The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Joseph Halle Schaffner Collection in the History of Science 1642-1961
© 2007 University of Chicago Library
Title: | Schaffner, Joseph Halle, Collection in the History of Science |
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Dates: | 1642-1961 |
Size: | 3.5 linear feet (6 boxes) |
Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
Abstract: | Contains correspondence and other documents from or related to prominent scientists. Includes the Marie Curie Correspondence with Charlotte Kellogg (ca. 1921-1929) and Curie Memorabilia, the Charles Darwin and Darwin Family Correspondence, the Albert Einstein-Walther Mayer Correspondence (1930-1933) and Einstein Photographs, the Isaac Newton Collection (1642-1727), and Miscellaneous Scientific Manuscripts (1744, 1777, 1820). The Joseph Halle Schaffner Papers (1943-1961) are also included and contain material relating to Schaffner's activities as a collector and how the collections were used by scholars and in exhibits. |
The collection is open for research.
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When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Schaffner, Joseph Halle, Collection in the History of Science, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Joseph Halle Schaffner (1897-1972) spent most of his life in his native Chicago as director of the clothing-manufacturing firm Hart, Schaffner, and Marx. He formed several collections reflecting both literary and historical interests. His greatest collecting passion was the history of science, and he bequeathed to the University of Chicago an extraordinary collection of several hundred scientific and medical rare books and manuscripts.
Schaffner acquired fine copies of great books, many in contemporary or presentation bindings or from the libraries of great scientists. He relished the excitement of competing for a particularly rare item, especially since he was so often successful; and he exemplifies the zealous, generous bibliophile whose high standards and discriminating taste have enriched the holdings of American research libraries. Schaffner's passion for collecting also resulted in the acquisition of some important manuscripts and correspondence of notable scientists.
The Schaffner Collection is divided into six series. The first four are distinct collections of the manuscripts of Madame Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Sir Isaac Newton. Also included are a group of miscellaneous manuscripts removed from various volumes in the Joseph Halle Schaffner Collection of printed books. The history of the collection is documented in the Joseph Halle Schaffner Papers, the sixth series of this collection, which consists primarily of records relating to his activities as a collector and records of the use made of the collection during his lifetime by scholars and in exhibitions. For a different and more personal perspective on the collector’s life the reader is referred to another collection in the University of Chicago Library, the Carl Sandburg - Joseph Halle Schaffner Correspondence.
Series I: Curie-Kellogg Correspondence and Curie Memorabilia
When Pierre and Marie Curie first published their work on radium in the 1890s, they decided they would seek no profit from their discovery though even then its great commercial potential was apparent. As a consequence of this decision, they labored under a great financial handicap. When the American journalist, Marie Meloney interviewed Mme. Curie after the First World War, she was astonished to learn that the work of the French scientist was hampered by a shortage of radium (Mme. Curie had about a gram in her laboratory at that time) while in the United States some fifty grams were stockpiled around the country. Out of this meeting and this promise grew the Marie Curie Radium Fund, through which the women of American presented Mme. Curie with a gram of radium. Charlotte Kellogg (Mrs. Vernon Kellogg), an author and friend of Meloney, worked on the fund raising drive, and a warm friendship developed between her and Mme. Curie. During the French scientist’s visit to the United States in 1921 to accept the gram of radium, Curie had been persuaded by Meloney to write on her own life and the life of her deceased husband, Pierre. In 1923 Charlotte Kellogg and her husband translated this autobiographical account into English. Another gram of radium was given in 1929, this time for the establishment of radium therapy services in Mme. Curie’s native Warsaw.
The Schaffner Collection includes: ten pieces of correspondence by Marie Curie (nine originals and one typescript copy); typescript copies of Einstein’s eulogy of Curie, her 1921 speech of acceptance for the radium gift, and Charlotte Kellogg’s memoir of Mme. Curie; photographs of Charlotte Kellogg and Marie Meloney; and assorted memorabilia.
Series II: Charles Darwin Correspondence
The Darwin correspondence contains material written and received by Darwin and his family from 1869 to 1904.
Series III: Albert Einstein - Walther Mayer Correspondence and Einstein Photographs
The letters from Albert Einstein to Walther Mayer constitute an important body of documentation touching on both the development of the Unified Field Theory and the dramatic personal events experienced by these two men during the years of the Nazi rise to power. The association of Einstein with the talented Austrian mathematician began during the late 1920s in Germany. Though Mayer is often spoken of as Einstein’s assistant and though his role was largely that of providing the mathematical apparatus necessary to the elaboration of the new theory, Einstein himself referred to their joint achievement as “our theory” and praised Mayer in the highest terms: “It is he who produced all my calculations; his skill is fantastic.” During a period of growing political turbulence in Germany when Einstein was traveling and, later, when he had gone into exile, the friendship and collaboration of the two men was carried on largely by mail. The letters give indications of the keenly felt personal turmoil of the two before they both finally settled at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1933.
By letter, during the years 1930 to 1933, Einstein and Mayer collaborated on what has been called Einstein’s “most ambitious theory” and a “triumph of human spirit over the chaos of the universe.” Following the announcement of the Unified Field Theory in 1931, Mayer explained the significance of the joint accomplishment:
The general relativity theory suffered from a dualism: adequate for gravitation, it harbored the electro-magnetic field as a foreign body, and its formulas Professor Einstein had to introduce artificially, as it were.
This dualism is abolished in the new theory, which subsumes both gravitation and electricity under one comprehensive theory of the same architecture throughout.
The Joseph Halle Schaffner Collection of Scientific Manuscripts includes some eighty letters, mostly from the crucial 1930-33 period, from Einstein to Mayer and a number of photographs of the two men.
Series IV: Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727
The material pertaining to Newton includes manuscripts, notes, letters, and diagrams by and about Newton.
Series V: Miscellaneous Scientific Manuscripts
The Miscellaneous Manuscripts include notes, a translation, and a letter dated from 1744 to 1820.
Series VI: Schaffner Collection Records
The Joseph Halle Schaffner Papers (1943-1961) are also included and contain material relating to Schaffner's activities as a collector and how the collections were used by scholars and in exhibits.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
Series I: Marie Curie - Charlotte Kellogg Correspondence and Curie Memorabilia |
Box 1 Folder 1 | Madame Marie Curie, 1867-1934. Correspondence with Charlotte Kellogg (Mrs. Vernon Kellogg) ca. 1921-29 and Curie memorabilia.
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Series II: Charles Darwin Correspondence |
Box 1 Folder 2 | Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, and Darwin family. Correspondence, ca. 1869-1904.
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Series III: Albert Einstein Correspondence and Photographs |
Box 1 Folder 3-43 | Albert Einstein, correspondence with Walther Mayer, 1930-33, and others, 1925-46, and Einstein photographs. |
Box 1 Folder 3 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 4 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 5 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 6 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 7 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 8 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 9 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 10 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 11 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 12 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 13 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 14 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 15 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 16 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 17 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 1 Folder 18 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 1 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 2 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 3 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 4 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 5 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 6 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 7 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 8 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 9 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 10 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 11 | Envelope addressed to WM. No stamp or postmark, torn and mended with scotch tape |
Box 2 Folder 12 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 13 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 14 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 15 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 16 | Albert Einstein- Walter Mayer Correspondence
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Box 2 Folder 17 | Albert Einstein Photographs
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Box 2 Folder 18 | Photocopies of 28 letters from Walther Mayer to Albert Einstein, 1930-1933
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Box 3 Folder 1 | Albert Einstein
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Box 3 Folder 2 | Albert Einstein
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Box 3 Folder 3 | Albert Einstein
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Box 3 Folder 4 | Albert Einstein
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Box 3 Folder 5 | Albert Einstein
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Box 3 Folder 6 | Albert Einstein Photos framed together
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Series IV: Sir Isaac Newton, 1642-1727 |
Box 3 Folder 7 | Of an universall language (rough draft plus more finished draft) and other writings (genealogical notes; Latin phrases and English equivalents in a different hand). N.d., Autograph Ms (in a small notebook) |
Box 3 Folder 8 | For making portable furnaces, including a rough diagram. N.d. Autograph Ms. Four pages on two leaves, folded |
Box 3 Folder 9 | Manuscript on pyrotechny, illustrated with diagrams. N.d. Autograph Ms. Two pages on one folio leaf, folded |
Box 3 Folder 10 | Manuscript on certain chemical operations, "A Londoner acquainted with Mr. Boyle and Dr. Dickinson, affirmed that...ye oyle or spirit might be taken as sold in shops...," with the draft of a short letter mentioning Pepys on the reverse side. N.d. Autograph Ms. Two pages on one leaf |
Box 3 Folder 11 | Description of an instrument for determining the angular distance of the moon from any fixed star with chronological/theological notes on the reverse side. N.d. Autograph Ms. Two pages on one leaf |
Box 3 Folder 12 | Brief passage in Latin on the invention of the calculus (Begins; "Non quisnam hanc vel illam methodum invenerit...) on scrap of paper 2.5 inches by 7.5 inches. N.d. Autograph Ms. |
Box 3 Folder 13 | Pepys, Samuel to Sir Isaac Newton, 21 December 1693. ALS, two pages on one leaf |
Box 3 Folder 14 | Conduitt, John. "Memorandums relating to Sr. Isaac Newton given me by Mr. Abraham De Moivre in Novr. 1727." Autograph Ms. Five pages on two leaves |
Box 3 Folder 15 | Bonval, B. de, La Haye, to Sir Isaac Newton, 22 August, [1697?]. ALS, 1 p., 1 leaf Sir Isaac Newton, manuscripts, See Series VII: Oversize |
Series V: Miscellaneous Scientific Manuscripts |
Box 3 Folder 16 | John Carver. Notes on mathematical and geometrical problems from Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia and other works. September 7-February 1, 1820 |
Box 3 Folder 17 | [Siussi, Johannes Fracisco]. Translation notes and diagram from M. D’Alembert, Traite de l’equilibre, Paris; David, 1744 |
Box 3 Folder 18 | Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, Conte, 1745-1827, Como, to Padre G. B. Beccaria. A.L.S., 1 p. From Alessandro Volta, Lettere...Sull’Aria Infiammabile Nativa Della Paludi... Milano; Giuseppe Marelli, 1777 |
Series VI: Schaffner Collection Records |
Box 4 Folder 1 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Curie manuscripts See also Series VII: Oversize |
Box 4 Folder 2 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Darwin manuscripts See also Series VII: Oversize |
Box 4 Folder 3 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Einstein manuscripts |
Box 4 Folder 4 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Newton manuscripts |
Box 4 Folder 5 | The Huntington Library exhibition of Newton manuscripts, January-May, 1943 See also Series VII: Oversize |
Box 5 Folder 1 | Ralph Elliot, Correspondence with Schaffner regarding Newton’s "Of an universall language." See also Series VII: Oversize |
Box 5 Folder 2 | Henry P. McComber, Correspondence with Schaffner regarding the Babson Institute Newton Collection and the Schaffner Newton Collection, 1954-61 |
Box 5 Folder 3 | Sir Lawrence Bragg, the Royal Society of London, H. M. Adams, Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, and others, correspondence regarding Schaffner and other Newton manuscripts |
Series VII: Oversize |
Box 6 Folder 1 | Sir Isaac Newton, manuscripts
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Box 6 Folder 2 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Curie manuscripts |
Box 6 Folder 3 | Records pertaining to the history of the Schaffner Collection. The Darwin manuscripts |
Box 6 Folder 4 | The Huntington Library exhibition of Newton manuscripts, January-May, 1943 See also Series VII: Oversize |
Box 6 Folder 5 | Ralph Elliot, Correspondence with Schaffner regarding Newton’s "Of an universall language." See also Series VII: Oversize |