Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Correspondence, manuscripts, research files, drafts, memoranda, etc.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and subject files on most aspects of Pegram's career. Also, a large quantity of research notes made by Lucy J. Hayner (1898-1971), Professor Emeritus of Physics at Columbia University, who was writing a history of Columbia's Physics Dept., 1905-1954, can be found in folders throughout the collection.

The Corporation awards grants to nonprofit organizations and institutions for projects that are broadly educational in nature and that show promise of having national or international impact. Certain appropriations are made for activities, such as Corporation-led initiatives that are administered by the foundation's officers. The trustees set the overall policies of the foundation and have final authority to approve all grants above $50,000 recommended by the program staff. Grants of $25,000 or less, called discretionary grants, are made upon the approval of the president and are reported to the board; larger discretionary grants, those between $25,000 and $50,000, are also reviewed by a Corporation-wide group, which makes recommendations to the president. (from Program Guidelines 2003-2004 (http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/areas.html))

Shirley Leon Quimby papers include correspondence, manuscripts of works by Quimby and others, notes on lectures, teaching materials, photographs of physicists, some instrument catalogs and other printed materials. Much of the material documents grant funded research directed by Quimby on CuAu. In his later years Quimby did research on the Mayan Calendar.

The bulk of the collection relates to awards, honorary degrees, and other honors bestowed on I. I. Rabi during the latter half of his career. It contains correspondence, manuscript drafts, pamphlets, lectures, articles, interviews, reports, panel discussions, transcripts, books, and conference materials about Rabi's work. Includes photographs, VHS recordings, audiocassettes, scrapbooks, and press clippings related to his career. Subjects include science, atomic energy and weapons, peace, education, NATO, history, government, world affairs, and honors. Also includes awards, honorary degrees, certificates, medals, and other memorabilia. In addition, correspondence regarding his estate, the awards established in his honor, and related memorials. These were the materials that I.I. Rabi's widow, Helen Newmark Rabi, did not donate to the Library of Congress but kept as her own mementos.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, memorabilia, clippings, printed materials, and cassette tapes. Hammett's correspondence covers his retirement years, 1961-1986 and deals with translations and revised editions of his major works: Solutions of Electrolytes (1929), Physical Oraganic Chemistry (1940), and Introduction to the Study of Physical Chemistry (1952); congratulatory letters to Hammett upon his receiving various awards, including a letter from John F. Kennedy; congratulatory letters from Hammett to colleagues on their work; and correspondence with younger chemists about their research. Two letters from James B. Conant from 1947 constitute the only early correspondence. Manuscripts are comprised of Hammett's lectures and speeches given before meetings of scientists, 1961-1970; an oral history of Hammett by the American Institute of Physics (1978); papers given by various chemists at the Symposium on the History of Physical Organic Chemistry in 1983. There are also 10 cassette recordings of the above symposium.