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"The O'Donnell family papers consists primarily of letters and other documents written to and from the descendants of John O'Donnell (1749-1805) and his wife Sarah Chew Elliott O'Donnell (1768-1855). The most prolific writer among them was Columbus O'Donnell (1792-1873), the eldest surviving son of John and Sarah O'Donnell's sons, whose letters during and immediately after the Civil War provide a glimpse into the social attitudes and economic conditions surrounding that conflict."

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On campus access requires no additional login. Off campus users must sign in first using the VPN (requires UMBC username and password).

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The history of science collections held in the Center for the History of Microbiology and the Center for Biological Sciences Archives are the focus of this year's Archives Month festivities at UMBC. Jeff Karr, the archivist for the Center for the History of Microbiology and American Society for Microbiology (ASM) library and archives, has curated a small exhibit in the Library about famed microbiologist Dr. Cornelis B. van Niel.

CORNELIS B. VAN NIEL (1897-1985): Bringing the Delft School to America

Shortly after arriving at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station (HMS) in Pacific Grove, CA from his native Delft, Cornelis B. van Niel fundamentally redefined the process of photosynthesis, suggesting that it was water, not carbon dioxide, which was the source of oxygen released in this process. Based on analogy from the metabolism of the purple sulfur bacteria, his insight offered an early example of the value of using microorganisms to illuminate larger biological processes. His suggestion that green plant photosynthesis was only a specific instance of a more generalized metabolic process helped demonstrate the "Unity in Biochemistry" which had been posited by his mentor in Delft, Albert Jan Kluyver.

van Niel was also an admired teacher. From 1930 until 1962 his short summer course in "General Microbiology" drew increasing numbers of scientists from a wide variety of disciplines who were enthralled by his animated lecture style and his broad knowledge of the bacteria.

In 2004 the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) designated the Loeb Laboratory at HMS as a Milestones in Microbiology site based on van Niel's contributions to the microbiological sciences. ASM maintains its archival and historical collections in the Center for the History of Microbiology in the Albin O. Kuhn Library, and materials from these collections illustrating van Niel's life and work have been put on display in the Library Rotunda. The exhibit will remain in the Rotunda through the end of the semester.

For more about the Center for the History of Microbiology visit www.asm.org/choma

For more information about Archives Month at UMBC, visit the website at: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/archivesmonth

You can also LIKE the Center for Biological Sciences Archives and the American Society for Microbiology on Facebook!

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is making the government database ERIC available during the government shutdown.

ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, is typically available through the government website (http://eric.ed.gov/) as well as via EBSCO’s EBSCOhost® research platform.

Because of the shutdown, access to the full text of articles and other materials will not be available but researchers will have access to the full set of records on EBSCOhost.

Was your childhood filled with the tales of Alice in Virusland?  Ann the Anopheles Mosquito?  Huber the Tuber?  No?

In the early 20th century, long before WebMD and daytime television, it was a struggle to get the word out about public health risks in a way that was both attention-getting and informative.  Using illustrations provided a double advantage- it was an easy way to depict what could not easily be photographed, and it also played off the huge popularity of daily newspaper comic strips at the time.

The American Society for Microbiology Book Collection, part of Special Collections at the Albin O. Kuhn Library, provides several great examples of the innovative use of illustrations and humor to get across some very serious messages.  ASM Archivist Jeff Karr shared three such publications for us to highlight.

Alice in Virusland is a slim volume containing the transcript of an address given in 1938 by Paul F. Clark, a professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin and president of the Society of American Bacteriologists (the predecessor of the American Society for Microbiology).  Clark borrows heavily from Lewis Carroll’s original work, mimicking many of Carroll’s songs as well as his prose style, in order to lament the dangers of anti-vaccine sentiment.  The book is filled with fantastical illustrations of microbes and viruses in traditional Alice in Wonderland situations, dating from a time when no one was really sure what many of these things looked like.

Printed in 1943, This is Ann is about Ann the Anopheles Mosquito, and the ways in which she and her type spread the dread disease of Malaria.  Produced by the War Department, this helpful little booklet lets soldiers know how Ann operates, and how to avoid her, by sleeping under mosquito nets and making sure their bodies are covered at all times.  The booklet is filled with the uncredited, but distinctive, drawings of one Captain Ted Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss!  Additionally, it was written by Munro Leaf, author of Ferdinand the Bull.

While recovering from the effects of tuberculosis, Harry A. Wilmer, M.D. had quite a bit of time on his hands.  He filled his days by creating the character of Huber the Tuber, a tubercle bacilli who along with his friends, invade and infect Lungland.  Written in 1942 as World War II raged, Huber the Tuber: A Story of Tuberculosis features Wilmer’s Tubers as thinly disguised Nazis, including their leader, Nasty von Sputum.  For a medical doctor, Wilmer shows himself to be quite the talented illustrator, deftly combining medical drawings with cartoonish characters.

Although these three books are not exactly great works of literature,  they do provide a fantastic record of the early 20th century public education efforts of the medical establishment.  You can see them and more in person.  The American Society for Microbiology Book Collection is in the catalog.  You can also stop by the Special Collections Department to access them.  Special Collection is located inside of the Library Gallery, Monday-Friday from 1-4pm, and Thursdays from 1-8pm.  Other hours are available by appointment:  email speccoll@umbc.edu.  

This post was written by former Special Collections student assistant Steve Ammidown.

Related Resources 

American Society for Microbiology

This is Ann from the Navy Department Library

USDA digitized version of This is Ann

Alice in Virusland digitized

9 Things You May Not Know about Dr. Seuss

• 45,000 signed articles on every aspect of the visual arts, with more than 23,000 subject entries and 21,000 biographies
• More than 6,000 searchable images from such outstanding organizations as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as 40,000 editorially selected image links to museums and galleries, provide essential visual support for art history scholarship.
• Historical account and critical discussions of aethetics.
• 1800 dictionary entires on art terms, critical periods, and styles in the visual arts