Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection: Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Sue Tyson.

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

Overview of the Collection

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.

Access

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Burndy Library Collection, Gift of Dibner Family, November 2006. Was MS Collection 73 (6).

Scope and Content

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).

Processing Information:

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.

Arrangement

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.

Series 1 is arranged in alphabetical order by last name of signer, and Series 2 is ordered alphabetically by general topic or by name of signer, as appropriate.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.

Subjects

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.

Forms/Genres

First day covers.

Signatures (names).

Added Entries

Allen, R. Frederick, addressee.

Burndy Library, former owner.

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).