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Visit our “Tour Destination:
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| American Philosophical Society Library Hall. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
American
Philosophical Society
APS Philosophical Hall
APS Library Hall
Website: APS: American Philosophical Society
The Treasure: The treasures are 14 early 20th century collections by important American scientists. However, while these collections
will be our primary focus, don’t neglect the American Philosophical Society
itself—founded over 250 years ago by Benjamin Franklin and friends, the
American Philosophical Society is a treasure that should be visited on any
America’s Treasures tour. Their Philosophical Hall building opened in November
1789 and has hosted men and women of genius ever since. It is one of the great
historic buildings of Philadelphia
Now, back to those 14 collections... They are: the Leslie C. Dunn Papers, Florence R. Sabin Papers, Raymond Pearl Papers, John Alden Mason Papers, Paul Radin Papers, Frank Speck Papers, Franz Boas Collection, Peyton Rous Papers, Carl Neuberg Papers,
Victor G. Heiser Papers, American Council of Learned Societies Committee on American Indian Languages, William F.G. Swann Papers, Herbert S. Jennings
Papers, and the Warren S. McCulloch Papers. In total, they comprise approximately 445 linear feet of original
material and 300 linear feet of reader copies.
Accessibility: Check the APS website for current hours at the
APS Museum
As for the 14 collections that
comprise this Save America’s Treasures
project, they are easily accessible to qualified researchers. User copies on
acid-free paper are available for most items. Thanks to state-of-the-art finding
aids developed for each of the collections, scientists and historians can
quickly sort through a vast quantity of archival material. You can visit these
finding aids by clicking on the scientist’s names above. And if the system
initially looks simple and orderly, take a moment to contemplate the work that
must go into making a system this efficient.
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| Plant samples in a custom enclosure from the collections of the American Council of Learned Societies Committee on American Indian Languages. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
Notes: The scientists celebrated by these 14 collections admittedly aren’t
common household names. The work of science doesn’t often lead to celebrity. But that’s why it’s so great that the Save America’s Treasures program
recognized the authentic Treasures value of these collections! The way we understand our world changed because of the work of the scientists represented here. Through steady research and
publication, they laid foundations that scientists continue to build
upon today.
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| Raymond Pearl. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
Nearly two decades after the death of Gregor Mendel in 1884,
Mendel’s innovative genetics studies finally received their due and Mendelian
genetics emerged as an important field of study. Three early 20th century geneticists—Leslie C. Dunn, Raymond
Pearl, and Herbert Spencer Jennings—are represented in these collections. Dunn
was a pioneer in developmental genetics, Pearl
Medical researchers are represented by Peyton Rous, Florence
R. Sabin, Carl Neuberg, and Victor G. Heiser. Peyton Rous received a Nobel
Prize in Medicine for his studies on the links
between viruses and cancer. The one
woman in this group of 14,
between viruses and cancer. The one
woman in this group of 14,
Florence R. Sabin shattered glass
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| Florence R. Sabin. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
ceilings of
her day, eventually becoming the first female full professor at Johns Hopkins
University
Physicist William F.G. Swann studied high energy physics and
cosmic rays during his tenure as the first Director of the Bartol Research
Center at Philadelphia Philadelphia
Anthropologists are represented by Franz Boas, John Alden
Mason, Paul Radin, and Frank Speck, all of whom were leaders in the collection
of information on the cultures of Native American tribes. By the early 20th century, many Native American languages and traditions were fading from use. These scientists dedicated their lives to preserving these at-risk
cultures. For example, Frank Speck believed that the only way to truly
understand the cultures of Eastern tribes was to live among tribe members,
conducting his field work while respecting and temporarily sharing their way of life.
Valuing their great craft traditions, Speck assembled magnificent collections
of artifacts that are now dispersed among the collections of major museums such
as the Smithsonian Institution’s National
Museum of the American Indian, the American Museum
of Natural History, the Peabody Museum , and the Denver Art Museum
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| Scrapbook cover from the Leslie C. Dunn collection. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
Notes from the
Editor: I’m always on the lookout
for intersections between my passions and the places that I’m celebrating. Here are two from these collections:
I was involved with a project for conserving the magnificent scientific illustrations of Mary Louise Baker (1872-1962), a superb artist who
specialized in archaeological drawings of artifacts for the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum Penn
Museum Box
8
And here’s a real treat from one of my favorite American
authors. Zora Neale Hurston, author of the classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, conducted ethnographic research under
Franz Boas while she was studying at Columbia
University
Other Recommended
Sites: I haven’t recommended a visit to Independence Hall yet?
Well, you can’t visit Philly without seeing the place where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution! It’s right
around the corner from the American Philosophical Society—on Chestnut between 5th and 6th.
To explore Native American collections, as well as other
archaeology collections from all around the world, visit the Penn Museum
And if you’re inspired by Warren S. McCulloch’s early
ventures into cybernetics, maybe you should travel over to the University of
Pennsylvania to pay respects to ENIAC, the world’s first general purpose electronic computer (built in 1946).
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| Items and custom enclosures from the APS Save America's Treasures collections including the Vit-o-scope from the Heiser collection, some diaries from the Mason papers in custom boxes, and glass lantern slides from the Swann papers. Photo courtesy American Philosophical Society. |
Tour America's History Itinerary
Wednesday’s destination: Richmond, Virginia
© 2012 Lee Price
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