Frederick Johnson Papers, 1948-1968

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Summary

Creators:
Johnson, Frederick, 1904-
Abstract:
Frederick Johnson (b.1904) was a anthropologist and curator of the R.S. Peabody Foundation. He became chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14 set up by the American Anthropological Association. Johnson later became president of the Radiocarbon Dates Association. The collection consists of correspondence and papers relating to Dr. Frederick Johnson in the development of the radiocarbon 14 dating method.
Extent:
9 boxes (4.5 linear ft.)
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of correspondence and papers relating to Dr. Frederick Johnson, anthropologist and R.S. Peabody Foundation curator, in the development of the radiocarbon 14 dating method. Includes information on assembled samples, the progress of the study, and scholarly reaction to Johnson's work as Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14 set up by the American Anthropological Association. Also contains material related to various conferences as well as organizational materials, correspondence, and financial records relating to the subsequent Radiocarbon Dates Association, of which Johnson was president.

Biographical / historical:

Johnson was an anthropologist and curator of the R.S. Peabody Foundation; became chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14 set up by the American Anthropological Association, and charged with providing archeological and geological advice and assistance to Dr. Willard F. Libby in his research on radiocarbon dating, for which he was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in chemistry; Johnson later became president of the Radiocarbon Dates Association.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Frederick Johnson, 1982.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14 files, 1948-50 (Boxes 1-2).
  2. Radiocarbon Dates Association files, 1967-68 (Boxes 2,9).
  3. Conferences on radiocarbon dating: correspondence and papers (Boxes 2-5).
  4. Committee for distribution of radiocarbon dates files (Box 5).
  5. Financial material and correspondence with John Ramsden and Robert Pollard, 1959-64 (Box 6).
  6. Correspondence regarding errors (Boxes 6-9).

The papers relate to the porfessional involvement of Dr. Frederick Johnson, anthropologist and curator of The R.S. Peabody Foundation, in the development of the radiocarbon 14 dating method. They fall into 3 categories:

    • Papers, chiefly correspondence, of Johnson as Chair of the Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14 which was set up by The American Anthropological Association at the request of Willard F. Libby.
    • The other members of the Committee were Donald Collier, Richard Foster Flint and Froelich Rainey.
    • The Committee's purposes included the provision of suitable test samples for Libby's research into radiocarbon dating, then in its initial stages. The papers give information not only on the samples assembled but also on progress of the work and reactions to it by the scholarly community.
  2. Correspondence and related materials about various conferences in the U.S. and elsewhere on radiocarbon dating which Dr. Johnson helped to organize.
  3. Papers, including organizational materials, correspondence and financial records relating to the Radiocarbon Dates Association Incorporated, of which Dr. Johnson was President. The Association grew out of the Committee's work and provided card sets for dating purposes.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
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