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Guide to the William Zev Hassid Papers, 1915-1974
BANC MSS 79/32 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: William Zev Hassid Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1915-1974
Collection Number: BANC MSS 79/32 c
Creator:
Hassid, William Zev, 1897-1974
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 boxes and 2 oversize folders
Linear feet: 2.25
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Letters written to Hassid and copies of letters by him; manuscripts of speeches and papers; and reprints of articles documenting
his career as a professor in the College of Agriculture and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California,
Berkeley and his research on carbohydrate chemistry.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], William Zev Hassid Papers, BANC MSS 79/32 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
William Zev Hassid was born on October 1, 1897 in Jaffa, Palestine to Mordecai and Esperanza (Hassid) Hassid. He attended
secondary school in Palestine and during World War 1 was part of the First Judeans regiment of the British army. In 1920 he
came to the United States, and attended the University of California, Berkeley receiving his A. B. in 1925, his M.S. in 1930
and his Ph.D. in 1934. He joined the staff of the University in 1927 serving successively as assistant in the Plant Nutrition
Division, junior chemist and assistant at the Agricultural Experiment Station, until 1947 when he was appointed professor
of plant nutrition and chemist and, in 1950, professor of biochemistry and biochemist. From 1965 until just before his death
in 1974 he was professor emeritus and biochemist at the Agricultural Experiment Station.
His research included studies of structural carbohydrate chemistry, carbohydrate biochemistry of plants, and pioneering use
of radioactive carbon tracers.
The Hassid collection came to The Bancroft Library on October 4, 1978 as a gift of Professor Horace A. Barker. Consisting
of one box of correspondence and four boxes of related materials, it includes letters addressed to Hassid; copies of letters
written by him; MSS of speeches and papers; reprints; and personal materials. Photographs have been removed to the Library's
Pictorial Collection. The Papers cover for the most part his research work in carbohydrate chemistry emphasizing his research
on the chemistry of starch, the mechanism through which it is formed and broken down, with special emphasis on the conversion
of starch to sugars and the formation of cellulose in plants. Only a small amount of published material concerns his biological
research using radioactive carbon.