Finding Aid for Iltis Mendeliana Collection, 1841-1984 | University of Illinois Archives

By William Maher

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Collection Overview

Title: Iltis Mendeliana Collection, 1841-1984

ID: 15/24/56

Primary Creator: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Genetics and Development

Extent: 5.5 cubic feet

Arrangement: By source, and numerical or chronological thereunder

Subjects: Corn, Czechoslovakia, Genetics, Museums

Formats/Genres: Papers

Languages: English, German

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Iltis Mendeliana Collection originally purchased (1955) by the University from the heirs of Dr. Hugo Iltis (1882-ca. 1950) and maintained by the Natural History Museum contains museum display boards and research files including biographical materials relating to Gregor Mendel (1822-84) and original manuscripts (1850, 1880) relating to the completion of his academic studies, Mendel's publications (1862-63, 1865, 1869-70) photographs of Mendel and his colleagues (1863), places in the present Czech Republic associated with Mendel and his research on genetics, a painting by J. O. Flatter of Mendel, plaques and commemorative certificates relating to Mendel, portraits of famous geneticists (including a 1878 photograph of Charles Darwin taken by Leonard Darwin), correspondence, photographs, and publications relating to the history of genetics and Mendel's role in scientific research. This series includes a limited number of original Mendel manuscripts, photographic copies and transcriptions of those manuscripts, and display boards illustrating the principles of genetics developed in the 1940s by Hugo Iltis for a "Mendel Museum" at Mary Washington College (Fredericksburg, Virginia) and boards used by the Natural History Museum, including the"Honor Role of Corn" containing captioned photographs of researchers in the hybridization of corn.

Biographical Note

Courses have been taught in Zoology since 1868 under the Department of General Science and Literature;¹ Department of Natural History (1868-69);² College of Natural History, Zoological Department (1870);³College of Natural Science, School of Natural History (1871-90);⁴ College of Science, School of Natural Science (1891-93);⁵ College of Science, Natural Science Group (1893-1900 );⁶ College of Science, General Science Group (1900-01);⁷ College of Science, Department of Zoology (1901-13);⁸ and in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1913-73).⁹ In 1884, the Department became a clearly defined course of study.¹⁰ The Department granted B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Zoology and offered courses in genetics, parasitology, ecology, and physiology.¹¹ In 1973, the Department of Zoology was divided into two provisional departments: the Department of Ecology,Ethology, and Evolution and the Department of Genetics and Development within the of Life Sciences. In March 17, 1976 the Board of Trustees approved the reorganized department.¹² Genetics and development was approved by the University Senate as one of the specializations within regulatory biology to convey an emphasis of the department.¹³ The Executive Committee of the School of Life Sciences in 1986 decided to dissolve the Department of Genetics and Development and in 1990 approved a Senate recommendation to terminate the department.¹⁴ According to Professor David Nanney the dissolution of thedepartment was a "turf war" concerning genetics and its proper location within the university.¹⁵ The Board of Trustees renamed the Department of Anatomical Sciences as the Department of Cell and Structural Biology.¹⁶

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 1st Report, June 13, 1868, p. 50.

2. Ibid, 2nd Report, January 12-22, 1869, p. 5-6.

3. Fourth Annual Circular, Illinois Industrial University, 1870-71, p. 34.

4. Catalogs and Registers, 1878-79, p. 23; 1889-90, p. 35.

5. Catalogs and Register, 1891-92, p. 26.

6. Catalogs and Registers, 1893-94, p. 48.

7. Catalogs and Registers, 1900-01, p. 61.

8. Catalogs and Registers, 1901-02, p. 124.

9. Board of Trustees Transactions, 27th Report, July 5, 1912, p. 71.

10. Catalogs and Registers, 1884-85, p. 67.

11. Graduate Study Catalog, 1971-72, p. 288-293.

12. Board of TRustees Transactions, 58th Report, March 17, 1976, p. 576.

13. Board of TRustees Transactions, 62nd Report, July 21, 1983, p. 298-299.

14. Board of Trustees agenda, June 14, 1990, #17.

15. Daily Illini, Tuesday, June 19, 1990, p. 1, 4.

16. Board of Trustees Transactions, 64th Report, April 14, 1988, p. 514.

Subject/Index Terms

Corn
Czechoslovakia
Genetics
Museums

Administrative Information

Repository: University of Illinois Archives

Accruals: 4/14/2005

Access Restrictions: Access is provided only with the written permission of the University Archivist.

Other Note: 10 Pages

PDF Box/Folder List

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1524056.pdf

PDF finding aid for Iltis Mendeliana Collection (15/24/56)

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Box:

[Box 1],
[Box 2],
[Folder 12],
[Folder 13],
[Box 3],
[Folder 2],
[Folder 3],
[Series 1: Natural History Museum Mendeliana Collection Resource Files],
[Box 5],
[Box 6],
[Box 7],
[Box 8],
[Box 9],
[Box 10],
[Box 11],
[Box 12],
[Box 13],
[Box 14],
[All]

Series 1: Natural History Museum Mendeliana Collection Resource Files

Box 4

Folder 1: Photocopies of Hugo Iltis correspondence and Iltis transcriptions of Mendel documents, 1841, 1859,1883-84,1905-06, 1909, 1911-12, 1922-24, 1930-31, 1935, 1938
Folder 2: Hugo DeVries to Charles Zeleny, February 28, 1928
Folder 3: Lecture and Symposium Announcements, 1965, 1969, 1970
Folder 4: Photographs of University of Illinois Natural History Museum Mendel Displays, ca. 1974: Contains negatives and contact sheets.
Folder 13: Folia Mendeliana Supplementum ad Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae Naturalis, Folia issues, 1-13, 15-21, 1966-86

Sub-Series 1: Reprints and Articles Concerning Mendel

Box 4

Folder 5: General, 1956, 1973-74
Folder 6: Folia Facultatis Scientiearum Naturalum Universitatis Purkynianae Brunensis: Contains XIV (1973) and XV (1974)
Folder 7: G. Czihak, Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884): Dokumentierte Biographie und Katalog zur Gedächntnisausstellung anlässlich des hundersten Todestages mit Facsimile seines Hauptwerkes: “Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden, (Salzburg, 1984), 1984
Folder 8: Donald F. Hoffmeister and Harry C. Hendriksen, “The Collection of Mendeliana at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,” 44 Acta Musei Moraviae (1979) Folia Mendeliana 14, pp. 281-284., 1979
Folder 9: Vitezslav Orel, 1965, 1984
Folder 10: Vitezslav Orel and Anna Matalová, eds., Gregor Mendel and the Foundation of Genetics: Proceedings of the Symposium The Past Present and Future of Genetics Kupa_ovicem Czechoslovakia, August 26-28, 1982, (Brünn: Mendelianum of the Moravian Museum, 1983)., 1983
Folder 11: Josef Sajner, Gregorii Mendel Autobiographia Iuvenilis,(Brünn: Universitas Purykynian Brunensis, 1972), facsimile of manuscript and typeset transcription of Mendel’s April 17, 1850 autobiographical statement for teaching license.
Folder 12: George Harrison Shull, 1912, 1951