Society for Industrial Microbiology records

Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

Today, within the scientific community, there is a general recognition of the balance and interdependence that exists between the theoretical and the applied sciences. This was not the case in the 1940’s when a growing group of industrial microbiologists began to feel that the practical and industrial aspects of bacteriology were being neglected by the established societies and that there was a need for a forum in which they could present their views and papers. In the late Summer and early Fall of 1949 Dr. Walter Ezekiel began mailing letters to prospective members concerning the possible formation of a new organization which would support the work of industrial and applied microbiology. The new scientific body he proposed was a Society for Industrial Microbiology. Dr. Ezekiel mentioned his plan to Dr. Raymond L. Taylor, then associate administrative secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in charge of meetings and programs during a phone conversation in late October. This resulted in the scheduling of an organizational meeting to be held during the upcoming AAAS meetings in New York. At that time, it was decided that a new society, the Society for Industrial Microbiology (SIM) be established as a national scientific organization covering “the field of microbiologic work as applied to industrial materials and processes”. The first organizational meeting was held in the ballroom of the Hotel McAlpin in New York City on December 29, 1949 with some 300 people in attendance. This new society was to be associated with then newly formed American Institute of Biological Sciences. At that time, Dr. Charles Thom was elected Acting Chairman and C.L. Porter was elected Acting Secretary and Dr. Thom appointed an organizational committee that met several times during the first year to prepare a program for the first annual meeting and to write a constitution. The first annual meeting was held in conjunction with the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) on September 11 – 13 1950 at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. Thereafter the newly formed society held all its meetings in conjunction with the AIBS meetings. It was not until 1967 that they began to hold independent annual meetings. The first of these was held at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario Canada. In 1960 the Society for Industrial Microbiology was incorporated in the District of Columbia. From the original 300 members SIM membership grew to about 550 in 1959. In that year the SIM began offering corporate membership in the society. By 1975 the society had grown to the point where it had approximately 1000 members including some 46 corporate members. Due to the significant growth in the society a position of Business Secretary was established in 1973 to assist the society in managing its expanding activities. In addition, Local Sections were being established in different parts of the country. At present, SIM still has well under 2,000 members. This is no accident. At the outset the society wanted to foster a climate where the rank and file would know each other on a first name basis. In fact, C. L. Porter stated in a presidential address that “a membership of more than 1,200 – 1,500 should be discouraged for then we like other groups mentioned, would lose the personal contact which was one of the principal attractions.” Over the years, SIM has made use of publications to give recognition for research in the practical aspects of microbiology and to announce scientific findings. As early as 1951, SIM put out its first publication, the SIM News Letter (changed to SIM News in November 1972) followed by the publication of its first journal Applied Microbiology in 1953. This served as the official publication of SIM until 1960 when the second journal to be published by the society, Developments in Industrial Microbiology, became the official publication of SIM. In 1963, SIM began publishing their Special Publications series that would later included proceedings or lectures of the Summer Institute. In 1986, the Journal of Industrial Microbiology (now the Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology) was launched to be a companion to the earlier Developments in Industrial Microbiology. By 1964 SIM began to turn its attention to the problem of education. It was decided that SIM should begin a series of summer courses designed to focus on specific areas of interest as well as “practical methods” and that these courses should promote the enrollment of technician level employees of firms conducting microbiological work. The courses were to be open to all college graduates and that SIM membership would not be required. In 1965 the first of the Summer Institute courses, an Introduction to Genetics, was held at the University of Minnesota. In addition, over the years SIM has established numerous awards. The first award, the Certificate of Merit (now the C.L. Porter Award for Distinguished Service) was created in 1963 to recognize individual members for unselfish and outstanding service to the society. A second award the SIM High School Science Award was established in 1964. In 1966 the Charles H. Thom Award, the highest award in the society was instituted to award individuals who have made outstanding contributions to research in industrial microbiology. The first recipient of this award was Kenneth B. Raper in August of 1967. Since those early years several more awards have been created to recognize the outstanding work in the field. The Waksman Outstanding Teaching Award was established in 1989 and in 1992 the Schering-Plough Research Institute Young Investigator Award intended to give recognition and support young researchers was instituted. In 2011, the organization changed its name to the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB). The National Office currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia.

Scope & Content

This collection of records of the Society for Industrial Microbiology covers the years 1949 – 2001 and includes correspondence, memoranda, minutes, financial reports, audits and budgets, constitutions and by-laws, incorporation documents, ledgers, membership lists and directories, brochures, photographs, publications and other records of activities. Documents are arranged into series based on the administrative organization set forth in the society’s policy manual. Series one, Board of Directors contains the records generated by the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer arranged by creating officer. Files of the President include correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, beginning with the origin of the Society. Presidential correspondence covers the wide range of activities and interests of the society including committee assignments, awards issues and other administrative concerns. There is only one folder of Vice-Presidential material from 1975-1976. Among the Secretary’s files are the agendas and minutes of the board of directors meetings for 1954, and from 1960 through 1992 inclusive. Files also include correspondence pertaining to administrative activities such as elections, mailing list approvals, business calendars, the certificate of incorporation, constitution, by-laws and revisions, and rosters of officers and committee members. The bulk of the financial records falls under the Treasurer. Along with correspondence files dating as early as 1949 are audit reports, budgets, finance committee reports and ledgers for cash assets, income and disbursements, and receipts. The second series, Business Secretary, is arranged into two series: Business Office and Membership. The sub-series Business Office contains correspondence, income and expense statements for a variety of Society activities and the Policy Manuals. All documents of the Business Secretary, whether the office was in a private home and or after the National Office was established, are organized together by subject and then in date order. All membership records (which became the responsibility of the Business Secretary after the creation of that position) are together and organized first by subject and then in date order. The sub-series includes applications from 1957, brochures, member lists and printed directories. The third series, Committees, contains correspondence, memos, reports and rosters of many of the Society committees among them the Archives Committee, the Awards and Grants Committee, the Education Committee and the Summer Institute Committee. The materials show the extent of the interests of the society and the development of their activities. For example, the Summer Institute Committee files outline the inception of the Summer Institute courses and contain materials on courses taught from 1965 – 1970. Series four, Meetings, contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, forms, proceedings, and photographs. There is a block of correspondence from 1960 pertaining to a conference and some related to the Summer Institute dated 1968 – 1971. There is not a complete record of annual meetings and copies of minutes are extent only for the years 1950 – 1985. There is a smattering of reports from the annual meetings running from 1960 –1981 and some photographs from 1981 – 1990. There is a variety of proceedings, programs, papers and reports from workshops, symposia, conferences and joint meetings organized by the society. Of these a few are from 1960 – 1961, with the bulk of the papers coming from the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Also included are records from local chapter meetings. These contain the correspondence, memos, agendas, minutes and reports of five of the local chapters. The earliest of these is the Washington chapter with papers dating from 1951 – 1960, followed by Chicago with papers beginning in 1959 and extending to 1973. The remaining materials date from the 1970’s – 1990. These give a brief look at the workings of local units. The series Publications is made up primarily of printed works published by the Society. These include a nearly complete run of the SIM Newsletter, runs of both society journals, copies of meeting programs and abstracts, conference papers, and various special publications. In addition, there is a smattering of documents such as contract agreements with the society publisher from the period 1959 – 1962 and some correspondence from the editor of the society newsletter dating from the mid sixties to the late seventies. In the final series, Affiliated Organizations and Ephemera, are a small number of files relating to other affiliated societies and the records documenting the relationship between SIM and Northwestern University, where the SIM archive had been previously housed and maintained.

Organized in six series: Series I. Board of Directors, 1949-2000. Series II. Business Secretary, 1949-1999. Series III. Committees, 1952-1996. Series IV. Meetings, 1949-2001. Series V. Publications, 1951-2000. Series VI. Affiliated Organizations and Ephemera, 1967-1989. Series I. Board of Directors President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Series II. Business Secretary Business Office Membership Series III. Committees Series IV. Meetings Correspondence Annual Meetings Conferences, Symposia, & Workshops Joint Meetings Local Chapter Meetings Series V. Publications Journals and Newsletters Conferences, Workshops, & Meeting Materials Special Publications and Miscellanea Series VI. Affiliated Organizations and Ephemera

Provenance Information

SARCV 2000-11; SARCV 2001-06; SARCV 2002-04. This collection was received in three accessions. The first accession of 20 cubic feet of records arrived from Northwestern University on August 28, 2000; the second accession of 8 cubic feet was sent directly from the SIM office in Fairfax, VA and arrived on October 25, 2001; and the third, comprising one folder, was delivered by Dr. Joan Bennett on Dec 13, 2002.

The records transferred from Northwestern had been partially arranged and described and had come with a finding aid to the processed portion; for the remaining portion there were accession records but no inventory. The second accession however had no inventory and was found to be in a disordered state. An inventory was done of all unprocessed materials and all records whether previously processed or not were organized according to the administrative arrangement set out in the SIM Handbook and taking into account the initial order done by Northwestern. All documents pertaining to the provenance, accessions, and processing of materials at Northwestern University may be found under the series Affiliated Organizations Envelopes, invoices, cancelled checks, payroll information such as time sheets and duplicate copies have been weeded. Processing was completed and finding aid written by Marcia Frank Peri, December 2002.

Access & Use

No restrictions.

Reproduction allowed for research purposes. Copyright maintained by creator.

Subject Headings

• Society for Industrial Microbiology (U.S.) Archives
• Industrial microbiology Societies, etc.

Series Description & Container List

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Series I. Board of Directors

Subseries I.A. President

Subseries I.B. Vice President

Subseries I.C. Secretary

Subseries I.D. Treasurer

Series II. Business Secretary

Subseries II.A. Business Office

Subseries II.B. Membership

Series III. Committees

Series IV. Meetings

Subseries IV.A. Correspondence

Subseries IV.B. Annual Meetings

Subseries IV.C. Conferences, Symposia, Workshops

Subseries IV.D. Joint

Subseries IV.E. Local Chapters

Series V. Publications

Subseries V.A. Journals and Newsletters

Subseries V.B. Conferences, Workshops and Meeting Materials

Subseries V.C. Special Publications and Miscellanea

Series VI. Affiliated Organizations and Ephemera