]> ms.62 Jennings (Herbert Spencer) 1868-1947 Papers 1901-1945 Ms. 62 Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 USA Phone: (410) 516-8323
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Diwakar Bhandari Finding aid written in English Jennings (Herbert Spencer) 1868-1947 Papers 1901-1945 Ms. 62 Special CollectionsThe Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University Contact Information Special Collections The Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 516-8323 Diwakar Bhandari

©2003 The Johns Hopkins University

 Descriptive Summary Ms. 62 Jennings (Herbert Spencer) 1868-1947 Papers 1901-1945 Jennings, H. S. (Herbert Spencer), 1868-1947 Johns Hopkins University. Special Collections 2 document boxes English The collection spans the years between 1893-1945 and includes correspondence, reprints, manuscript lecture notes, and biological drawings. There are about 50 pieces of correspondence, arranged alphabetically by author of letter. In addition, there are 24 reprints of articles by Jennings, lecture notes, and 1 folder of biographical drawings, and photograph of Jennings (negative print). Administrative Information Provenance

The collection was a gift to the University from Dr. Benjamin Harrison Willier in 1972.

Use Restrictions

Access to the collection is unrestricted.

Permission to publish material from this collection must be requested in writing from the Manuscripts Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. 21218.

 Preferred Citation

Herbert Spencer Jennings Papers Ms. 62 Special Collections Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University

 Biographical Note

Herbert Spencer Jennings, distinguished American experimental biologist, was born in 1868 in Tonica, Illinois, the son of a physician. Jennings began his scientific education at the University of Michigan where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1893. He continued at Harvard from 1895- 1897 receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. From 1898 to 1906 he taught at Texas A & M, the University of Michigan, Harvard, Montana State College, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1906 he came to John Hopkins University as Associate Professor of Zoology and in 1910 he made Henry Walters Professor of Zoology and director of the zoology laboratory of the University. He remained at Johns Hopkins University until his retirement in 1938. He was visiting professor at Kelo University, Japan in 1931-32; at Yale in 1933; Princeton in 1934; at Oxford in 1938, and at the University of Pennsylvania in 1940.

His chief research interests were protozoology and genetics, and he was the author of 10 major works and numerous articles and lectures. Among his books which attracted international attention in the scientific world were: Behavior of Lower Organisms, Life and Death, Heredity and Evolution in Unicellular Organisms, Prometheus--or Biology and Advancement of Man, The Biological Basis of Human Nature, Genetics of the Protozoa, and The Universe and Life.

Jennings was an Associate Editor of The Journal of Experimental Biology, The Biological Bulletin, and Human Biology, and he was a trustee of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. He held the Leidy Award, Academy of National Science, Philadelphia; Walker Prize, Boston Society of Natural History; and was a member of many scientific organizations. He served as President of the Society of Naturalists in 1911 and of the Society of Zoologists in 1909. He was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Science, and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

After his retirement from The Johns Hopkins University in 1938, Jennings became research associate at the University of California at Los Angeles where he continued his studies, lectures, and writing on protozoology and genetics. He was stricken by illness in 1946, and he died on April 14, 1947 at Santa Monica, California. Jennings married Louise Plant, and they had one son, Burridge Jennings.

Description of Series/Container List Container List Container List 2 boxes

Of particular interest in the correspondence are the letters of M. Demerec and L.C. Dunn, which relate to the cancellation of the 7th International Congress of Genetics at Moscow in August 1937, and to the arrest in Moscow of a number of members of the organizing committee. Letters of Joseph Sweetman Ames, Carlyle Barton and Burton E. Livingston pertain to Johns Hopkins University administrative matters; and there are 4 letters of Charles F. Rousselet concerning Rotifera. Also in in the collection are are: photograph of Jennings (negative print); 1 folder of biological drawings; and manuscript lecture notes of Jennings on Paracelsus, Nov. 15, 1916; Immanuel Kant and Radl, 1913.

Reprints of articles by Jennings:

What Is Life?, 1925 Senescence and Death in Protazoa and Invertebrates, 1939 Paramecium Bursaria: Life History, 1944 Biology and Social reform, 1937 Book Review of "The Biological Basis of Individuality" by Leo Loeb, 1945 General Biology and Genetics, 1934 Obituary and Biographic Sketch of Raymond Pearl, 1941 The Beginnings of Social Behavior in Unicellular Organisms, 1941 Behavior of the Starfish Asterias Forreri de Loriol, 1907 Contributions to the Study of the Behavior of Lower Organisms, 1904 Sex Reaction Types and Their Interrelations in Paramecium Bursaria, 1938 Fundamental Units in Biology, 1936 Genetics of Paramecium Bursaria, 1942 Chromosomes and Cytoplasm in Protozoa, 1938 Formation, Inheritance and Variation of the Teeth on Difflugia Corona, 1937 Paramecium Bursaria: Mating Types and Groups, 1939