Nathan O. Kaplan Papers, 1943-1986 (MSS 99)

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILES: Miscellaneous biographical information including appointment books, association memberships, awards, condolences, and photographs.

Series 2) BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: Most of the material in the series postdates Kaplan's tenure at Brandeis. An important exception is the student rotation papers. At Kaplan's suggestion (based on his experience at McCollum-Pratt), Brandeis biochemistry graduate students were required to carry out six different research projects, of six-weeks' duration each in six different laboratories, during their first year. These "rotations" were an integral part of the curriculum.

Series 3) CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS: This series documents Kaplan's attendance at various conferences, meetings, symposia, lectures, etc. Note, however, that meetings of special committees within larger organizations such as UCSD are not included in this series, but do appear in the UCSD subseries of the Subject Files.

Kaplan did not attend all of the meetings for which there are named files; his absence, where it could be clearly established, has been indicated in the folder description. The contents of individual folders vary considerably. Some contain agenda, brochures with lists of participants, session topics, etc., correspondence, drafts of lectures, itineraries, and materials distributed at the meetings. As a body, these files provide strong evidence of Kaplan's involvement in biochemistry at local, national, and international levels.

Series 4) CORRESPONDENCE: Arranged in two subseries, A) Outgoing and B) Incoming. In the first subseries, correspondence is arranged chronologically. In the second, files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent or the organization with which the correspondent was affiliated. This series includes Kaplan laboratory files and staff correspondence as well as personal correspondence. Although all of the files in the series contain correspondence, many contain memos, reports, and proposals, as well.

The correspondence in this collection is primarily outgoing; most, but not all, of these letters were sent over Kaplan's signature. Exceptions are administrative letters generated by secretarial staff and more substantive correspondence written by research staff during Kaplan's sabbaticals. These files also consist of copies of letters sent over the signatures of individual laboratory staff and/or junior members of the chemistry department and cover subjects such as job interviews, grant applications, requests for chemicals, and experimental results.

The incoming correspondence subseries includes correspondence with Ephraim Katchalski, former President of Israel, and Martin Kamen, a world renowned chemist. A few of the correspondents with whom Kaplan had the most communication, as evidenced in the bulk of these files, are George Czerlinski, Gregory (Chi-Yu) and Norman Oppenheimer.

Series 5) SUBJECT FILES. Arranged in three subseries: A) Miscellaneous, B) Travel, and C) University of California, San Diego.

A) Miscellaneous: In the first of these subseries, folders are arranged alphabetically. In addition to general topics, the first subseries includes areas of special interest to Kaplan, namely, biochemical anthropology, interferon research and the Kaman symposium. This subseries also documents Kaplan's involvement in a number of organizations and professional societies of which he was an active member. The American Chemical Society is a significant example. Kaplan chaired the ACS' Division of Biological Sciences in the early 1980s; his files include correspondence, internal memos, meeting minutes, and reports. He was similarly active in the American Society of Biological Chemists. A long-time member of the National Academy of Sciences, Kaplan undertook, within the Office of Biochemical Nomenclature, herculean efforts to reduce the confusion in terminology that arose in scientific publications as new enzymes and chemical compounds were discovered and created. Some of the individual personalities and emotions involved in standardizing terms are evident in the NAS nomenclature file. Finally, Kaplan's stature in the field of biochemistry is evident in the site visit files which are part of the entries for the following institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Wichita State University.

B) Travel: The arrangement of the Travel subseries is chronological. Nearly all of the trips abroad represented by these files were undertaken during sabbatical leaves. Individual folders contain a mixture of pre- and post-travel correspondence that is mainly administrative, but some letters discuss research interests. Handwritten notes Kaplan took while visiting the Institute of Biochemistry in Shanghai also included in this subseries.

C) University of California, San Diego: Arranged alphabetically. Among the important records in this series are the UCSD files for the athymic mouse facility, the chemistry department, the cancer center, the Kaplan laboratory, and the medical school.

The UCSD subseries documents the growth of Kaplan and Gordon Sato's project to develop a colony of nude mice, beginning with early efforts to raise money, through the colony's eventual incorporation into the cancer center, is documented in the athymic mouse facility chronological administrative and general files. Specific files, such as the 1984 site visit and the users of nude mice, are also significant. Because so much of the research Kaplan and his group conducted focused on cancer, and because the tumors grown in the athymic mice were crucial to that research, references to the mouse colony also appear in the cancer center files (see especially the administrative and committee files) and in the Kaplan laboratory records. The cancer center files offer a sense of that institution's organizational dynamics, including John Mendelsohn's leading administrative role.

Kaplan's contributions to the UCSD chemistry department, particularly his interest in and commitment to teaching, are amply covered in the chemistry department files. Course outlines, lecture schedules, and handouts provide a clear sense of what material was presented and by whom. The Cell Biology and Biochemistry (CBB) course, an innovative effort to introduce basic science concepts to a mixed undergraduate and graduate population (including medical students), is well-represented in this collection. Some of the tensions between chemists and biochemists, between the chemistry and biology departments, and between the campus departments and the medical school are apparent from internal memos in the chemistry department administrative files, from discussions in the faculty council minutes, and from the debates over physical space assignments.

Among the Kaplan laboratory records, grants and proposals are a good sources of information regarding the kinds of research conducted by Kaplan and others in his laboratory. The medical school files document some of the struggles between the campus basic science departments and the medical school regarding the former's role in educating first and second-year medical students (see especially the ad hoc committee on basic science teaching, 1972). In addition, Kaplan's involvement in medical school committees, courses, and reviews is demonstrated by these files.