Finding Aid to the American Institute of Physics. Office of the Director. Records of Van Zandt Williams1964 - 1966Niels Bohr Library & Archives 1.0 Niels Bohr Library & Archives American Institute of Physics.
One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 USA nbl@aip.org
2009 Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Melanie J Brown in 1989. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process. Finding aid is written in english Description of the CollectionAmerican Institute of Physics. Office of the Director. American Institute of Physics. Office of the Director. Records of Van Zandt Williams 1964 - 1966 Organization and Arrangement of the Collection

This collection is organized into ten series:

Series I: AIP organization and awards Series II: Education and Manpower Series III: Physics history Series IV: Journal publications Series V: Physics information Series VI: Science abstracts Series VII: Public relations Series VIII: Member Societies Series IX: General subject files Series X: Official files

Each series is arranged in accordance with the ordering of earlier collections of the director's office files and appears, in most series, to be alphabetical by folder title.

 American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics. 3 linear feet6 Hollinger box AR105 English This collection consists of files generated by Williams, during his tenure as Executive Director of the American Institute of Physics. Provenance

The collection was transferred to the Niels Bohr Library & Archives in 1987.

 Access

Permission of an officer of depositing organization required for access to records less than 25 years old. http://www.aip.org/history/nbl/access.html.

Preferred Citation of Collection

Box [number], Folder [number], American Institute of Physics. Office of the Director. Records of Van Zandt Williams. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, College Park, MD 20740, USA.

 Biographical Note

Van Zandt Williams was born in Providence, Rhode Island on March 29, 1916. He completed his A.B. degree at Brown University in 1937 and his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University in 1941. He then joined the Stamford Research Laboratories of the American Cyanamid Corporation, where he was a group leader in charge of infrared spectroscopy, and later assistant director of the physics division. He joined The Perkin-Elmer Corporation in 1948 as Director of Instrument Development and Sales. He was elected a vice president of the company in 1957, and three years later he became Vice President in Charge of Technical Development, with responsibility for the company's entire research and development effort. At Perkin-Elmer, Williams guided the design and rapid manufacture of commercial infra-red spectrometers and other optical instruments, some of which have become classical and have acquired universal fame. He was the 1966 President of the Optical Society of America (OSA) and headed a study which pointed out a lack of adequately trained optics personnel, and recommended an action program in optics designed to stimulate research and education in the field. He established a full time research and education office. He was named by the OSA to lead the program and to coordinate the activities of its task forces, which are variously concerned with graduate research, undergraduate education and the training of opticians and technicians. Williams was named director of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) in April 1965. His focus was developing an information retrieval system for physics, but he was also concerned with services to member societies, physics education programs, and the initiation and development of the Center for the History and Philosophy of Physics. Williams' publications reflect his interest in infrared spectroscopy, optics, and physics information systems. A bibliography may be found in Series X of this collection. The articles he supervised concerning physics information systems may be found in Series V. Van Zandt Williams died in May of 1966, shortly after his first year as director, while visiting the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London about physics information systems. Ralph Sawyer assumed the role of acting director until December 1966 when H. William Koch became AIP's new director.

Collection Summary

This collection consists primarily of correspondence on various topics, including education-related matters such as the teaching of college and pre-college physics; the regional counselors program and career placement; the development of an information system for physics literature; and correspondence, minutes, and reports of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Advisory Committee on Physics Abstracts. Other topics include public relations, the seminars for science writers, and the establishment of the Center for History of Physics as a division of the AIP. The collection also contains biographical material, obituaries, and letters of condolence on Williams. Correspondents include: Ferdinand G. Brickwedde, Dwight E. Gray, Elmer Hutchisson, William C. Kelly, Eugene H. Kone, Vincent E. Parker, and Hugh C. Wolfe.Much of the material in the collection is of a routine nature. A large proportion of the collection is copies of correspondence and reports generated by others and sent to the director for his information. Other materials reflect Williams' personal interests and involvements. The grant seeking, receiving, and reporting activities were continued with the enthusiasm initiated under the Elmer Hutchisson directorship.

 Series Descriptions Series I: AIP internal organization and awards 11 Constitution Revisions, March 1964 12 American Institute of Physics Inc. - Annual Meeting - Minutes, 1965-1966 13 Awards - D. Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics - Freeman J. Dyson, February-June 1965 14 Awards - D. Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics - Nikolai N. Bogolyubov, February-May 1966 15 Hutchisson, Elmer - Correspondence, 1963-1968 16 Personnel - Correspondence, July-October 1965 17 Personnel - Director's Dept. - Attendance Report , 1966 18 Projection Reports, 1965-1968 19 Property Committee - Correspondence, 1965-1966 110 Search for Director - Education and Manpower Division - Correspondence, 1965-1966 111 Search for Director - Information Planning - Correspondence, 1965-1966 112 Search for Director - Ralph Sawyer File, January 1964-August 1966 113 Washington Office - Dwight Gray - Correspondence, January-September 1966 1 Series II: Education and Manpower 114 Careers in Physics Publications - General correspondence, 1963-1965 115 The Physicist in Industry (career booklet) - Correspondence, April-November 1965 116 Center for Educational Apparatus in Physics - General correspondence, 1965-1966 117 Center for Educational Apparatus in Physics - Grant report and correspondence, 1964-1965 118 Check List of Books for an Undergraduate Physics Library - Related correspondence, 1965 119 Committee on Physics Facilities in Colleges - Grant correspondence, 1964-1966 120 Doctoral Programs in Physics - Grant correspondence, August-December 1965 221 General correspondence, February-November 1965 222 General correspondence, 1965-1966 223 Manpower Advisory Committee - Correspondence and agenda, 1964-1965 224 Manpower Project - NSF correspondence, 1965-1970 225 Pre-College Physics Program - General correspondence, 1964-1966 226 Pre-College Physics Program - Newsletters, August-October 1965 227 Pre-College Physics Program - Report, minutes and newsletter, 1965-1966 228 Pre-College Physics Program - Corporate Associates Committee - Correspondence re. Regional counselors, 1965-1966 229 Regional Counselor Program - General correspondence, 1965-1966 230 Regional Counselor Program - General Electric Grant correspondence, 1965-1966 231 Secondary School Physics Education - Meggars, (William F.) Fund - Correspondence, 1964-1968 232 Student Sections Advisory Committee Meeting - Minutes and correspondence, 1965-1966 233 Student Sections Awards Program - Correspondence and report, 1965-1966 234 Student Sections/ Sigma Pi Sigma - Correspondence re. affiliation, 1965-1966 235 Study of the Teaching of Physics - Grant correspondence, 1964-1966 336 Undergraduate Education Program - Correspondence re. creation of program, 1965-1966 337 Visiting Scientists Program in Physics - Colleges - General correspondence, 1965-1970 338 Visiting Scientists Program in Physics - Colleges - Grant reports (1964-1965), 1963-1966 339 Visiting Scientists Program in Physics - Colleges - Grant reports (1966-1972), 1965-1971 340 Visiting Scientists Program in Physics Advisory Committee Meetings - Agenda, minutes, and correspondence, 1961-1971 341 Teacher Education and Professional Standards National Conference - General correspondence, 1964-1965 3 Series III: Physics history 342 Project for History of Recent Physics in the U. S. - Correspondence, 1965-1967 343 Project for History of Recent Physics in the U. S. - Center for History of Physics - Correspondence, 1964-1965 3 Series IV: Journal publications 444 Advertising - Correspondence, 1965-1966 4 Series V: Physics information 445 Ad Hoc Committee, June-October 1965 446 AIP/ IEE Plans for Physics Information Services, 1965 447 Editing Proceedings of the International Conference on Classification Research - Grant correspondence, April-July 1965 448 General correspondence, 1965-1966 449 M. A. Libby and D. E. Gray - General correspondence, November-December 1966 450 NSF Proposal - Background material, 1965-1966 451 NSF Proposal - Distribution - Correspondence, 1965-1966 452 Physics Information Exchange (PIE) - Moravicsik proposal, February-June 1966 453 Physics Today - Articles and correspondence, 1965-1966 454 Universal Decimal Classification as an Indexing Language for Mechanized Reference Retrieval System" - Correspondence and reports re. Grant 433, 1965-1969 455 V. Z. Williams trip to London - Correspondence, February-May 1966 4 Series VI: Science abstracts 556 AIP Committee on Physics Abstracts - General correspondence, 1965-1966 557 AIP Committee on Physics Abstracts - Minutes and agenda of meetings, 1965-1966 558 AIP Committee on Physics Abstracts - Reports, 1964-1965 559 IEE Science Abstracts Editorial Advisory Committee - Correspondence, minutes and reports , 1965-1967 5 Series VII: Public relations 560 General correspondence, 1964-1970 561 Journal Project - Correspondence, 1965-1966 562 Seminars for Science Writers - Correspondence, 1965-1967 563 Seminars for Science Writers - Report to NSF, 1965 5 Series VIII: Member Societies 564 American Association of Physics Teachers - Commission on College Physics - Correspondence, 1964-1966 565 American Association of Physics Teachers - Commission on College Physics - Minutes of meetings, 1965-1966 566 American Association of Physics Teachers - Correspondence re. transfer of Washington office activities to AIP, 1965 567 American Physical Society - Council minutes, 1965-1966 5 Series IX: General subject files 568 American Association for the Advancement of Science - Correspondence, May-June 1965 569 American Society of Metals Science Teacher Achievement Recognition Program - Corr. re. AIP support, August-September 1965 570 College of Electors of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans - Albert Michelson, 1965 671 Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, 1965-1967 672 Engineering Index, Inc. - Proposal to NSF , 1965-1966 673 International Congress on Magnetism and Magnetics - Correspondence, 1965-1966 674 MOSS Meetings - Correspondence, 1965-1967 675 Smithsonian Foundation - Bicentennial Celebration, March-September 1965 676 Unusual correspondence, September-November 1965 6 Series X: Official files 677 Condolence messages, May 1966 678 Miscellaneous - Article on diabetes, security questionnaires, information re. passport, 1959-1966 679 Obituaries and notices, May-July 1966 680 Personal correspondence and insurance claim documentation, 1965-1966 681 Publications, presentations and biographies - Articles and listings, January-November 1965 682 82 Sawyer, R. A. - Photo (photocopies), [undated] 683 83 Williams, V. Z. - Photos (photocopies), circa 1965 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.

Brickwedde, F. G. (Ferdinand Graft), 1903- Gray, Dwight E., 1903- Hutchisson, Elmer, 1902- Kelly, William Clark, 1922- Kone, Eugene H. Parker, Vincent Eveland. Sawyer, Ralph Alanson, 1895- Williams, Van Zandt, 1916-1966. Wolfe, Hugh C. American Institute of Physics. Office of the Director. Physics. Information services. Physics. Public relations. Physics. Societies, etc. Physics. Study and teaching.