American Society for Cell Biology records - Scope and Content Note
This collection of records of the ASCB documents the origins of the Society, its significant growth in membership and standing committees, the opening of its National Office and its work in promoting both education and research in the field of cell biology. These records have been arranged into five primary series that reflect the committee organization set forth in the ASCB management packet. Each of the series: National Office, Meetings, Publications, Public Affairs, and Committees contain the documents of committees and individuals responsible for the workings of a particular area of ASCB activity.
The first series, National Office, contains the records of the Executive Committee, Council, and Finance Committee pertaining to the bureaucratic and fiscal management of the Society including membership dues, subscriptions, and the placement service. It contains correspondence, minutes, agendas, reports, rosters, bylaws and constitutions, resumes, accounts and ledgers, invoices and receipts, and other administrative files. There are correspondence files of the President, Secretary, Treasurer and Executive Officer as well as the Committees Coordinator from as early as 1959 and continuing up to early 1995. The correspondence covers nearly all aspects of the Society’s activities, from NIH grant proposals and the proposed merger between ASCB and the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) to the arrangements for the business office and the hiring of the Executive Officer. Of particular interest are letters outlining the activities that led to the founding of ASCB. Some of these documents are among the correspondence of the Executive Officer, Richard Young, which were collected when he began the movement to create an archive for the Society. The others are found in the correspondence files of the President. There is a nearly complete run of minutes for both annual and interim council meetings as well as Executive Committee meetings and a partial run of minutes for the business meetings. While less extensive than those for later years, the minutes of the early years present a clear picture of the birth and growth of the new society.
Documents relating to the nomination and election of officers and the creation and emendation of the constitution and bylaws are numerous. They include correspondence, notes, nomination forms, resumes, rosters, and ballots. Of particular interest is the mass of correspondence surrounding a change made to the bylaws in 1978 in response to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The decision not to hold meetings in states that did not ratify the ERA provoked a flurry of letter writing both for and against the decision.
This series also contains a substantial amount of material relating to the management of the organization and the running of the National office. Reports from both the offices of the Secretary and Treasurer are present as well as those of the Finance Committee that provide information about the responsibilities and functions of these officers and the workings of this Committee in managing the growing society. The Secretary’s reports contain mailings to the general membership concerning a variety of Society activities including information on the nomination and election of officers and the council, announcements, surveys and questionnaires.
Reports from the Treasurer’s office contain the budgets, financial statements and annual reports done by independent auditors that outline the workings and fiscal standing of the Society while reports of the Finance Committee provide a look into the decision making process. Accounting files, invoices and receipts, bank records, ledgers, time sheets and tax forms document the day to day operations involved in running the national office and managing the financial aspects of society activities particularly those of meetings and membership.
Membership records comprise a significant proportion of the documents in this series; since the tracking of membership applications, dues and subscriptions is one of the primary functions of the National Office. Membership files include member application forms beginning with the very first year of operation. These include correspondence, letters of recommendation, resumes, transcripts, and article offprints. In addition, there are questionnaires and surveys sent to members, correspondence, invoices and receipts relating to dues and subscriptions and printed member directories.
A significant number of records in this series are administrative files pertaining to variety of society activities and initiatives, directed by the National Office, executive officers and council. Correspondence, surveys, reports and memos tracking the initiative to merge the SDB and ASCB are present, as are the files of the Committee to Consider Joining FASEB. Additionally there are the documents recording the selection and deliberations of the Awards Committee and the records that detail the work of the Placement Service.
The second series, Meetings, contains the records of the Annual Meeting, regional meetings, conferences of the ASCB plus records from gatherings cosponsored with other professional societies. These files contain the documents of the Program Committee, the Local Arrangements Committee, the Conference Committee and the Exhibits Advisory Committee. Correspondence, memos, budgets, schedules, floor plans, contracts, program drafts, brochures and other documents outline the planning and preparation involved in running a major scientific meeting. Canceling a scientific meeting can be equally difficult, as is exhibited in the files for the 1986 Annual Meeting. The meeting was to have been in Denver, but was cancelled and rescheduled for Washington D.C. The voluminous records created by the negotiations and litigation that followed the cancellation of the meeting are noteworthy. Also included are the final printed programs for the Annual Meeting each year as well as some for regional meetings and conferences. In some instances there are abstract packets and announcements for these meetings.
The documents in the series Publications relate to the production and tracking of Society publications and include the files of the Publications Committee and the Editorial Policy Committee. While not extensive, the minutes, agendas, reports, correspondence, invoices and brochures do provide information on the work involved in the production of the Society’s publications. These are the Journal of Cell Regulation and A Guide to Opportunities in Cell Biology that the society publishes and the Journal of Cell Biology that is produced in conjunction with Rockefeller University Press.
Like Publications, the series Public Policy has a limited number of records but those that are available are significant because they provide a look into an important aspect of ASCB activities. Files include those of the Legislative Oversight Committee, the Public Affairs Committee, the Public Information Committee, and the Public Policy Committee. Included with the minutes, agendas, correspondence, memos and reports are copies of House of Representative Bills being tracked by the Society.
The final series, Committees, includes the files of the Education Committee, the Minorities Affairs Committee and the Women in Cell Biology Committee. The records of Education Committee contain the agendas, minutes, reports, and correspondence of the Education Committee as well as large number of documents related specifically to the preparation and organization of conferences and workshops sponsored by the committee. These files include program drafts, schedules, brochures, and abstracts along with documents pertaining to the travel grants given by the committee for student travel to ASCB meetings, conferences and workshops. As with the Education Committee, the Minorities Affairs Committee files contain records related to ‘sponsored’ programs and travel grants awarded. In addition, there are grant proposals and other documents pertaining to the NIH-MARC grant that provided funding for minority travel and for awards for summer study at the Marine Biological Laboratories at Woods Hole. The files of the committee, Women in Cell Biology, contains the minutes, correspondence memos, and reports of the committee along with awards files, a questionnaire and a newsletter, published 1974 – 1981 before the group had committee standing.
