Haldane Correspondence

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane's correspondence and book reviews relating to India.

John Burdon Sanderson Haldane was born on 5 November 1892. He was educated at Eton and at New College Oxford where he attained his MA. During the First World War he served in the Black Watch in France and Iraq, 1914-1919. From 1919 to 1922 he was a Fellow of New College Oxford; then moving to Cambridge University to be a Reader in Biochemistry until 1932. He was also the Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution from 1930 to 1932. Then he went to University College London to become Professor of Genetics (1933-1937) and later Professor of Biometry (1937-1957). After this, Haldane became Research Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute until 1961. In 1962 he was Head of the Genetics and Biometry Laboratory for the Government of Orissa. He received medals for scientific excellence during his career, and also published many scientific articles and writings. Haldane died on 1 December 1964.

Open

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Deposited by Naomi Mitchison in 1981.

Collection level description

University College London Special Collections also holds the papers and correspondence of John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (Ref: HALDANE), comprising scientific notes and papers; correspondence with publishers; scientific correspondence; general correspondence; University College London departmental files, wartime committees, and other societies; and some personal financial and domestic papers. There are also some papers of Charlotte Haldane which consist of correspondence, including letters about 'Women Today' magazine, and bills.; correspondence between John Burdon Sanderson Haldane and Benjamin Ifor Evans, Provost of University College London, on the resignations of Haldane and his second wife Helen (née Spurway), 1956-1957 (Ref: MS ADD 256); six letters to D M S Watson, 1958-1963, and one to J O Wisdom, 1954 (Ref: MS ADD 112); copies of correspondence with Arthur C Clarke, 1951, 1962-1964 (Ref: MS ADD 379); letters to Lionel Sharples Penrose, 1934-1968 (Ref: PENROSE); five letters to his sister Naomi (later Mitchison) [1907], [1915] and undated (Ref: MS MISC 4H); an undated poem and manuscript notes (Ref: MS MISC 5H).

The National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division, holds correspondence, notebooks and papers of Haldane, 1907-1964 (Ref: MSS 20534-660; Ch 15521-24) and letters to his family, essays, etc, 1898-1908, including six letters to his sister, 1920-1928 (Ref: Acc 4549, 9186). The Imperial War Museum, Department of Documents, holds twelve letters to his sister whilst serving in the Black Watch, 1914-1917. Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, holds correspondence with Cyril Darlington, 1915-1968 (Ref: CSAC103/3/85) and correspondence relating to the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, 1933-1935 (Ref: Index). Oxford University, Wolfson College Library, holds correspondence with H B D Kettlewell, 1952-1966. Oxford University, Edward Grey Institute, holds correspondence with David Lack. King's College London, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, holds correspondence with Sir B H Liddell Hart, 1937-1939 (Ref: KCLMA Liddell Hart B H). Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, holds correspondence with Joseph Needham, 1960-1965 (Ref: MSS A.828; H.186; H.203 passim). Cambridge University, King's College Archive Centre, holds ten letters. Rice University, Woodson Research Center, Houston, Texas, USA, holds 28 items of correspondence with Sir Julian Huxley, 1920-1964 (Ref: Julian S Huxley papers).