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Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection: Finding Aid

mssBurndyAutographedDocuments

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Table of contents

Collection Contents

Box 1

Container List

Series I. Autographed Documents 1791-1984 bulk 1953-1979

Physical Description: 54 items in 7 folders

Scope and Content Note

Items include a typed statement written by British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) regarding the Israel Institute of Technology's decision to name buildings in his honor, dated 1954, November 20 (Item 3); a letter written by American-British entrepreneur, philanthropist, and director of the Atlantic Cable Company George Peabody (1795-1869) to Pliny Miles, Esquire, regarding a piece of Atlantic cable (Item 34); a photograph of American physicist William Shockley (1910-1989), signed beneath his sketch of a transistor (Item 40); and a legal agreement from Rensselaer County, New York, dated 1791, September 22, between Wouter Knickerbacker (1712-1797?) and Enoch Leonard (approximately 1755-1810), signed by Knickerbacker and by John Van Rensselaer (1708-1793?) (Item 49).

Folder 1 (Items 1-6)

Blackett, Patrick - Henry, Joseph. 1829, 1846, 1954, 1973, 1975

Scope and Content Note

Signatures include Patrick M. S. Blackett (1897-1974) (Item 1, 1973); Felix Bloch (1905-1983) (Item 2, 1973); Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) (Item 3, 1954); John Franklin (1786-1847) (Item 4, 1829); Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) (Item 5, 1975); and Joseph Henry (1797-1878) (Item 6, 1846).

Folder 2 (Items 7-17)

Hoover, Herbert. 1933, 1949, undated

Scope and Content Note

Includes five photographs, two drawings, one speech, and two cards signed by Hoover.

Folder 3 (Items 18-24)

Ingersoll, Robert - Lwoff, André. 1887, 1972-1979, undated

Scope and Content Note

Signatures include Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) (Item 18a/18b, 1887); Arthur Kornberg (1918-2007) (Item 19, 1972); Hans Adolf Krebs (1900-1981) (Item 20, 1974); Fritz Lipmann (1899-1986) (Item 21, 1973); Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) (Item 22, 1973); Sir Bernard Lovell (1913-2012) (Item 23, 1974); and André Lwoff (1902-1994) (Item 24, undated).

Folder 4 (Items 25-32)

Marconi, Guglielmo; items with multiple signatures. 1902, 1914, 1953, 1974, 1984

Scope and Content Note

Contains two copies of a menu cover and one of the menu from a dinner honoring Italian physicist and inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) given by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City in 1902, with signatures including those of Marconi and of Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), Elihu Thomson (1853-1937), and Charles P. Steinmetz (1865-1923), as well as a first day cover and postage stamp featuring Marconi (Items 25-29). Also contains items featuring multiple signatures, including Beniamino Segre (1903-1977) and others (Item 30); Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson (1882-1958), and Frank Wild (John Robert Francis Wild, 1873-1939) (Item 31); and D. Allan Bromley (1926-2005) and Edward E. David, Jr. (1925- ) (Item 32).

Folder 5 (Items 33-40)

Natta, Giulio - Shockley, William. 1962, 1973-1979, undated

Scope and Content Note

Signatures include Giulio Natta (1903-1979) (Item 33); George Peabody (1795-1869) (Item 34, undated; includes typed transcription of his letter to Pliny Miles); Tadeus Reichstein (1897-1996) (Item 35, 1973); Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993) (Items 36-37, 1975 and 1979); Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) (Items 38-39, 1962 and 1979); and William Shockley (1910-1989) (Item 40, undated).

Folder 6 (Items 41-47)

Teller, Edward - Townes, Charles. 1973-1981

Scope and Content Note

Signatures include Edward Teller (1908-2003) (Item 41, 1976); George Paget Thomson (1892-1975) (Item 42, 1974); Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) (Item 43, 1973); Clyde William Tombaugh (1906-1997) (Items 44-45, 1976 and 1981); and Charles H. Townes (1915-2015) (Items 46-47, 1973).

Folder 7 (Items 48-54)

Urey, Harold - Yalow, Rosalyn. 1791, 1964, 1972-1978

Scope and Content Note

Signatures include Harold C. Urey (1893-1981) (Item 48, undated); John van Rensselaer (1708-1793?) (Item 49, 1791); Artturi Iimari Virtanen (1895-1973) (Item 50, 1973); Selman A. Waksman (1888-1973) (Items 51-52, 1964 and 1972); George Wald (1906-1997) (Item 53, undated); and Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921-2011) (Item 54, 1978).

Series II. First Day Covers 1948-1973

Physical Description: 20 items in 3 folders

Folder 8 (Items 55-60)

Atoms for Peace and Atomic Energy Act. 1955, 1962

Scope and Content Note

Includes first day covers for the Atoms for Peace campaign signed by Edward Teller and Lewis L. Strauss (1896-1974) (Items 55-56, 1955). Also includes an Atomic Energy Commission postcard commemorating James O'Brien McMahon (1903-1952) and featuring stamps for the Atoms for Peace campaign and the Atomic Energy Act, signed by several people, including Glenn T. Seaborg and Robert R. Wilson (1914-2000) (Item 57, 1962); and first day covers for the Atomic Energy Act signed by J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), Glenn T. Seaborg, and Edward Teller (Items 58-60, 1962).

Folder 9 (Items 61-66)

Echo I satellite, Palomar Mountain Observatory, and other space initiatives. 1948, 1960, 1964, 1971

Scope and Content Note

Includes first day covers for the dedication of the Palomar Mountain Observatory, Palomar Mountain, California (1948), signed by Ira Sprague Bowen (1898-1973) (Item 61); for Echo I, Communications for Peace (1960), signed by Thomas Keith Glennan (1905-1995), James B. Fisk (1910-1981), and Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) (Items 62-64); and for the launch of the Ranger VII spacecraft to the moon (1964) signed by Harold C. Urey (Item 65). Also includes a first day cover commemorating the Apollo 15 mission and the Kennedy Space Center (1971) signed by Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) (Item 66); the stamps are affixed on a two-page typescript by Oberth entitled Moon Car.

Folder 10 (Items 67-74)

Various. 1957-1973

Scope and Content Note

First day covers include Progress in Electronics, 25 Years of Transistors, signed by Walter Brattain (1902-1987) (Item 67, 1973); Prominent Americans series, Albert Einstein, signed by Melvin Calvin (1911-1997) (Item 68, 1966); World Health Day - Canada, signed by André F. Cournand (1895-1988) (Item 69, 1972); 50th Year of Naval Aviation, signed by Donald W. Douglas (1892-1981) and Donald W. Douglas, Jr. (1917-2004) (Items 70-71, 1961); International Geophysical Year 1957-1958, signed by Joseph Kaplan (1902-1991) (Item 72, 1958); a stamp commemorating progressive politician George W. Norris (1861-1944), signed by David E. Lilienthal (1899-1981) (Item 73, 1961); and Honoring Those Who Fight Polio, signed by Jonas Salk and Albert B. Sabin (Item 74, 1957).

Collection Contents

Container List

Series I. Autographed Documents

Series II. First Day Covers