Russell LeGrand "Bud" Carpenter (1901-1991), A1924, H1977, was professor of zoology, an active alumnus, and curator of the P.T. Barnum Collection, housed in the Barnum Museum during the more than thirty years he spent at Tufts. During his undergraduate years, he wrote a column for the Tufts Weekly, sang in the Glee Club, and also played the banjo in a small dance orchestra. He was also a member and, later, an advisor, of the Kappa chapter of the Zeta Psi fraternity on campus. Carpenter returned to Tufts in 1938 as professor of zoology, undertaking both teaching and research activities that led to the establishment of the Radiobiology Research Laboratory, of which he served as director and principal investigator. He focused his research on the biological effects of microwave radiation. Carpenter was also a lecturer in ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School for more than twenty-five years and acted as a consultant on ophthalmic history for the Retina Foundation in Boston. He received many scientific honors, including election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Beyond his teaching duties, Carpenter's involvement with Tufts as an alumnus was substantial. For almost seventy years, he served as secretary of the Class of 1924, organizing reunions and coordinating the exchange of information among the class's members. He was the first editor of the Tufts Alumni Review, the president of the New York Tufts Club, and, beginning in 1943, a member of the Tufts Alumni Council. Carpenter undertook the responsibility of establishing the Tufts University Barnum Collection, which included letters and personal mementos of P.T. Barnum. Acting as the collection's curator, Carpenter spread the story of Tufts and Jumbo through his notable, witty lectures and slide shows.
From the description of Russell Carpenter, papers 1878-2001 1920-1985 1878-2001. (Tufts University - Tisch Library). WorldCat record id: 761212086
