Collection Guide
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Lederberg (Esther M.) papers
SC0874
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Esther M. Lederberg papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC0874
Physical Description:
33.25 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1906-2016
Date (bulk): 1937-1998
Summary: Collection includes
class notes and lab notebooks from her education at Hunter College, 1939-42, Stanford
University, 1944-46, and the University of Wisconsin, 1948-50; notes and lab notebooks from
subsequent research, primarily with plasmids, 1950 on; records from the Plasmid Reference
Center; correspondence; articles and reprints; photographs both professional and personal;
family documents; and other materials.
Language of Material:
English .
This collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Esther M. Lederberg papers (SC0874). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg, PhD, professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology at
the Stanford University School of Medicine, earned her AB at Hunter College in 1942. She
then came to Stanford to study genetics, earning her MA in 1946. She earned her PhD at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1950. Among her achievements was the discovery of lambda
phage, a virus that infects E. coli bacteria. Esther and Joshua Lederberg both joined the
Stanford medical school faculty in 1959; they were divorced in 1966. In addition to her
teaching duties, she directed the Plasmid Reference Center at Stanford medical school from
1976 to 1986. She was also the American Cancer Society Senior Dernham Fellow from 1968 to
1970. She died in 2006.
Collection includes class notes and lab notebooks from her education at Hunter College,
1939-42, Stanford University, 1944-46, and the University of Wisconsin, 1948-50; notes and
lab notebooks from subsequent research, primarily with plasmids, 1950 on; records from the
Plasmid Reference Center; correspondence; articles and reprints; photographs both
professional and personal; family documents; and other materials.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Microbiology.
Plasmids -- Genetics.
Laboratory notes.
Notebooks.