The Barbara McClintock Papers

Title:

Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt Stern

Description:

In this letter to noted German geneticist Curt Stern, McClintock informed him that she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. It was McClintock's intent to complete the fellowship at Stern's lab at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Dahlem, but after Hitler's rise to power, Stern--then in the United States--never returned to Germany.

Item is handwritten.

Number of Image Pages:

2 (174,810 Bytes)

Date:

1933-03-13 (March 13, 1933)

Creator:

McClintock, Barbara

Recipient:

Stern, Curt

Source:

Original Repository: American Philosophical Society. Library. Curt Stern Papers

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of the Curt Stern Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Subject:

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH):: Fellowships and Scholarships; Natural Disasters

Exhibit Category:

From Ithaca to Berlin and Back Again, 1931-1935

Relation:

Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt Stern (April 19, 1933)

Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt Stern (August 12, 1933)

Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt and Evelyn Stern (March 4, 1934)

Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt and Evelyn Stern [11 December 1934?]

Box Number: 3

Folder Number: 2

Unique Identifier:

LLBBMB

Document Type:

Letters (correspondence)

Language:

English

Format:

application/pdf

image/tif

Physical Condition:

Good

Transcript:

March 13, 1933

Dear Curt --

Thanks for your good news from Columbia -- but I have good news too. I got a telegram last night from Harriet Creighton stating that I got the Guggenheim fellowship at 1800 dollars. Emerson wrote to them stating I would take 1800 dollars with the board paying my traveling expenses. I have not received their letter which was sent to Cornell but it will come sometime this week. In the mean time I had written to the National Research Council asking for a three month extension of my present fellowship. I think, therefore, that I am all set for another year and pleasantly so. I shall let you know details as soon as I know them. I applied to begin my fellowship in October. I shall probably see you then sometime in October --

You missed some exciting times around here with the earthquake giving us all the "jitters" (ask Evelyn for the definition). Darlington, Miss Richardson, Jack Schultz and I were all on the third floor of the building when it

[END PAGE ONE]

[BEGIN PAGE TWO]

commenced. I had been waiting for it ever since I was aware that one was expected in this region and knew exactly what was occurring the second it commenced. The building shook strenuously and the rattle of the building added to the roar sent up from the earth vibrations was startling to say the least. I made lightening time to get to the first floor. Nearly everyone else seemed rooted to their positions so unexpected and astounding was the shake. The next day I got the big laugh for me double quick time and was invited to try for the sprints in the next olympic games. We had over 200 minor shocks in the next 24 hours. They have continued ever since with quite a hard one yesterday morning. Sunday night both Sterling and I felt dizzy from the continual shaking of the building. The later quakes rolled the building giving a sensation similar to a rolling ship. After a while we could not be sure in all cases whether we were imagining our rolls or whether they were actually occurring.

My trip to San Francisco was very interesting. I enjoyed Clemson very much. Their problem is most intricate. Translocations are occurring all the time in plants with unbalanced complements but the cytological analysis is not near so easy as it is in maize. Give my best to Evelyn and a good voyage. I shall write to you soon about details --

Sincerely,

Barbara

Metadata Last Modified Date:

2006-09-06

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