Series 2: Correspondence

Letter from Watson to Crick, 1966                         Letter from Luria to Watson, 1950

Collection:James D. Watson Papers

Dates:1949-present

Volume:17 linear ft.

Contents: Series II consists of handwritten and typed letters, carbon copies, postcards, and notes dating 1949 to the present.

Subseries: Public Affairs, Student Letters, General Public, Autograph Requests, Declined Invitations, and Permissions. Arrangement: Each sub-series is arranged alphabetically by author or corporate body; chronologically in the case of student letters, general public, autograph requests, declines and permissions.

Public Affairs Correspondence contains letters directed to the Public Relations office of CSHL.The sub-series concerns James D. Watson as a public figure and includes lecture requests from universities, participation in media projects, signature requests from humanitarian and political organizations.

Student Letters contains requests for information and impressions of James Watson’s writings, life, and work.

General public contains letters of those not connected to the scientific profession, who profess admiration, commendation, and share their own views on the state of contemporary science. The sub-series is further divided into recurring topics: AIDS, Cloning, Human Embryology, Cancer, Abortion, and the Human Genome Project.

Permissions include formal requests for permissions to use James Watson’s work for other publications.

Topics and Authors:

Correspondents include, but are not limited to, the immediate family, personal friends, university professors, biologists, geneticists, students, publishing firms, medical doctors, and businessmen.

The bulk of the material covers Watson’s sojourn in Cambridge (1951-54), Harvard (1956-1968) and as Director and President of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1968-). Watson’s career at the Copenhagen Crystallography Lab and time at California Institute of Technology are touched upon as well.

The concerns addressed in the body of this series are the results and problems with experiments, fundraising and planning for meetings, and comments on manuscripts.The issue of scientific ethics is addressed through his correspondence with David Baltimore; Norton Zinder discusses recombinant DNA; and Robert Cook-Deegan deals with the Human Genome project.Many letters, such as the correspondence with his father, James, are personal in tone and discuss social activities, travel plans, and advice, during the Cambridge and Harvard years.

This series also contains a fair number of letters of recommendation and award nominations for scientists such as Mark Ptashne, Nancy Doe Hopkins, Amar Klar and David Baltimore. Selected Authors:

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updated 12/03/04