Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Record of the Biophysical Society - Scope and Content Note

This collection of records of the Biophysical Society, 1955 – 2003, documents the early origins of the Society, its growth in membership as well as committees and areas of interest, and its work in promoting both education and research in the field of biophysics. These records have been arranged into five primary series that reflect the basic organization of the Society. Each of the series: Officers and Executive Committee, Meetings, Committees, Publications, and Affiliated Societies contain the documents of committees, boards, and individuals responsible for the workings of a particular area of the Society’s activity.

Series one contains the files of the Biophysical Society’s Officers and Executive Committee. The series is subdivided into five sub-series: Association Legal Documents, Correspondence, Executive Board Meetings, Finances, and Administrative Files. The first sub-series, Association Legal Documents, begins with the 1958 Articles of Incorporation and also contains constitutions and by-laws from the 1950s and 60s. This series does contain some correspondence relating to the constitutions and by-laws. The correspondence sub-series dates from 1955 – 1998. Correspondence covers a wide range of topics, which the Executive Committee and Officers dealt with; it also contains numerous emails. The Executive Board Meetings sub-series contains material addressing Society issues from the 1950s through 2002. One meeting of interest is the 1972 meeting, which discussed a lawsuit against the director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The lawsuit was brought by a caucus of women biophysicists in order to address discrimination on public advisory boards. The 1973 meeting contains a discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was tabled for the 1974 meeting. The Finances sub-series deals with the Society’s various accounts as well as budget reports and financial statements. Several Treasurer reports from the 1990s are also included. The Administrative Files, covering mostly the 1960s and 70s, includes a discussion of creating an archive for the Society. The Society Archivist, Max Lauffer, wrote a general history of the first 25 years of the Society, which is included in these Administrative Files. General rosters and committee rosters cover the time span from 1959 – 1996.

The second series contains the Society’s Meeting records and is divided into two sub-series: Annual Meetings and Miscellaneous Conferences and Meetings. The first sub-series, Annual Meetings, is comprised of files for the Society’s annual meetings from 1956 – 2000. Included are organizational materials including files of the program committee and the local arrangements committee along with printed programs, abstracts, reports, minutes, correspondence and catalogues. This sub-series also includes numerous copies of meeting information and calls for papers as well as correspondence relating to the annual meetings. One item of interest is located in Box 9 Folder 43 with the 1981 meeting information and call for papers. The item consists of a series of photographs of the Society’s founders taken at the 1981 annual meeting. The second sub-series, Miscellaneous Conferences and Meetings, is comprised of files for individual conferences and meetings such as the Second, Tenth, Eleventh, and Fourteenth International Biophysical Congresses.

Series three, Committees, is comprised of files from a variety of the Society’s committees, and is divided into seven sub-series. Files for both standing committees and ad hoc committees provide a view of the varied interests and activities of the organization. Files span the years 1956 – 1998 and include correspondence, reports, memos, minutes, agendas, and directories. The seven sub-series are as follows: Awards Committee, Educational Affairs Committee, Innovative Technology Fund Advisory Committee (ITFAC), Joint Steering Committee, Membership Committee, Nominating Committee, and Miscellaneous Committees. One item of interest is the records of the Joint Steering Committee, which was charged with lobbying Congress on behalf of the Society and biophysicists in general. Files include a 1991 discussion of the Space station debate as well as a discussion of genetic engineering. The Membership Committee files contain printed directories from 1957 – 1999 with only a few years missing. Membership Committee correspondence also contains a list of biophysicists to contact in order to see who would be interested in forming a society. One item of interest with the Nominating Committee is a 1997 committee handbook.

The fourth series, Publications, is made up of three sub-series: Biophysical Journal, Newsletter, and Publications Committee. The first sub-series contains correspondence with Rockefeller University Press, the publisher, as well as financial information from RUP. This sub-series also contains a significant amount of general correspondence. One item of interest is the transition plan to move the oversight of the Journal from the University of Minnesota to Bethesda, Maryland. These files include correspondence, the ad hoc committee charged with undertaking the proposed move, the Conway Group files, and the actual proposed changes to the Journal, which included the new position of a Manuscript Processing Manager. The second sub-series, Newsletter, contains printed copies of the Biophysical Society Newsletter as well as pertinent correspondence and reports. Copies of the newsletter cover the time span 1958 – 2003 with very few gaps. This sub-series also contains a handful of copies of the Spectrum newsletter, which was published by the Committee for Professional Opportunities for Women (CPOW) of the Biophysical Society. The third sub-series, Publications Committee, consists of correspondence, reports, agendas, and minutes of said committee.

The fifth series, Affiliated Societies, contains files relating to organizations who had close ties to the Biophysical Society, and it is divided into two sub-series: the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB). The first sub-series, FASEB, spans the years 1988 – 2002 and consists of correspondence, Board of Directors meeting files, reports, and files of the Summer Research Conference. The second sub-series, IUPAB, consists of a small amount of correspondence and miscellaneous material mostly from the 1990s.