During the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in St. Louis in March 1946, 57 members of the Society for the Study of Speciation and the Committee on Common Problems of Genetics, Paleontology and Systematics of the National Research Council gathered in a session chaired by Alfred Emerson to discuss forming an organization devoted to the "dynamics of evolution." Founded as a permanent, independent body, the Society for the Study of Evolution elected its first slate of officers that March, and adopted its mission to "promote the study of organic evolution in all its aspects."

At the first annual meeting of the Society in December 1946, the membership rejected a proposal to assume control of the American Naturalist in favor of creating a new publication specifically devoted to research on questions of plant and animal evolution. With the assistance of a grant from the American Philosophical Society, the journal Evolution was launched in 1947 as a venue for research in paleontology, genetics, taxonomy, ecology, and anthropology, providing the first cross-disciplinary forum for the evolutionary sciences.

In his 1952 history of the SSE, Ernst Mayr stated that "the aims of the Society, through its journal and otherwise, reflect the conviction that the evolutionary approach will clarify many unsolved biological problems and will provide common goals and mutual comprehension among all the life sciences." Today, the Society has an estimated 2,500 members and continues to publish Evolution bimonthly.

The Records of the Society for the Study of Evolution include material on the organization and governance of the Society, its conferences, and its journal, Evolution. The largest series by far contains the editorial files for Evolution, documenting Ernst Mayr's early efforts to solicit material for the journal, but including the editors' complete files from the 1990s onward. We expect regular additions to the collection.

The collection (1944-present, 79 linear feet) is divided into nine series.

Restrictions

Permission to quote, paraphrase, or copy any item of the editorial records requires written permission of the current edtior of Evolution and the original writer of the letter or manuscript in question. The signed permission must include a clear statement of whether the original writer's name may be used.

Access to letters of recommendation for applicants for the Dobzhansky Prize, for Ernst Mayr's AIBS Distinguished Servce Award and G. Ledyard Stebbins' National Medal of Science are closed to reseach until 25 years from the date of writing.

Editorial records for the journal Evolution are closed for forty years from the date of submission.

Provenance

The SSE Records came to the American Philosophical Society library in several accessions from both Ernst Mayr and the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1979, 1986 and 1991 and on.

Some material relating to the Society was removed from the Conference on Evolutionary Synthesis collection (B M451) and interfiled appropriately into these Archives (Ms. Coll. No. 81). All documents relocated to this collection may be identified by their accession number written on the document or folder.

Additions to the collection are expected on a regular basis.

Preferred citation

Cite as: Society for the Study of Evolution Records, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc May 2003.

• Editorial files

• Mayr, Ernst, 1904-2005

• Creationism.
• Evolution (Biology)
• Evolution (Biology) -- Periodicals