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Casimir Funk Collection
mssFunk Collection
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Title: Casimir Funk Collection.
Dates (inclusive): 1896-1984
Bulk dates: 1939-1966
Collection Number: mssFunk Collection
Creator:
Funk, Casimir,
1884-1967
Extent:
17 boxes, 1 legal-size box, 1 cd box, 1 flat box.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Collection of research notes, business correspondence,
biographical material and offprints from scientific journals from the “father of
vitamins” Casimir Funk (1884-1967). Topics include cancer, diabetes, hormones,
vitamins, ulcers. Material spans his working career from 1904-1967, but is mostly
concentrated on his later career in the United States from 1939-1967.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on February 19,
2016.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, obtaining necessary permission rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Casimir Funk Collection, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Burndy Library Collection, Gift of Dibner Family, November 2006.
Known as the “father of vitamins,” Casimir Funk (1884-1967) focused his
investigations into vitamins, as well as extensive research on cancer, diabetes, and
sex hormones. He was the first to isolate niacin, and hypothesized that nutritional
deficiencies can cause certain diseases. Born in Warsaw, he studied in Switzerland
at the University of Bern. He worked at various European labs before he founded the
privately-funded research institute Casa Biochemica in Paris in 1927. He immigrated
to the United States in 1939, where he worked as a consultant for the United States
Vitamin Corporation. In 1940 he founded and acted as president of the Funk
Foundation for Medical Research.
Collection composed of research notes, articles and offprints, clinical notebooks,
personal and work-related correspondence, Funk Foundation materials, and a few
slides/photos. Includes drafts of Funk’s autobiography, and drafts of Benjamin
Harrow’s published biography of Funk. Some of the earliest material in the
collection dates from the beginning of his professional career in Paris (1904-1906),
but the bulk focuses on his life and career in the United States from 1939-1967.
Manuscript materials are in English, French, German and Polish and the collection of
published professional literature mostly in offprints and reproductions contains
works in English, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish. Topics include:
cancer, diabetes, vitamins, ulcers and hormones.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
Two works of Charles Darwin, translated into Polish, from Dr. Funk's personal
library.
- Darwin, Charles. Wyraz uczuć u człowieka i zwierząt.Warszawa : W drukarni Jozefa Sikorskiego, 1873. (RB 719602)
- Darwin, Charles. Dobór płciowy. Lwów : Księgarnia Polska. Z pierwszéj Związkowéj Drukarni, Hotel Zorża, 1875 (RB 719603)
Arrangement is predominantely as received from the Burndy library. The series of
reprints and articles in particular did not appear to have a readily apparent order
and are given as received.
The collection is arranged in the following series:
1. Biographical information and primary works.
2. Correspondence and research, 1935-1963.
3. U.S. Vitamin Corporation, 1948-1963.
4. Funk Foundation, 1947-1960.
5. Reprints and articles, 1896-1967.
6. Photographs and slides
7. Research notes, 1900-1963.
8. Miscellaneous legal-sized items.
9. Photographic slides and glass plates.
10. Scrapbook.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Funk, Casimir,
1884-1967.
Vitamins -- Research.
Diabetes -- Research.
Cancer -- Research.
Digestive organs -- Research.
Hormones -- Research.
Hormones, Sex -- Research.
Correspondence.
Articles.
Research notes.
Harrow, Benjamin,
1888-1970.
Funk, Ian C., 1915-1999.
U.S. Vitamin Corporation.
Funk Foundation.