Scope and Content Note
The papers of Raymund Lull Zwemer (1902-1981) span the years 1903-1979, with the bulk of the material from the period 1940-1965. Zwemer, a prolific researcher who published more than ninety journal articles, taught anatomy at Columbia University Medical School for fifteen years, beginning in 1929. Toward the end of World War II, he left teaching for a career as an administrator with governmental and scientific organizations. The papers feature his research and reflect his interest in exploring the adrenal glands, biological effects of potassium, and focused ultrasound. They also relate to his employment at the State Department, the Library of Congress, and various scientific foundations. The papers contain the following series: Appointment Diaries , General Correspondence , Professional File , Speeches and Writings , and Miscellany .
Appointment Diaries list Zwemer's meetings and trips from the time he became science advisor at the State Department. Noted are numerous contacts with Verner Clapp, the Associate Librarian of Congress, at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., throughout the 1960s. Other meetings documented in these volumes were with members of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The General Correspondence file is concentrated in the period after Zwemer became an anatomy professor at Columbia University. Letters received prior to his appointment at Columbia include a brief recruitment letter from that institution in 1928 reporting a newly installed operating room for animal experimentation. From 1941 to 1942, Zwemer attended meetings, seminars, and lectures in the field of endocrinology in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile. Letters from this period detail acquaintances and friendships formed during that time. Of interest is State Department correspondence relating to a possible appointment as cultural attache in the United States embassy in Argentina. The position Zwemer sought was denied him because of political unrest there in 1943. There is evidence from correspondence beginning from the late 1940s of his interest in securing a patent for the commercial production of corticone (cortisone) with a colleague at Columbia, Bertrain E. Lowenstein. Another commercial venture with Lowenstein is recorded in the correspondence of this period concerning the separation and production of juice concentrate from liquid. The General Correspondence file also includes letters regarding elements of Zwemer's work at the Library of Congress, the State Department, foundations, overseas employment in Paris, France, with UNESCO, and personal health issues, and other matters discussed with friends.
The Professional File , the largest series, reflects Zwemer's work with foundations and his membership in science associations, such as The American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and the American Association of Anatomists. Zwemer maintained an interest in information science, especially in the biological field. While on the staff of the Library of Congress and the State Department, he maintained an active association with many foundations which is reflected in conference materials, reports, and abstracts. As an administrator and advisor to various groups, Zwemer was also interested in the type of data collected and sought to fund through grants the publication and translation of these data.
The Speeches and Writings series contains drafts, reprints of articles and bibliographic lists which serve as guides to the published works. With the drafts is correspondence with publishers, coauthors, and others regarding subject content. Drafts of speeches and two unpublished books along with various reference materials, mostly charts and notes, are also included in this file. The books and articles represent Zwemer's studies of the areas of greatest interest to him, the adrenal glands, predictive effects of potassium levels in the body, corticone (cortisone), and focused ultrasound as a tool for destroying diseased bodily tissue.
The Miscellany contains biographical material, personnel records from agencies in which he was employed, science reports, and printed matter. A small group of family papers includes Zwemer's correspondence with his father, Samuel, and his children.