Finding Aid to the Karl Kelchner Darrow Papers, 1872-1978 (bulk 1917-1972)

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These papers have been indexed in the International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS) using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.

Biography of Karl Kelchner Darrow

Karl Kelchner Darrow was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 26, 1891. His father, Edward Everett Darrow, was a high school teacher in the Chicago public schools who had been sent to Europe for his education in the late nineteenth century. His mother, Helen Kelchner Darrow, was an early graduate of the University of Chicago and was a pianist and organist. He was the nephew of famed trial lawyer Clarence Darrow. He married Dora Elizabeth Marcy, a professor of botany at Hunter College, in 1943.

Darrow earned his B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1911 and his Ph.D. from the same university in 1917. He studied under Robert A. Millikan and his thesis concerned the measurement of the specific heat ratios of hydrogen. He also did graduate work at the University of Paris in 1911 and at the University of Berlin during 1912.

Darrow began his career as a research physicist at Western Electric in New York City in 1917. When the company incorporated as Bell Laboratories in 1925, he continued his employment there as a science writer through his retirement in 1956. He served as secretary of the American Physical Society from 1941 to 1967.

He became well known as a speaker and writer interpreting and appraising the world of physics to his colleagues as well as the intellectual community at large. His work was known for its clarity, precision, subtle humor, and style. He served as visiting professor at Stanford University in 1929, at the University of Chicago in 1931, at Columbia in 1932, and at Smith College for two spring semesters in 1941 and 1942. His famous Lowell Institute lectures were delivered in 1935.

A prolific writer, he produced more than 200 articles for professional and technical journals, including many for the Bell Laboratories technical journal. He also wrote numerous critical reviews, obituaries of scientists, encyclopedia entries, and four books: Introduction to Contemporary Physics (1926), Electrical Phenomena in Gases (1932), The Renaissance of Physics (1936), and Atomic Energy (1948). The last book was partially an outgrowth of his work during World War II when he abstracted classified literature for the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago.

Darrow was an ardent patron of the arts. He was a subscription ticket holder to the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic and regularly attended the Philadelphia Orchestra concerts and the Broadway theater. He visited the art galleries and museums of every city he frequented and was known to many curators and directors, since he often expressed his thoughts and critiques through correspondence and sometimes in person. He was a participant in the campaign to save Carnegie Hall in 1955-1956.

Darrow's love affair with Europe began with his first visit there with his family in 1905 when he was fourteen. He continued his graduate education in Paris and Berlin and became a well- recognized member of the European scientific community. He maintained a life-long pattern of spending alternate summers there, interrupted only by war or illness. He had a wide international circle of friends. He and Mrs. Darrow retained a long-term lease on an apartment in Switzerland during the late 1950s and 1960s.

They spent most alternate summers in Northern California where they owned a home in San Francisco. Much of his time there was spent at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Honors bestowed on Darrow included an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Lyons in 1949; the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in 1952; the Karl Taylor Compton Gold Medal of the American Institute of Physics in 1960.

He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Century Association.

He died on June 7, 1982.

Scope and Contents of Collection

The importance of this collection lies in the evidence it provides of the intellectual and social history of its time. Karl Darrow was highly educated, cultured, very social, and a prolific writer and correspondent. He traveled throughout the United States and Europe working and socializing in the international intellectual community. Many of the historical events of the period are reflected in his correspondence and diaries, i.e., the Depression, World War II, the influx of foreign scientists into the United States, the impact of the development of the atomic bomb within the physics community, the increasing participation of women in the work of science and elsewhere in the society, Presidential campaigns, and post-war political developments in both the United States and Europe. With the exception of the reprints, lectures, and college notes, there is little substantive scientific information.

The collection covers the period from 1872 to 1978 and is largely composed of diaries and personal correspondence, much of which is two-way since Darrow typed most of his letters and kept carbon copies. He corresponded with a wide circle of intellectuals in both the arts and sciences including I. I. Rabi, Ernest O. Lawrence, Arthur J. Dempster, Léon Brillouin, Enrico Fermi, George Mulfinger, to name but a few. Some of the correspondence is in French or German.

The collection includes significant Darrow family history in the diaries and correspondence and a family tree from 1890. Of particular interest are the 1872-1873 letters between his father and other Darrow family members while he studied in Europe. Other family history information can be gleaned from letters to and from his mother, father, wife, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The diaries span the period from 1902-1976 and contain accounts of travels, social events, family gatherings, daily activities, and budgets. Occasional years are missing and there is a significant gap from 1929-1934. The later years often have two diaries, one he used at home and one for his travels. The diaries and writings from his childhood are quite precocious and reflect his development as a writer.

The collection contains a complete set of reprints of Darrow's published articles with a bibliography, many of his lectures including an annotated copy of his Lowell Lectures of 1935, and notes from which he drew many of his writings and lectures. Among his college notebooks are notes from his freshman course in physics with Robert A. Millikan at the University of Chicago in 1908, notes from Theoretical Physics with A. A. Michelson in 1912, and some notes and the published copy of his Ph.D. thesis.

The Bell Laboratories material includes only the correspondence from the two years just prior to Darrow's retirement in 1956, as well as two bound volumes of testimonial letters presented to him at his retirement dinner. This series also contains a previously bound volume of minutes and materials relating to a small professional society of scientists known as "The Colloquium" that met periodically from 1919-1945.

Darrow's travels and wide international circle of friends has endowed this collection with an estimated 800 picture post cards (1917-1976) from around the United States and Europe. The post cards have been left integrated with the correspondence and can be found primarily in Series I and III.

Arrangement of Collection

Most of the personal correspondence was loosely arranged in alphabetical order by correspondent in accordion envelopes, in chronological groupings of roughly two or three year periods. While this initially appeared to be a natural filing system, it was apparent upon closer examination that the letters had been artificially arranged since many were out of order and markings of missing information such as dates or names had been added. In addition, there was a large file storage box of correspondence from 1950 through the 1970s in disarray, much of it from years that also had organized files.

The chronological/alphabetical arrangement was retained, but the correspondence was sorted by year. The disorganized letters were reordered and integrated into the arrangement, and it was all retained as Series III, General Correspondence.

The Bell Laboratories Series was received in binders and was precisely organized chronologically/alphabetically, and the Colloquium Materials were in a separate binder arranged chronologically. This material appeared to have come from Darrow's office at Bell Laboratories. The arrangement was retained as Series IV, Bell Laboratories Correspondence, but the letters were removed from the binders and placed in archival folders and boxes.

The complete set of Darrow reprints received with the collection were also arranged chronologically in binders with a bibliography. They were removed from the binders and placed in folders, and the arrangement was retained as Series V-C. Duplicate reprints were removed from the collection.

The remaining material was in no perceivable order. Family letters were found in candy and stationery boxes and financial information and notebooks were scattered throughout, sometimes grouped in large envelopes. An artificial series arrangement was created to facilitate access.

The researcher should be aware that there is no clear distinction in this collection between personal, professional, and family correspondence. With the exception of the specifically identified family correspondents in the Biographical series, other family letters can be found throughout the General correspondence series primarily in the D and K folders, and professional correspondence can be found in the General correspondence.

Access to Collection

Open to approved researchers without restrictions. Use of primary source material in the Niels Bohr Library requires prior approval through an Application for Access, which includes a statement of research purpose and the names and addresses of two scholars as references. Access applications can be obtained by contacting the Library (telephone 301-209-3177; or e-mail nbl@aip.org). The application can also be printed from our website.

Restrictions on Use of Collection

No restrictions.

Provenance and Acquisition Information

The Karl K. Darrow papers were received by the American Institute of Physics, Center for History of Physics in August 1981 through the assistance of the Darrows' financial advisor, Richard F. F. Nichols. Darrow was supportive of the AIP Center's mission and had expressed his intention to place his papers here throughout the 1970s, but the transfer did not take place until just a few months prior to his death. The papers had been housed at the home of Mrs. Ann Hardon, an estate liquidator, in Wilton, Connecticut after their removal from the Darrows' apartment in New York City.

Processing Information

This collection was processed and cataloged by Sandra K. Johnson in April 1995.

Identified photographs have been removed from the collection and placed in the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives in the Niels Bohr Library. Photocopies of these photographs have been retained in a folder in the Biographical Series. Unidentified photos have been placed in acid-free envelopes and retained with the papers with which they were found.

All of the materials were transferred to archival quality, acid-free folders and boxes. The folders are labeled by collection/series/subject and dates. Rapidly deteriorating documents were photocopied onto acid-free paper and the originals removed from the collection except where there was some intrinsic value in retaining them. The very early family letters from 1872-1873 were placed in mylar folders for preservation. Any markings placed on the materials by the processor to aid identification were made in pencil and enclosed in brackets. All other markings can be assumed to have been on the materials when received.

Other Related Materials

Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics:
• Karl K. Darrow Oral History Interview, 1964
• Miscellaneous Physics Collection, Karl K. Darrow
• Sound Recording, Karl K. Darrow Address: "Physics as Science and Art," at the American Institute of Physics 20th Anniversary Symposium, 1951
• Sound Recording, Karl K. Darrow Address: "Sixty Years of The American Physical Society," at American Physical Society Meeting, 1974
• The American Physical Society Records

Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, American Institute of Physics:
• Karl K. Darrow Photograph Collection

Library of Congress and University of Chicago Library:
• Clarence Seward Darrow Papers

Materials Separated from Collection

Identified photographs have been removed from the collection and placed in the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives in the Niels Bohr Library.

Index