RG XXI-B: Committee on Solar Energy
Historical Note
& The Committee on Solar Energy, chaired by Harlow Shapley (1885–1972; elected 1920; President 1939–1944), was active from 1950 to 1951. The purpose of the committee was to plan an interdisciplinary conference to explore the biological utilization of solar energy, the physics of the Sun-Earth relationship, and energy conversion problems. The conference, “Sun in the Service of Man”, was held February 24-25, 1951. Related, but separate, in 1952, from January 15–February 5, the Ƶ’s Committee on School Science, in coordination with the Eastern Association of Physics Professors, sponsored a four-part lecture series also entitled “The Sun in the Service of Man”, inviting Boston Public Schools science teachers to attend.
Scope and Content
This series is contained within the Ƶ Archives’ Record Group XXI-B: Ƶ Projects and Programs. It contains the administrative and project records of the Committee, primarily from 1950–1951, with only a little from 1952. Records were maintained by the executive office of Ralph Burhoe and held with project files.
Material primarily includes correspondence with presenters, with follow-up correspondence including drafts prepared for publication. It also includes memoranda and correspondence of the Committee relating to planning, but also the programs for both the conference and the lecture series. A small amount of material is in shorthand.
Arrangement
Records of the Committee were maintained by the Executive Office of Ralph Burhoe and kept with project files. Processing for the series utilized MPLP principles, thus minimum preservation steps were taken, and folder titles listed in the finding aid are as they appear on the actual folders. Original order has been maintained, and is generally chronological.