Research Guides: Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Archives (CHOMA): Explore our Digital Archives

Historic Manuscripts

UVA Meeting Notes by Thomas Jefferson dated April 7, 1826
One of many historic documents in our collection, these papers were recorded by Thomas Jefferson just a few months before his death on July 4, 1826. Recorded one year after the opening of the University of Virginia, this document established, among other things, a public clinic providing medical advice, smallpox vaccines, and surgery to all peoples.

Biography Files

The files in this category are pulled from our collection of Biography Files pertaining to the lives and careers of many ASM members.

"Genetic Studies of Lysogenicity in Escherichia Coli" by Esther M. and Joshua Lederberg
Originally published in "Genetics" Vol. 38 No. 1, January 1953 pp 51-64.

This paper describes one of Esther Lederberg's seminal contributions to the field of molecular biology. In this paper (on which her husband is co-author), she explores mechanisms of infection by lambda phage. E. Lederberg had previously discovered that lambda is not only lytic, but also lysogenic. That is, the virus integrates into the host cell genome without killing it; in certain conditions this “prophage” is excised from the genome, leading to production of viral particles and cell lysis. Before E. Lederberg’s work, this 2-part cycle had never been described before—now, lambda is a key model for studying other viruses [see Small Things Considered blog below] that exhibit similar lytic-lysogenic life cycles (e.g., herpes simplex virus).

Esther Lederberg and the Rise of Microbial Genetics
Companion article by ASM to the document above

Illinois Branch letter to Esther Lederberg
Illinois branch of the Society of American Bacteriologists (SAB) acknowledges Esther’s scientific contributions with a Pasteur award, despite her snub by the Nobel committee a few years later in 1958. Letter is dated 1958 was a form for a silver medal replacement award.
Society Directory 1947- Ruth Moore
These pages reflect Dr. Moore's membership with the Society of American Bacteriologists (SAB) now ASM, in our earliest available record. By her own account, her membership with the Society goes back to the early 1930s.
Conference on Science, Philosophy, and Religion in NYC Sept 1940
A report of the event was provided by ASM representative, Dr. Jean Broadhurst, in the Newsletter of the Society of American Bacteriologists Dec 1940 Volume VI Number 5.
Gladys Hobby presentation at 1942 Annual Meeting
Although the meeting ultimately did not take place, the session proposed by Gladys Hobby, Karl Meyer, Eleanor Chaffee, and Martin Dawson addressed the effect of an inhibitor on the action of penicillin, as well as standardization of penicillin and it's action in vitro.

Presidential Files

The electronic resources in this category are pulled from our records compiled on many past ASM presidents. Although not a complete catalog of files from every presidency, it includes a vast run. The complete holdings are listed under ASM Institutional Records Section 13: Presidents, Part II: Presidents.

"Memoirs" by Alice Catherine Evans
This is an autobiography written in 1963 by Alice Catherine Evans, ASM's first female president in 1928. It runs over 100 pages and 14 chapters. This is in file #1 of her presidential files.

Contents:
Chapter I: Education
Chapter II. I become a Federal Civil Service employee
Chapter III. Investigations at the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture.
Chapter IV. The Beginning of Studies on Brucella
Chapter V. Early Years at the Hygenic Laboratory
Chapter VI. Extracts from the early History of Malta (Undulant) Fever
Chapter VII. Milk as a carrier of disease
Chapter VIII. Studies of brucellosis at the Hygenic Lab
Chapter IX. Brucellar Repercussions
Chapter X. Southern Rhodesia leads in recognition of human brucellosis of bovine origin
Chapter XI. The prevalence of brucellosis in the US
Chapter XII. Chronic Brucellosis
Chapter XIII. Studies of Streptococci
Chapter XIV. Streptococcal bacteriophage
Epilogue
References
Bibliography
Index of Names
Appendix- Anecdotes [in a separate document]
Memoirs, Appendix: Anecdotes by Alice Evans
Second portion of her Memoirs from above, this is pages 107 to the end. Dr. Evans represented the Society at the First and Second International Congress of Microbiology detailed here in Chapters V and VII.

Contents:
Chapter 1: Pioneering Women's Basketball
Chapter II: What's in a Name
Chapter III: Summer, 1930 A Near Collision
Chapter IV: France
Chapter V: The First International Congress of Microbiology.
Chapter VI: Research in London
Chapter VII: The Second International Congress of Microbiology
Chapter VIII: Organizations for the Control of Brucellosis
Alice Evans and Rebecca Lancefield at the 1964 ASM General Meeting
The first two female presidents of the Society of American Bacteriologists (now ASM), pictured together at the SAB General Meeting in 1964. Photo taken by then archivist, Leland McClung.

CHRONICLES OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN BACTERIOLOGISTS 1899-1950

The American Society for Microbiology was founded in 1899 as the Society of American Bacteriologists (SAB). In 1934, the Society created the position of Archivist, to which Barnett Cohen of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was appointed.

SAB’s fiftieth meeting, the Golden Jubilee Meeting, was held in Baltimore in May of 1950. Cohen researched the archival records he had acquired and prepared Chronicles of the Society of American Bacteriologists 1899-1950, a brief history of the Society, including a photograph of each of the Society’s presidents. Copies of the volume were provided to each of the attendees at the meeting, courtesy of SAB’s publisher, Williams and Wilkins, and its printer, Waverly Press.

To celebrate its Centennial, ASM published a special issue of ASM News in May 1999.

Chronicles of SAB
Chronicles of the Society of American Bacteriologists, Table of Contents:
Founding page 1
Program, First Meeting 5
Program, Second Meeting 9
The Charter Members 13
The Scope of the Society 15
The Membership 18
The Local Branches 22
The General (Annual) Meetings 23
Publications 26
Services and Accomplishments 29
Presidents 31

Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Archives (CHOMA)

Historic Manuscripts

Biography Files

Presidential Files

CHRONICLES OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN BACTERIOLOGISTS 1899-1950

Weekly letters from the Registry Curator-in-Chief providing an update about the scientific progress on COVID research.