Holdings Liberal Arts and Sciences Genetics and Development De... Iltis Mendeliana Collection Finding Aid Holdings Liberal Arts and Sciences Genetics and Development De... Iltis Mendeliana Collection Finding Aid By William Maher
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
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.
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);3 College 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.
Repository: University of Illinois Archives
Access Restrictions: Access is provided only with the written permission of the University Archivist.
Other Note: 10 Pages
URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/1524056.pdf
PDF finding aid for Iltis Mendeliana Collection (15/24/56)
a) “Gregor Mendel Museum, Fredericksburg, Virgina Shelf List” (original ribbon-copy typescript inventory of Iltis’ Mendel Collection, with pencil, pen, and marker annotations presumably added by the Natural History Museum).
b) handwritten list (8 pages) of original Mendel “relics” and other Mendel-related items as prepared by the Natural History Museum some time after the 1961 acquisition of the Mendel clock.
c) spreadsheet inventory prepared by the University Archives on its acquisition of the collection in 2005
Submit request (Aeon)
Email us about these papers
Print this information