| Record Group | 005-07-11 |
| Department or Office: | Biology Department |
| Title: | John Munson Collection |
| Dates: | 1834-2003 (bulk 1889-1927) |
| Size: | 5 cubic feet. |
| Arrangement: | Arranged chronologically by material type. |
| History: | Science classes were initially taught at Washington State Normal School not long after the school opened in 1891. In 1893, a staff member was appointed to specifically teach science courses, which included zoology and botany. The biological science department was organized in 1899 as a separate department. John Munson was born February 21, 1860 in Jölster, Sunfjord, Norway and died February 27, 1928 in Ellensburg, Washington. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and the University of Chicago. He became the head of the biology department at Washington State Normal School in 1899, a position which he held until his death. |
| Contents: | The collection consists of daily diaries written by Munson over a thirty year period, early volumes written in Norwegian, family legal and financial papers including trust fund money managed by Mrs. Sophie Munson after her husband’s death, personal and professional correspondence, scrapbooks with Norwegian newspaper clippings, typed and hand-written manuscripts, notebooks from Munson’s school days and from his research while a professor at Washington State Normal School, slides and plates intended to accompany his research, and two books about his graduating class of Yale University, which include biographical sketches of students. |
| Restrictions: | Open to the public. |