Parkes, Sir Alan Sterling (1900-1990)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 PP/ASP
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full title	: Parkes, Sir Alan Sterling (1900-1990)
Date(s)	: 1926-1988
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 14 boxes and 2 outsize items
Name of creator(s)	: Parkes | Sir | Alan Sterling | 1900-1990 | Knight | endocrinologist
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Sir Alan Sterling Parkes was an endocrinologist and Fellow of the Royal Society. Parkes worked through an epoch-making era in reproductive biology.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Sir Alan Sterling Parkes, 1926-1988, with a particular bias to the diverse bodies (official, voluntary, and international) which which Parkes was involved through his interests in reproductive biology, endocrinology, scientific publishing, low-temperature biology, and global population issues (among others). There is a large selection of mostly identified photographs.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The papers were found in mostly good order within files/groups, although the overall arrangements was somewhat confused, presumably due to moves. In some cases, material had been removed from files for use in Parkes's memoirs or other writings and had to be reintegrated into the appropriate files.

Arranged as follows:
A. Correspondence: colleagues and general, 1935-1988
B. Publications by ASP, 1950s-80s
C. Official bodies, 1930-1970
D. British societies and organisations, 1938-1982
E. International Organisations, 1963-1978
F. Personalia, photographs and tapes

Conditions governing access:

Files PP/ASP/D.14-23 (Royal Society election material) are closed for 75 years:
PP/ASP/D.14 Closed until 1 Jan 2032
PP/ASP/D.15 Closed until 1 Jan 2038
PP/ASP/D.16 Closed until 1 Jan 2036
PP/ASP/D.17 Closed until 1 Jan 2034
PP/ASP/D.18 Closed until 1 Jan 2039
PP/ASP/D.19 Closed until 1 Jan 2036
PP/ASP/D.20 Closed until 1 Jan 2038
PP/ASP/D.21 Closed until 1 Jan 2038
PP/ASP/D.22 Closed until 1 Jan 2041
PP/ASP/D.23 Closed until 1 Jan 2042

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Correspondents were indexed for the convenience of readers: the index is currently available in hard copy on request.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

These papers were given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre by Sir Alan Parkes and collected from his home in March 1985, August 1988, and June 1991.

Allied Materials

Related material:

In the Wellcome Library: Allied material can be found in the papers of the Eugenics Society (SA/EUG: please note that to consult this collection prior permission from the Galton Institute is required) and the Family Planning Association (SA/FPA). There is some correspondence with Parkes in GC/213 and the papers of CP Blacker, PP/CPB, of Sir William Paton, PP/WDP, and of Marthe Vogt, PP/MLV.

Publication note:

See Parkes' two autobiographical volumes Off-beat biologist: The autobiography of Alan S. Parkes (Cambridge: The Galton Foundation, 1985) and Biologist at Large: The background to "Off-beat Biologist" (Published by the Author, 1988).

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jan 2009