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

By William Maher

Service Location	Boxes	Request
146 Library, 1408 W. Gregory Drive	Box 14	Request Box 14
146 Library, 1408 W. Gregory Drive	Boxes 1-10	Request Boxes 1-10
146 Library, 1408 W. Gregory Drive	Boxes 11-13	Request Boxes 11-13
Digital files: May require 24 hours notice for retrieval	e-records	Request e-records
146 Library, 1408 W. Gregory Drive	Item 114	Request Item 114

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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]

Box 5

Folder 1: Unidentified photograph possibly not from Ittis
Folder 2: Gregor Mendel’s home country: Contains a display board.
Folder 3: The monastery and the church in Altbrünn: Contains a photograph, negative, and caption.
Folder 4: Mendel’s autobiography: Contains a photograph of the manuscript's last page and caption.
Folder 5: Autobiography: Contains a photograph of the third page and caption.
Folder 6: The “handsome” portrait: Contains photographs, negative, and caption.
Folder 7: Mendel and the faculty of the Realschule: Contains photograph of “original.” See 171 for “original” print, and caption.
Folder 8: The small prelate portrait, 1882: Contains photograph, negative, and caption.
Folder 9: The great prelate portrait: Contains photograph, negative, and caption.
Folder 10: First page of Mendel’s manuscript of “Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden”: Contains photograph and caption.
Folder 11: Mendel’s apiary: Contains photograph and caption.
Folder 12: The Mendel Memorial in Brünn: Contains photograph and caption.
Folder 13: Prof. Baur, Berlin, speaking on the occasion of the International Gregor Mendel Centennial in Brünn, Sept. 1922: Contains photographs, negative, and caption.
Folder 14: Fertilization. Round-worm Ascaris (Th. Boveri): Contains a display board.
Folder 15: Mitosis. Consecutive stages of the division of a cell and its nucleus in the root of the onion.: Contains a display board.
Folder 16: Mitosis in Animals and Plants: Contains a display board.
Folder 17: The Increase in the Acreage Planted with Hybrid Corn in the USA During the Period of 1940 to 1946: Contains a display board created by Hugo Iltis and Jo Alys Downs.
Folder 18: A Gene Mutation Forms a New Species, fly Amaloptereix Maritima Eaton, 1949: Display Board by Hugo Iltis and Jo Alys Downs.
Folder 19: Bud mutation II, 1948: Display Board by Hugo Iltis and Margaret Shropshire.
Folder 20: Graft-hybrids II: Display Board by Hugo Iltis and Jo Alys Downs.
Folder 21: Mendel confirms the receipt of the questions for his examination in geology, 1850: Contains an original Mendel manuscript and negative of manuscript.
Folder 22: Mendel acknowledges the receipt of the questions for his examination in physics, 1850: Contains an original Mendel manuscript, negative of manuscript, and caption.
Folder 23: Record about Mendel’s oral examination in physics, 1850: Contains an original Mendel manuscript, negative of manuscript, and caption.
Folder 24: Mendel orders several varieties of pear trees, 1880: Contains an original Mendel manuscript, photographs and negative of manuscript, and caption.
Folder 25: Order for Pear trees, “sheet 2": Contains an original Mendel manuscript and negative of manuscript
Folder 26: Original drawing Mendel’s for a trellis: Contains an original Mendel manuscript, photograph and negative of manuscript, and caption.
Folder 27: Mendel among the faculty of the Brünn Realschule, 1863: From the monastery. Contains an original Mendel image and photographic copy and negative of image.
Folder 28: Metal engraving plate, H. S. Jennings, Genetics