Charles Benedict Davenport Papers 1874-1946

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Charles Benedict Davenport Papers 1874-1946

http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.D27-ead.xml

Founded by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1890, the Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was little more than a languishing outpost until the arrival of Charles B. Davenport in 1898. Over the course of two decades, the ambitious young biologist used his extraordinary administrative skills to transform the institution into the premier center of eugenical study and, as its director, to position himself as the leading spokesman for eugenical research in North America. The Davenport Papers (ca. 43 lin. feet) is a large and nearly comprehensive body of correspondence, lectures, diaries (1878-1942, mostly brief entries of an uneven character), student notebooks and family correspondence pertaining to Charles Davenport and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The collection is divided into two series, the Charles Davenport Papers, which provides valuable documentation of the development of American biology, animal and plant genetics, and eugenics during the period 1898-1942, with some perspective on the international eugenics movement. Series II, the Cold Spring Harbor Records (ca.20 lin. feet), consists largely of administrative correspondence relating to the laboratory, including Davenport's correspondence with Carnegie administrators (esp. Robert Woodward and John Merriam), accounts and reports concerning financial matters, publications, salaries, material relative to the early history of Cold Spring Harbor labs, and records relative to the numerous professional assistants who worked under Davenport. Among the major correspondents are the American Breeders Association, Committee on Eugenics; American Eugenics Society; American Society of Naturalists; Committee on a Study of the American Negro; Galton Society (see also the extensive correspondence with William K. Gregory); Eugenics Education Society (see Mrs. S. Gotto correspondence); International Congresses of Eugenics; International Federation of Eugenic Organizations, Committee on Race Crossing; National Committee on Mental Hygiene; National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor; and the Pan-American Conference on Eugenics and Homiculture. There are correspondence and papers relating to the Station for Experimental Evolution, the Eugenics Record Office, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and a substantial series relating to a long-range study of children carried out at Letchworth Village, Thiles, New York.

63.0 Linear feet

American Philosophical Society

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SNAC Resource ID: 6631494

Related Entities

There are 12 Entities related to this resource.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Press

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MacDowell, E. Carleton (Edwin Carleton), 1887-1973

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Zoologist and relief worker. From the description of Papers, 1917-1927. (Swarthmore College). WorldCat record id: 27312730 American geneticist. From the description of Edwin Carleton MacDowell papers, 1945-1950. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 63936376 ...

Letchworth Village

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Nassau County Association.

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Carnegie Institution of Washington. Department of Genetics

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Woodward, Bob, 1939-

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Eugenics Research Association

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Davenport, Charles Benedict, 1866-1944

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Charles B. Davenport was a biologist and director of the Department of Genetics at the Carnegie Institution of Washington (1904-1934). From the description of Papers, 1874-1944. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122488735 Charles B. Davenport's influence and efforts at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, began in 1898 when he became the director of the summer school of the Biological Laboratory, a position he held until 1923. The lab was administered by...

Bermuda Biological Station

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Merriam, John C. (John Campbell), 1869-1945

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Professor of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley. From the description of John C. Merriam papers, 1904-1934. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 81162069 Paleontologist, educator, and author. From the description of Papers of John C. Merriam, 1899-1938. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78407628 Biographical Note 1869 ...

Harriman, Mrs.

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Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

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Founded 1843, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences was the umbrella organization for four major Brooklyn institutions: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children's Museum, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Several smaller organizations were also under its jurisdiction. From the description of Records, 1843-1980. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122529756 The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (BIAS) evolved from the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Assoc...