Central Washington University Archives
Guide to the Biology Department
Date: April 27, 2007
Date Span: 1834-2003 (bulk 1889-1927) Size: 5 cubic feet. Number of Boxes: 10 letter sized document case. Type of material: Diaries, legal and financial papers, correspondence, scrapbook, published and unpublished manuscripts, notebooks, hand-drawn slides and plates, books, photographs. Physical condition: Good. Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by material type. Historical or Biographical Sketch: 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. Scope and Content Note: 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. Research Note: Open to the public.
Inventory List:
Box 1
1. Daily Diaries, 1891-1893
2. Daily Diaries, 1894-1896
3. Daily Diaries, 1897-1899
4. Daily Diaries, 1900-1902
5. Daily Diaries, 1903, 1908
6. Daily Diaries, 1917-1919
7. Diary from journey to Graz, Austria, 1910
Box 2
1. Pamphlet of Norwegian Verse, 1834
2. Family Financial and Legal Papers, 1884-1932
3. Retirement Application, Illinois Justice of the Peace Certificate,
Fire Insurance, 1890-1923
4. Munson Family Correspondence, 1892-1930
5. Cash Account Book, 1902-1907
6. Central Washington State College Letters to Mrs. Sophie Munson,
1932, 1941
7. Mrs. Sophie Munson’s Will, 1944
8. Trust Fund and Endowment Correspondence, 1944-1982
9. Munson Family Genealogical Notes
10. Mrs. Munson’s Translation of the Icelandic Saga The Saga of
Eric the Red
11. Correspondence about Photographs, 2002-2003
12. Photographs
13. Loose 19th century Norwegian Newspaper Clippings from Scrapbook
14. Scrapbook with 19th century Norwegian Newspaper Clippings
Small Box containing three copper cut portraits of Munson and an
1876 Bible presented to Munson by friends on his 19th birthday.
Box 3
1. Typed manuscript: Anatomy and Habits of Ophioglypha Sarssi, 1892
2. Notebook with two pen manuscripts: Outline of a Biology Course
and Essay on Parental Education, c. 1899
3. Typed Manuscript of Address: Biological Factors in the Growth and
Interpretation of Language, 1900
4. Notebook with lecture on flies, discussion of philanthropy, and higher
education in America, c. 1900-1905
5. Pen manuscript of lecture to newly arrived students, c. 1900-1910
6. Pen manuscript: Vital Processes in Education, c. 1901
7. Typed outline of lectures for course in biological and cultural
evolution at WSNS, c. 1907-1915
8. Unpublished pen manuscript: Social Reveries. My Mind and Yours in the
Struggle for Liberty, c. 1910
9. Typed manuscript: Social Reveries. My Mind and Yours in the Struggle
for Liberty, c. 1910
10. Pen manuscript: Nature and Literature (A collection of poems), c. 1910
11. Typed manuscript: Observations on Cytogenesis, Yolk Formation, and
Growth of Living Substance in the Chelovian Ovary, c. 1912
12. Unpublished pen manuscript: Observations on Cytogenesis, Yolk
Formation, and Growth of Living Substance in the Chelovian Ovary,
c. 1912
13. Pen manuscript: On Permanent Centrosomes, and Their Connection by Means
of Astral Rays, Forming Intercellular Bridges, c. 1913 or later
14. Typed manuscript: On Permanent Centrosomes, and Their Connection by
Means of Astral Rays, Forming Intercellular Bridges, c. 1913 or later
15. Pen manuscript: On the Origin of the Neurofibrillae from Permanent
Centrospheres in the Nerve Cells of the Chelonian Brain, c. 1913
16. Fragment of unidentified cytological essay, c. 1913
17. Draft toward an essay: Microscopic Study in Embryology and the Present
Limits of Scientific Knowledge, c. 1913
18. Pen manuscript: Original Observations and Inferences, c. 1913
19. Typed manuscript: On the Origin of the Neurofibrillae from Permanent
Centrospheres in the Nerve Cells of the Chelonian Brain, c. 1913-1917
Box 4
1. Typed manuscript: An Essay on Man or Is There a Scientific Basis for a
Rational Optimism, c. prior to 1914
2. Plates II from unidentified material, 1915
3. Plates I from unidentified material, 1915
4. Plates III from unidentified material, 1915
5. Typed address: Mistakes of Old Believer’s and Young Doubters—An
Attempted Solution of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, 1915
6. Pen essay: The Biological Department, Praise for Pure Science,
Criticism for Applied Science, c. 1915-1920
7. Unidentified fragment of handwritten egg study, c. 1920-1925
8. Hand-drawn plates for unidentified material, 1922
9. Pen manuscript of essay lecture to WSNS students: Autoanalysis, 1923
10. Pen manuscript: The Cell and Cell Theory for Menschen and Menschenwerke
(Encyclopedia), 1923
11. Abstract of paper: Hereditary Transmission of a Sexlimited, Acquired
Character, a Teleological Adaptation due to Pressure, 1923
12. Apology letter regarding conference scheduling error, 1923
13. Pen essay: Quarter Century of Biology at Washington State Normal School
– 1899-1924, 1924
14. Original pen draft: The Cell and Cell Theory, 1926
15. Correspondence, typed manuscript, promotional pamphlet for Menschen
and Menschenwerke, 1926
Box 5
1. Notebook containing drawing on frog anatomy, c. late 1880s
2. Notebook of botany lectures at University of Wisconsin, 1884
3. Notebook from Yale lectures on bacteriology, histology, embryology,
and botany, 1891-1893
4. Notebook on invertebrate zoology lectures at Yale, 1891-1892
5. Notebook on Yale lectures in botany, zoology, psychology, and anthropod
zoology, 1892-1893
6. Notebooks summarizing literature on crystacean egg, c. 1893
7. Notebook on literature in cytology, 1893-1908
8. Notebook on Yale lectures on toxicology and invertebrate structures,
c. 1893
9. Notebook from reading and lectures at the University of Chicago, 1894
Box 6
1. Notebook on literature of reptiles and amphibians, c. 1894 or later
2. Notebook, notes, and correspondence on oogenesis from the University of
Chicago, 1895
3. Notebook from University of Chicago lectures, 1896
4. Notebook cytological literature through 1913, 1898-1913
5. Notebook examining journal articles on cytology, 1865-1901, 1900-1901
6. Notebook summarizing 19th century writers on spermatogenesis,
c. 1904 or later
7. Notebook on history and literature of biology, 1925-1926
8. Notebook on zoology and cytology, 1926
9. Notebook on older cytology literature, 1926
10. Notebook on literature of sex and cytology, 1926
11. Cell drawings, article
Box 7
1. Final publication: The Ovarian Egg of Limulus, 1898
2. Final publication: Lectures on Education, 1901
3. Pen draft: Education through Nature Study, Foundations and Method, 1903
4. Part 1 manuscript: Education through Nature Study, Foundations and
Method, 1903
5. Part 2 manuscript: Education through Nature Study, Foundations and
Method, 1903
6. Promotional pamphlet for Education through Nature Study, Foundation
and Method,
1903
7. Published book: Education through Nature Study, Foundation and Method,
1903
8. Final publication: Researches on the Oogenesis of the Tortoise, Clemmys
Marmorata, 1904
Box 8
1. Six plates from Researches on the Oogenesis of the Tortoise, Clemmys
Mormorata, 1904
2. Incomplete draft: Researches on the Oogenesis of the Turtle, c. 1904
3. Final publication: Spermatogenesis of the Butterfly, Papilio Rutulus,
1906
4. Notes taken in preparation for Generation and Degeneration of Sex
Cells, 1909
5. Pen manuscript: Generation and Degeneration of Sex Cells, 1909
6. Final publication: Anatomy of the Arms of Ophiloglypha Sarsii, 1909
7. Pen manuscript: Organization and Polarity of Protoplasm, 1911
8. Final and conference publications: Organization and Polarity of
Protoplasm, 1911
9. Three plates from Organization and Polarity of Protoplasm, 1911
10. Draft of Walker Prize Essay: A Comparative Study of the Structure
and Origin of the Yolk Nucleus, 1911
11. Draft fragment of A Comparative Study of the Structure and Origin
of the Yolk Nucleus, c. 1911
12. Five plates from A Comparative Study of the Structure and Origin of
the Yolk Nucleus, 1912
13. Final publication: A Comparative Study of the Structure and Origin
of the Yolk Nucleus, 1912
14. Draft and final publication: Chelonian Brown-Membranes, Brain-Bladder,
Matapore and Metaplexus, 1913
15. Draft and final publications: Sociological and Biological Aspects of
the European War, 1914
16. Mary Summerfield Gardiner: Oogenesis in Limulus Polyphemus, Journal
of Morphology and Physiology 44, no. 2 (Sept. 5), 1927
Box 9
1. Cell study slides, 1-5
2. Cell study slides, 6-11
3. Cell study slides, 12-16
4. Cell study slides, 17-21
5. Cell study slides, 23-27
6. Norwegian (?) letter with official seal, 1851
7. Original letters of recommendation, 1887-1900
8. Copies of recommendation letters, 1887-1888
9. Copies of recommendation letters, 1892-1893
10. Copies of recommendation letters, 1893
11. Correspondence to Munson, 1893-1931
12. Copies of recommendation letters, 1896-1897
13. Conference and congress programs, 1907-1920
14. Professional society awards and certificates, 1909-1918
15. Honor society certificates, 1910-1926
16. Biography booklet, extracts from “Men of America,” 1910
Box 10
1. Loose newspaper clippings from scrapbook, 1922, 1932
Scrapbook
2. Obituary record of Yale graduates, 1927-1928, 1928
3. Miscellaneous papers
4. History of the Class of 1893, Sheffield Scientific School,
Yale University, Compiled for the Class by Frederic Bogart
McMullen, Class Secretary, New Haven, CT: Press of the
Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1914
5. Twenty-five Year Record, Class of Ninety-Three, Sheffield
Scientific School, Compiled for the Class by Frederic B.
McMullen, Class Secretary, New Haven, CT: Press of the
Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1920
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