Martin L. Grant and Dorothy S. Grant Papers
Scope and Contents
In 1994, most of the Grant papers were transferred to the University of Northern Iowa Archives by the UNI Department of Biology, where they had apparently been housed since Martin Grant's death in 1968. Although the papers had been jumbled when they were packed into an assortment of shipping boxes, the outline of the original order of the papers was still apparent when they arrived in Special Collections.
Several times in the 1980s and 1990s Dorothy Grant independently contributed significant items to Special Collections, including her own publications and her edition of Martin Grant's field notes from the Society Islands, Colombia, and Hawaii. The processor decided to combine the papers of Dorothy and Martin Grant into one collection, because their personal and professional lives were so closely intertwined.
The collection is organized into four sections which almost certainly reflect their original order: (1) Personal, education, and research; (2) Campus activity files; (3) Curricular material associated with teaching and research at the University of Minnesota; and (4) Curricular material associated with teaching and research at UNI.
(1) The personal, education, and research section gives a good look at the personal and professional lives and accomplishments of Martin and Dorothy Grant. This material is especially good at giving a picture of faculty life in Cedar Falls from the 1930s through the 1950s.
(2) The campus activity files reveal the broad range of activities in which the Grants were involved including: the Academic Year Institutes in the late 1950s and 1960s; campus social and extracurricular groups; and faculty governance. The files consist of correspondence, schedules, promotional material, and clippings.
(3) and (4) The curricular material is an excellent source for information on the teaching of science at UNI from the 1930s through the 1960s. It includes extensive class notes, examinations, course outlines, clippings, and illustrative material used by Martin Grant (3) first at Minnesota and (4) then at UNI. It might be studied to good advantage with material from his Science Department colleagues Pauline Sauer and Ben Clausen to document the UNI life science curriculum for over fifty years.
Dates
- Creation: 1925-1993
Creator
- Grant, Martin L. (Martin Lawrence), 1907-1968 (Person)
- Grant, Dorothy Sweet (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions. Materials are open for research.
General Use, Reproduction, and Copyright Policies
Many items housed in the Rod Library Special Collections & University Archives, including unpublished images and manuscripts, may be protected by copyright, publication rights, trademarks, or model release rights which the library does not own and for which the library cannot grant permission or licensing. Materials currently under copyright are usually still available for research and limited reproduction under Fair Use laws. However, it is the sole responsibility of the patron to determine whether or not their use of a given material falls within Fair Use guidelines and to obtain permission for said use from the rightful copyright owner.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy or similar laws, and the Iowa Open Records Law (see Iowa Code ยง 22.7). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Northern Iowa assumes no responsibility.
Biographical / Historical
Martin Lawrence Grant (1907-1968)
Martin Lawrence Grant was born January 31, 1907, in Chelsea, Michigan. He received a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1927. He received a master's degree in 1929 and doctoral degree in 1936 from the University of Minnesota. His master's thesis was Plant succession and climax in northern Minnesota; his doctoral dissertation was Flora of the Society Islands.
Professor Grant joined the Science Department at the Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in September 1936. He taught botany, zoology, taxonomy, the history and philosophy of science, and many other courses. He was an active participant in debates on controversial issues of his day including faculty rights and governance, matters relating to retirement benefits, general education, and religion on campus.
He published articles and conducted research in the areas of plant communities, ornithology, and nature study. He traveled widely in the United States and abroad, including major research trips to the Society Islands, Colombia, and Iran. He was an avid collector of herbarium specimens and magazines from around the world. Martin Grant married Dorothy Sweet Grant in 1930. They had three children: Gordon, Jean, and Lois. Martin Grant died June 28, 1968.
Dorothy Sweet Grant (1905-2006)
Dorothy Sweet Grant was born November 3, 1905, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from college and taught school in the Minneapolis area. Dorothy Sweet married Martin Grant in 1930. She accompanied and assisted him in his field work. Some of her most important work included organizing and typing field notes and preparing herbarium specimens. She died in 2006. The Grants were co-founders of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Cedar Falls. Dorothy Grant published accounts of her personal religious pursuits as well as a history of the local Unitarian Universalist Association group. Her account of the Cedar Falls Supper Club includes good information about UNI faculty members, such as James Hearst.
Extent
6.25 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Processing Information
Papers processed and finding aid prepared by Gerald L. Peterson, Special Collections Librarian and University Archivist, March-April, 1996. Addition to collection processed August 1997. Updated by Library Associate Dave Hoing, January 2018 and April 2018. Linear feet updated on September 15, 2017.
- Title
- Martin L. Grant and Dorothy S. Grant Papers
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script