Capping nearly three decades of collecting biological sciences archives, UMBC has established an international Center for Biological Sciences Archives (CBSA) in the Special Collections Department of the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery. The CBSA already holds 13 major biological sciences archives and plans to develop and promote these and other holdings in the coming years.

Among the CBSA's holdings are the archives of the American Society for Cell Biology, the Tissue Culture Association (now called the Society for Invitro Biology), Society for Developmental Biology, International Union of Immunological Societies, American Type Culture Collection, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, American Association of Immunologists, Society for Protozoologists, the Biophysical Society, the Society for Industrial Microbiology, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), and archives of Keith R. Porter and R.D. Allen.

Also located at UMBC are the Archives of the American Society for Microbiology, which in addition holds the archives of the International Union of Microbiological Studies, the Anne Sayre Collection of Rosalind Franklin materials, and the Rita Colwell papers. Dr. Colwell is director of the National Science Foundation, and already has placed the papers from her tenure as director of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute at UMBC.

The mission of the CBSA is to identify, preserve and provide access to manuscripts, personal papers and archives generated by individuals and institutions involved in the biological sciences. In addition, the CBSA will encourage research, scholarship, and publication of writings on the history, policy implimentations, and social and cultural impact of the biological sciences. Public programs concerning the archives will be featured in the future as the archives and its activities are developed.

Provost Arthur Johnson says, "The CBSA will fill a unique niche at UMBC. It fits very well within the campus mission and the bioscience activities we have in place."

For more information, contact Tom Beck.