Correspondence, 1930-1993

Scope and content:

The main body of the Correspondence Series is arranged chronologically, however a small number of letters are filed together by correspondent and arranged alphabetically at the beginning of the series. It appears that Kramer created a separate set of files for postdoctoral students, and it is these files that are at the beginning of the series. Comprised of incoming letters and copies of outgoing letters with graduate students, university administrators, and scientists, the series reflects the full range of Kramer's professional life. Letters often relate to research questions, the direction of graduate students, the review of manuscripts, and matters at Duke University.

The very beginnings of Kramer's career are documented in the 1930s correspondence with Duke University biologists Arthur Sperry Pearse, Hugo L. Blomquist, and Ruth M. Addoms as well as William Wannamaker, Dean of Duke University. This early correspondence is particularly interesting as it reflects the correspondents' views on developing the biology department and Duke University. Beyond Duke, other notable correspondents from the 1930s and the 1940s include F.W. Went, Henry W. Popp, J. H. Priestly, Walter Loehwing, Burton E. Livingston, and Charles A. Shull. Other correspondents during the 1930s include Floyd W. Gail of the University of Idaho, B.S. Meyer and E.N. Transeau of Ohio State University. Kramer corresponded with these botanists, his former professors, throughout a substantial part of his career.

In the 1940s, the series contains numerous letters from Kramer's graduate students. Letters from Kramer's graduate students during the early 1940s provide perspectives on military life during World War II. John P. Decker and Theodore Kozlowski were among Kramer's students who corresponded with him during the war. Other Duke students who corresponded with Kramer include Wilbur Duncan, William K. Ferrell, Harold E. Young, and Johnson Parker.

Notable scientists who corresponded with Kramer during the 1940s and 1950s include N.A. Maximov, from the U.S.S.R.'s Academy of Sciences, as well as Henry Oosting, Clifford S. Schopmeyer, Paul Burkholder, William T. Jackson, Herman Wiebe, W. Dwight Billings, and Kenneth Thimann.

Correspondence from the 1960s to the 1990s reflects a number of matters at Duke including the construction of the phytotron. Douglas M. Knight, R. Taylor Cole, Henry Hellmers, and George Dutrow are among the Duke University figures with whom Kramer corresponded. Correspondence with George Dutrow in 1986 includes Kramer's reflections on the relationship between the Botany Department and the forestry program at Duke. Scientists who corresponded with Kramer during this period include William Lopushinsky, F.C. Steward, and a number of international scholars including Ralph O. Slatyer.

Arrangement:

The Correspondence Series is arranged in two subseries. The first is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the correspondent. The second series is arranged chronologically by date of the correspondence.

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