Biographical Note
In the summer of 1918, Cleland assisted Bradley Moore Davis in research on Oenothera by investigating the behavior of the chromosomes which resulted in a startling discovery. Some of the chromosomes in the Oenothera behaved in the normal manner while others regularly arranged themselves end to end in a circle, adjacent chromosomes going into different reproductive cells. Although such chromosomal behavior had been sporadically noted no one had recognized that it occurred regularly for some chromosomes of some organisms. Cleland felt that his discovery might be the clue to understanding the already known erratic pattern of heredity in Oenothera and thereby converting one of the apparent discrepancies with the chromosome theory into one of its strongest supports. Furthermore, his discovery might explain the sudden large hereditary variations which occurred in Oenothera and had been the main basis of the theory of mutation proposed in 1901 by the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries as an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution. Cleland demonstrated the causes and the effects of the circles of chromosomes on patterns of heredity and on the origin of large hereditary variations. He used what he had discovered to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Oenothera. A comprehensive study of Oenotheras of North America and to a lesser degree of Central and South America culminated in his history of Oenothera. Shortly before his death the manuscript entitled Oenothera, Cytogenetics and Evolution was sent to the publisher.
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of the correspondence in this collection deals with research on Oenothera; some letters, however, relate to the persecution of Jews in Germany in 1938; the Paraguayan War, 1865-1870; the botany departments at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota; economic conditions in the United States, 1934; discrimination against women; scientific research during World War II; roses; rubber plants; and bougainvillea.
Note on Indexing Term - "Indiana University": Ralph Erskine Cleland was a professor of botany.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged following original order.
Restrictions
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Indexed Terms
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Persons
- Abrams, Le Roy, 1874-1956
- Allen, Charles E. (Charles Elmer), 1872-1954
- Anderson, Edgar, 1897-1969
- Archer, W. Andrew (William Andrew), 1894-1973
- Atkinson, George Francis, 1854-1918
- Babcock, E. B. (Ernest Brown), 1877-1954
- Bailey, Irving W. (Irving Widmer), 1884-1967
- Barron, Leonard, 1868-1938
- Bartlett, Harley Harris, 1886-1960
- Baur, Erwin, 1875-1933
- Belling, John, 1866-
- Bergner, A. Dorothy (Anna Dorothy)
- Blakeslee, Albert Francis, 1874-1954
- Blanchard, Frieda Cobb, 1889-1977
- Bonnevie, Kristine, 1872-1948
- Boulenger, George Albert, 1858-1937
- Brink, R. Alexander (Royal Alexander), 1897-1984
- Briquet, John, 1870-1931
- Buchet, Samuel, 1875-1956
- Buchholz, John Theodore, 1888-1951
- Burlingame, Leonas Lancelot, 1876-
- Bĕlař, Karl Franz Josef, 1895-1931
- Calkins, Gary N. (Gary Nathan), 1869-
- Camp, W. H. (Wendell Holmes), 1904-1963
- Catcheside, David Guthrie, 1907-1994
- Chamberlain, Charles Joseph, 1863-
- Chivers, Arthur Houston, 1880-
- Clausen, Jens (Jens Christian), 1891-1969
- Cleland, Ralph E., 1892-1971
- Clements, Frederic E. (Frederic Edward), 1874-1945
- Cole, Leon J. (Leon Jacob), 1877-1948
- Compton, Robert Harold
- Conklin, Edwin Grant, 1863-1952
- Cook, O. F. (Orator Fuller), 1867-1949
- Crouse, Helen Virginia, 1914-2006
- Darlington, C. D. (Cyril Dean), 1903-1981
- Davenport, Charles Benedict, 1866-1944
- Davis, Bradley M. (Bradley Moore), 1871-1957
- Deam, Charles Clemon, 1865-1953
- Demerec, M. (Milislav), 1895-1966
- Dowell, Philip, 1864-1936
- East, Edward M. (Edward Murray), 1879-1938
- Eastwood, Alice, 1859-1953
- Emerson, Ralph, 1912-1979
- Emerson, Sterling, 1900-1988
- Erlanson, Eileen Whitehead, 1899-2002
- Fairchild, David, 1869-1954
- Fernald, Merritt Lyndon, 1873-1950
- Fujii, Kenjirō, 1866-1952
- Gagnepain, F. (François), 1866-1952
- Gaiser, Lulu O. (Lulu Odell), 1896-1965
- Galán, Fernando, 1908-1999
- Gates, R. Ruggles (Reginald Ruggles), 1882-1962
- Goldschmidt, Richard, 1878-1958
- Greenman, J. M. (Jesse More), 1867-1951
- Grégoire, Victor Marie Théodore Joseph, 1870-1938
- Hall, Harvey Monroe, 1874-1932
- Hammond, Bayard Louis, 1900-
- Hanson, Frank Blair, 1886-1945
- Harper, R. A. (Robert Almer), 1862-1946
- Hegner, Robert William, 1880-1942
- Hemsley, W. Botting (William Botting), 1843-1924
- Heribert-Nilsson, Nils, 1883-1955
- Heslop-Harrison, John William, 1881-1967
- Hill, Arthur W. (Arthur William), Sir, 1875-1941
- Huskins, C. Leonard (Charles Leonard), 1897-1953
- Illick, John Theron
- Jeffrey, Edward C. (Edward Charles), 1866-
- Jennings, H. S. (Herbert Spencer), 1868-1947
- Johansen, Donald Alexander, 1901-
- Jones, L. R. (Lewis Ralph), 1864-1945
- Karpechenko, Georgii Dmitrievich, 1899-1941
- Kaufmann, B. P. (Berwind Peterson), 1897-1975
- Keck, David D. (David Daniels), 1903-
- Kelley, Arthur Pierson, 1897-1979
- Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman), 1867-1937
- Kelly, James Peter
- Kihara, Hitoshi
- Laughton, Elaine Margaret Young, 1898-1974
- League, Bessie
- Lehmann, Ernst, 1880-1957
- Little, Clarence C. (Clarence Cook), 1888-1971
- Longley, William H. (William Harding), 1881-1937
- Lotsy, Johannes Paulus, 1867-1931
- Lutz, Anne M., 1871-1938
- MacDowell, E. Carleton (Edwin Carleton), 1887-1973
- Macfarlane, John Muirhead, 1855-1943
- Maeda, Takeshige
- Martens, Pierre (botanist)
- McClintock, Barbara, 1902-1992
- McClung, C. E. (Clarence Erwin), 1870-1946
- Modilewski, J.
- Morgan, Thomas Hunt, 1866-1945
- Munz, Philip A. (Philip Alexander), 1892-1974
- Navashin, M. S. (Mikhail Sergeevich)
- Nebel, Bernard Rudolf, 1901-1963
- Oehlkers, Friedrich, 1890-1971
- Osborn, Fairfield, 1887-1969
- Peirce, George James, 1868-1954
- Poddubnaya-Arnoldi, V. A.
- Polhamus, Loren G. (Loren George), 1895-
- Randolph, L. F. (Lowell Fitz), 1894-1980
- Renner, Otto, 1883-1960
- Robinson, Benjamin Lincoln, 1864-1935
- Robinson, John, 1846-1925
- Rosenberg, O. (Otto), 1872-1949
- Rudloff, C. F.
- Russell, Mary Anna
- Sander, Hans Gerhard Friedrich
- Satina, Sophia, 1879-1975
- Sax, Karl, 1892-1973
- Schwemmle, J.
- Sears, Paul B. (Paul Bigelow), 1891-1990
- Seifriz, William, 1888-1955
- Sharp, Lester W. (Lester Whyland), 1887-
- Shull, Charles A. (Charles Albert), 1879-1962
- Shull, George Harrison, 1874-1954
- Siebs, Helmi
- Sinnott, Edmund W. (Edmund Ware), 1888-1958
- Smith, Gilbert Morgan, 1885-1959
- Stanley, Wendell M. (Wendell Meredith), 1904-1971
- Stern, Curt, 1902-1981
- Stifler, Mary Cloyd Burnley, 1876-1956
- Stomps, Theodoor Jan, 1885-1973
- Stout, Arlow Burdette, 1876-1957
- Streeter, George Linius, 1873-1948
- Stunkard, Horace W. (Horace Wesley), 1889-1989
- Sturtevant, A. H. (Alfred Henry), 1891-1970
- Sumwalt, Margaret, 1901-
- Svedlius, Nils Eberhard, 1873-1960
- Taylor, William Randolph, 1895-
- Thompson, Walter Palmer, 1889-1970
- Tischler, Georg Friedrich Leopold, 1878-
- Tisdale, E. W.
- Tracy, S. M. (Samuel Mills), 1847-1920
- True, Rodney H. (Rodney Howard), 1866-1940
- Tuan, Hsu-Chuan, 1902-1989
- Vries, Hugo de, 1848-1935
- Weier, T. Elliot (Thomas Elliot), 1903-1991
- Weiss, F. E. (Frederick Ernest), 1865-1953
- Went, Friedrich August Ferdinand Christian, 1863-1935
- Wettstein, Richard, Ritter von Westersheim, 1863-1931
- Wherry, Edgar Theodore, 1885-
- Whitaker, Thomas W. (Thomas Wallace), 1904-1993
- White, Elizabeth Lloyd
- Whiting, P. W. (Phineas Westcott), 1887-1978
- Williams, Mary Wilhelmine, 1878-1944
- Wilson, Edmund B. (Edmund Beecher), 1856-1939
- Wiþniewska, Ewa
- Woolnough, Frank, 1845-1930
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Corporate Bodies
- University of Michigan. Department of Botany
- University of Minnesota. Department of Botany
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Subjects
- Bougainvillea
- Depressions--1934--United States
- Evening primrose
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
- Indiana University
- Oenothera
- Paraguayan War, 1865-1870
- Roses
- Rubber plants
- Science
- Sex discrimination against women
- World War, 1939-1945
- World War, 1939-1945--Science--Research
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Item], Cleland mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Acquisition Information
Gift: 1971