Finding Aid to the Elmer Hutchisson papers, 1919-1981

Selected Search Terms

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.

Biographical Note

Elmer Hutchisson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1902. He completed his B.S. degree at Case School of Applied Sciences in 1923, his M.S. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1924, and his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at the University of Minnesota in 1926. He studied with Edwin Schrödinger at the University of Berlin, Germany in 1929-30. He was on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh from 1926 to 1944. From 1941 to 1944, he took a leave of absence from Pittsburgh to administer research on underwater warfare for the Office of Scientific Research and Development of the U.S. National Defense Research Committee. In 1944, he became dean of the faculty at Case Institute of Technology and in 1955, dean of the graduate school and director of the research division there. He served as acting president of Case from 1950 to 1952.

Hutchisson succeeded Henry Barton as director of the American Institute of Physics in 1957. He had previously served as assistant director in 1936-37 while on a leave from the University of Pittsburgh. At that time, he also founded and became editor of the Journal of Applied Physics.

Hutchisson's publications include original research in physics, works on physics education, numerous reports, and editorials in the Journal of Applied Physics. Reprints of a number of these publications are located in his scrapbook.

Hutchisson retired as director of the AIP in October 1964, but continued to take an active interest in its activities. He corresponded frequently with AIP personnel and wrote The Story of the AIP, 1956-1966 after his retirement. He was asked in 1972 to chair the Council of the Friends of the Niels Bohr Library, an ad-hoc fundraising committee.

Scope and Contents of Collection

The collection includes Hutchisson’s correspondence and records from 1919-1974, which he had bound in chronological order. The files for 1964 were particularly large since that was the year of his retirement. The collection also contains Hutchisson’s files from his involvement with the Council of the Friends of the Niels Bohr Library, an ad hoc committee responsible for a fundraising campaign in the early 1970s. Certain physicists were selected to be on the Council and all other physicists were asked to donate money and become a “Friend” of the Center for History of Physics. Series II documents Hutchisson’s efforts from phase I and phase II of this fundraising drive. Phase I was a general mail solicitation to all American physicists. Phase II was a targeted campaign of at least 100 individuals who were able to make annual contributions in the $500 to $5000 range. The scrapbook contains reprints of Elmer Hutchisson’s papers and newspaper and magazine clippings of his professional accomplishments.

Organization and Arrangement of Collection

Organized into the following series:

• Series I: Correspondence and records
• Series II: Council of Friends Committee
• Series III: Instruments
• Series IV: Scrapbook

This collection is arranged chronologically within each series.

Access to Collection

Researchers must have an approved access application on file in order to access archival materials. http://www.aip.org/history/nbl/access.html.

Restrictions on Use of Collection

Provenance and Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to the Niels Bohr Library and Archives by Rose V. Hutchisson in 1985 and Esther Hudson in 1993.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Lara D'Agaro in Novemner 2007.

Preferred Citation of Collection

Box [number], Folder [number], Elmer Hutchisson papers, 1919-1981. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.

Container List

Series I: Correspondence and records
Box 1	Folder 1	Correspondence and records, 1919-1935
	Folder 2	Correspondence and records, 1919-1935
	Folder 3	Correspondence and records, 1936-1944
	Folder 4	Correspondence and records, 1936-1944
	Folder 5	Correspondence and records, 1945-1957
	Folder 6	Correspondence and records, 1945-1957
	Folder 7	Correspondence and records, 1958-1963
	Folder 8	Correspondence and records, 1958-1963
	Folder 9	Correspondence and records, 1964
	Folder 10	Correspondence and records, 1964
	Folder 11	Correspondence and records, 1965-1967
	Folder 12	Correspondence and records, 1965-1967
	Folder 13	Correspondence and records, 1965-1967
	Folder 14	Correspondence and records, 1965-1967
	Folder 15	Correspondence and records, 1965-1971
	Folder 16	Correspondence and records, 1965-1971
	Folder 17	Correspondence and records, 1972-1973
	Folder 18	Correspondence and records, 1974-1979
Box 2	Folder 1	American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library miscellaneous physicists collection file, 1923-1929, 1941, 1964 and 1981
	Folder 2	Hutchisson, Elmer, "The Energy of the Crossed-Orbit Model of the Hydrogen Molecule and the Theory of the Temperature Variation of the Specific Heat of Hydrogen," thesis, June 1926
	Folder 3	Science knowledge and education subject file, reprints, 1933-1968 and undated
	Folder 4	Members of the physics staff at the University of Pittsburgh, "An Outline of Atomic Physics", 1933
	Folder 5	Lackwood, Oswald and Elmer Hutchisson, "A Manual for Experimental Physics", 1934
	Folder 6	Tribute to Dr. Elmer Hutchisson from Case Institute of Technology, 1957
	Folder 7	Photographs of Prince Phillip’s visit to the American Institute of Physics, photocopies, circa 1957
	Folder 8	Saturday Review, February 1958
	Folder 9	Honorary membership to Sigma Pi Sigma, plaque, October 1962
	Folder 10	Friends of the Niels Bohr Library of the History of Physics fundraising kit, 1963
	Folder 11	“The Impending Crisis in Scientific Information,” lecture, 1968
	Folder 12	Notes on the life of Elmer Hutchisson, an interview conducted by Charles Weiner, transcript, 1970
	Folder 13	The need for the history of physics subject file, 1971-1972
	Folder 14	American Institute of Physics headquarters at Friar’s Club, New York City, photocopies, undated
	Folder 15	Hutchisson, Elmer, The Story of the AIP 1956-1966, with pen corrections, undated

Series II: Council of Friends Committee
Box 2	Folder 16	Council of Friends formation, 1972
	Folder 17	Council of Friends responses, 1972
	Folder 18	Council of Friends questionnaire, 1972
	Folder 19	Phase I fundraising correspondence and records, February-March 1972 and undated
	Folder 20	Phase I fundraising correspondence and records, April-May 1972
	Folder 21	Phase I fundraising correspondence and records, June-July 1972
	Folder 22	Phase I fundraising correspondence and records, August-September 1972
	Folder 23	Phase I fundraising correspondence and records, October-November 1972
	Folder 24	Phase II fundraising correspondence and records, December 1972
	Folder 25	Phase II fundraising correspondence and records, 1973

Series III: Instruments
Box 3	Folder 1	Proportional divider, undated
	Folder 2	Drafting tool set, undated
	Folder 3	Compensating planimeter, undated

Series IV: Scrapbook
Box 4	Folder 1	Scrapbook, 1924-1972