Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm84061599
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Robert C. Cook, geneticist, demographer, editor, and author, were given to the Library of Congress by Cook, 1983-1986.
The Cook Papers were processed in 1992 by T. Michael Womack with the assistance of Joseph K. Brooks and Gregg Van Vranken. The finding aid was revised in 2010. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Some photographs have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Robert C. Cook in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Robert C. Cook are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Robert C. Cook Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Robert Carter Cook (1898-1991) span the years 1882-1992, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1940 and 1970. The collection focuses on his work as a geneticist, demographer, editor, and author. For the most part, Cook was educated at home by his parents. He attended George Washington University and the University of Maryland, but did not complete a degree program. In his first job, he was involved with air foils and aeronautical experiments at the Bureau of Standards. After World War I, he moved to Escuela, Arizona, to work at the Tucson Indian Training School. In 1922 Cook returned to Washington, D.C., and was appointed managing editor of the
The Personal Correspondence series in these papers is composed of letters to and from family members and close friends. It is divided into two sections: correspondence with Cook's mother, Alice Carter Cook, and correspondence with Cook himself. The Alice Carter Cook section represents a small batch of letters primarily to and from her brothers, sisters, and father, which wound up in Cook's personal papers. The Robert Carter Cook section, by far the larger within the series, contains letters to and from various family members, such as his mother, father, sisters, wives, and children, as well as friends. Cook's letters to his mother describe in great detail his work at the mission school in Arizona, and also the period during which he was seeking a divorce in Nevada from his first wife, Margaret L. Brown, shortly before his mother's death. David Fairchild's letters to Cook provide interesting information about botanical affairs.
The Professional Correspondence series represents the exchange of letters generated by Cook as managing editor and editor of the
The Writings series is divided into two categories: writings by Cook and writings by others. Cook wrote or contributed to approximately twelve book-length manuscripts, most of which were never published. His most famous work,
Cook's Professional Files are divided into three subseries: American Genetic Association (AGA), General, and Population Reference Bureau (PRB). The AGA subseries mainly documents Cook's tenure as editor of the association's
The Miscellany series contains material pertaining to Cook's personal life, including awards, certificates, honors, photographs, and biographical and genealogical information on the Cook and Carter families. Also of interest are files on Barbara Stoddard Burks, a brilliant geneticist with whom Cook became close; files on David and Marian Fairchild, especially copies of letters from Frank Nicholas Meyer in Asia to David Fairchild regarding plant exploration; Cook's classroom materials for teaching genetics at George Washington University; and his diaries, pocket notebooks, and a journal from the Tucson Indian Training School in Escuela, Arizona. The J. T. Baldwin file documents the transfer of Orator Fuller Cook's personal library, which particularly concerned palms and other plant life in Africa to the library at the College of William and Mary. The Metromask file concerns Cook's invention for reducing and enlarging photographic reproductions, which he patented. The sale of family property is documented in the estate files of his parents as well as in the files on Lanham, Maryland, and the Stronghold Foundation controversy, regarding Sugarloaf Mountain Park in Frederick County, Maryland. The file on rammed earth houses chronicles the building of Cook's own house in this fashion in Lanham, Maryland, in the late 1920s.
Oversize material consists of genealogical information, a photograph, and a floorplan and a blueprint of Cook's rammed earth house.
The collection is arranged in six series:
Personal and family correspondence with enclosed and related matter.
Arranged according to whether it was exchanged with Cook or with his mother, Alice Carter Cook, and then organized alphabetically by topic or name of person or organization.
Professional letters sent and received, with enclosed and related matter.
Organized alphabetically by topic or name of person or organization.
Manuscripts of books, plays, articles, essays, scientific papers, speeches and lectures, book reviews, interviews, letters to the editor, poems, and short stories, including drafts, research notes and materials, and related correspondence.
Organized into two subseries: writings by Cook and writings by others. Books, plays, and articles and essays by Cook are arranged alphabetically. All other writings are arranged chronologically.
Organization and office files, including correspondence, memoranda, reports, conference materials, and subject files, divided into three subseries (AGA, General, and PRB).
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization, topic, or type of material.
Correspondence, diaries, classroom materials, genealogical and biographical information, notes, legal and estate records, and photographs.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization, topic, or type of material.
Oversize material consisting of genealogical information, a photograph, and a floorplan and a blueprint.
Arranged and described according to the series, boxes, and folders from which the items were removed.