th and 19th centuries. Norman and Glenville Wilson spent
many years travelling in Britain and indulging their mutual interest in British history.
Norman joined the Oregon State University faculty in 1947, teaching English composition
and literature until his retirement in 1968. Glenville worked for the USDA Forest
Service office in Corvallis for 20 years. Their donation to the library provides an
important resource for scholars interested in Georgian and Victorian history.
Quantity: 12 linear feet, 310 items
Status: Catalogued, EAD