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Mr. Blakeslee Builds His Dream House: Agricultural Institutions, Genetics, and Careers 1900–1915

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Abstract

Between 1907 and 1915 Albert Francis Blakeslee transformed both himself and the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs into things neither had been at the beginning of the century. Using the varied commitments of the agricultural college and experiment station at which he worked as resources with which to build his career, Blakeslee began as a botanist and instructor in botany and ended as a geneticist and teacher of genetics. Moreover, he left behind at Storrs a legacy of genetic research and instruction in the form of an autonomous department of Botany and Genetics. The story of Blakeslee’s career at the Connecticut Agricultural College reveals the multifold ways in which agricultural researchers identified unique institutional resources and built unexpected careers and unanticipated institutional structures, a process which had a significant impact on the disciplinary growth of genetics in the United States.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Liberal Arts, Philadelphia University, School House Lane and Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Barbara A. Kimmelman

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  1. Barbara A. Kimmelman
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Correspondence to Barbara A. Kimmelman.

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The archival collections used most extensively for this study were the Albert Francis Blakeslee Papers at the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, and various collections in the Historical Manuscripts and Archives, University of Connecticut, at Storrs. I abbreviate the former collection as AFB-APS, and cite documents according to correspondent, date, and folder number (except for correspondents for which there is only one folder), which is how the collection is organized. I abbreviate the latter collections as U-Conn, with collection, box, and folder numbers duly noted. All other archival collections are given unabbreviated references when cited.

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Kimmelman, B.A. Mr. Blakeslee Builds His Dream House: Agricultural Institutions, Genetics, and Careers 1900–1915. J Hist Biol 39, 241–280 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-006-0004-6

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