American Philosophical Society (APS)

The library of the APS, situated in the heart of Philadelphia’s historical central district contains the world’s most extensive collection of the scientific records of important geneticists, most, though not all, American.

Much of the collection arose from the efforts of American geneticist Bentley Glass, who encouraged colleagues across the country to donate or bequeath their personal scientific records to APS.  This may underlie the fact that only a very few of those represented are human or medical geneticists, and that recent additions are limited.

For those working in human genetics, noteworthy record sets are those of James Neil and Arno Motulsky (recently received); the papers of Curt Stern and (from an earlier time) Charles Davenport are also relevant.  The library is keen to extend its collections to recently retired workers in this field.

The excellent APS website (http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/g/gsa.htm) contains a detailed guide to the genetics collection, based on Glass’s work.  The library can be visited for study by prior arrangement and the staff are extremely interested and helpful.

In addition, the APS library produces a regular publication, The Mendel Newsletter, available free (print and electronic) on request (email: jjahern@amphilsoc.org).