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Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection: Finding
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mssBurndyAutographedDocuments
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Title: Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection
Dates (inclusive): 1791-1984
Bulk dates: 1953-1979
Collection Number: mssBurndyAutographedDocuments
Extent:
74 items in 1 box
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection contains 74 items, chiefly documents including letters, postcards,
typescripts, photographs, handwritten notes, and blank cards, autographed by leading figures in the sciences, including multiple
Nobel Prize winners; several documents contain multiple signatures. The collection also includes 20 autographed first day
covers, mostly stamps dedicated to science-related themes such as nuclear energy, communications, electronics, space exploration,
and naval aviation; dates of these items range from 1948-1973.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
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, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Burndy Library Collection, Gift of Dibner Family, November 2006. Was MS Collection 73 (6).
This collection contains 74 items, chiefly documents including letters, postcards, typescripts, photographs, handwritten notes,
and blank cards, autographed by leading figures in the sciences, including multiple Nobel Prize winners; several documents
contain multiple signatures. The collection also includes autographed 20 first day covers, mostly stamps dedicated to science-related
themes such as nuclear energy, communications, electronics, space exploration, and naval aviation; dates of these items range
from 1948-1973.
Signatures on various types of documents include those of British explorer John Franklin (1786-1847); Joseph Henry (1797-1878),
first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; American medical physicist Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921-2011); American medical
researcher Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993); polar explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922); and American president Herbert Hoover
(1874-1964). Many of the autographed letters are addressed to R. Frederick Allen of Lewiston, Maine, often in response to
birthday greetings or other communications from Allen, and several autographed items are accompanied by information about
the signers in the form of clippings or typed or handwritten annotations.
The first day covers commemorate developments and events including the Atoms for Peace campaign (initiated in 1953) and the
Atomic Energy Act (1962); the launch of Echo I, the world's first communications satellite, in 1960; the dedication of the
Palomar Mountain Observatory, Palomar Mountain, California, in 1948; and various other innovations and innovators. Signatures
on first day covers include those of Edward Teller (1908-2003), on Atoms for Peace covers; Wernher von Braun (1912-1977),
on a cover featuring Echo I (1960); J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), on a cover marking the Atomic Energy Act (1962); Jonas
Salk (1914-1995), on a cover honoring those battling polio (1957); and Donald W. Douglas (1892-1981), on two covers celebrating
the 50th anniversary of naval aviation (1961).
Most of the materials in this collection were originally found loose and unordered, with the exception of items concerning
Guglielmo Marconi and Herbert Hoover. In 2016, Sue Tyson arranged the materials into two series, Autographed Documents, containing the Marconi and Hoover items in their
original groupings, and First Day Covers.
The collection is organized into two series:
- Series 1. Autographed Documents, 1791-1984, bulk 1953-1979. 7 folders
- Series 2. First Day Covers, 1948-1973. 3 folders.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Bell, Alexander Graham, 1847-1922 -- Archives.
Churchill, Winston, 1871-1947 -- Archives.
Douglas, Donald W. (Donald Wills), 1892-1981 -- Archives.
Franklin, John, 1786-1847 -- Archives.
Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878 -- Archives.
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 -- Archives.
Marconi, Guglielmo, 1874-1937 -- Archives.
Mawson, Douglas, 1882-1958 -- Archives.
Oberth, Hermann, 1894-1989 -- Archives.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967 -- Archives.
Peabody, George, 1795-1869 -- Archives.
Sabin, Albert B. (Albert Bruce), 1906-1993 -- Archives.
Salk, Jonas, 1914-1995 -- Archives.
Shackleton, Ernest Henry, Sir, 1874-1922 -- Archives.
Shockley, William, 1910-1989 -- Archives.
Steinmetz, Charles Proteus, 1865-1923 -- Archives.
Teller, Edward, 1908-2003 -- Archives.
Thomson, Elihu, 1853-1937 -- Archives.
Van Rensselaer, John -- Archives.
Von Braun, Wernher, 1912-1977 -- Archives.
Wild, Frank, 1874-1939 -- Archives.
Yalow, Rosalyn S. (Rosalyn Sussman), 1921-2011 -- Archives.
Palomar Observatory.
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
Autographs -- Collections.
Autographs -- United States.
First day covers (Philately).
Heads of state -- Autographs.
Politicians -- Autographs.
Physicists -- Autographs.
Scientists -- Autographs.
First day covers.
Signatures (names).
Allen, R. Frederick, addressee.
Burndy Library, former owner.