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Irene Rosenfeld papers, 1906-1968

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Rosenfeld, Irene
Title
Irene Rosenfeld papers
Dates
1906-1968 (inclusive)
Quantity
27.65 cubic ft. (31 boxes)
Collection Number
09774
Summary
Includes speeches, correspondence, reports, material from or about the book "Selenium," and subject files by this University of Wyoming pathologist.
Repository
American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
American Heritage Center
University of Wyoming
1000 E. University Ave.
Dept. 3924
Laramie, WY
82071
Telephone: 3077663756
ahcref@uwyo.edu
Access Restrictions
Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

Dr. Irene Rosenfeld (1908-1983) was an experimental pathologist at the University of Wyoming for 25 years. She did extensive research on the element selenium and its effects on mammals, birds and humans. She authored over sixty publications and co-authored, with Orville A. Beath, the book "Selenium" in 1964.

Irene Rosenfeld was born in Austria in 1908. She came to the United States in 1920 and became a naturalized citizen in 1921. Her higher education included a B.A. 1935, M.S. 1936, Ph.D. 1942 from Ohio State University in the fields of biochemistry, bacteriology and experimental pathology. She worked as an instructor in pathology at O.S.U. 1941-1942 and came to the University of Wyoming as an assistant professor-research pathology in 1942. She worked as a researcher though other job titles held during her career were agricultural biochemist and associate pharmacologist. She had a sabbatical year as an atomic energy fellow at the University of California-Berkeley, Donner Laboratory, 1948-1949, and was visiting scientist in cancer research at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, 1956-1957.

She became a full professor at the University of Wyoming, later professor emeritus upon her retirement in 1967. After twenty-five years in Wyoming she returned to Ohio to work as a research consultant and died there in 1983.

Dr. Rosenfeld was a major researcher in the University of Wyoming Biochemistry Department where she received much grant funding to study, among other things, the application of radioactive substances to medicine and biological science; selenium poisoning in soils, plants and animals; protein metabolism and synthesis.

Professor Rosenfeld was the author of over sixty publications including the book Selenium (coauthor, O.A. Beath), 1964, a study of the geobotany, biochemistry, toxicity and nutrition involved with the element (Selenium) as it affects humans, mammals and birds.

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Content Description

Includes speeches, correspondence, experiments and microslides, reports, material from or about the book "Selenium," and subject files.

The Irene Rosenfeld Papers, 1908-1983, include addresses, correspondence, experiments and microslides, reports, material from or about the book Selenium and subject files.

Dr. Rosenfeld spent her working life at the University of Wyoming as a researcher in the Biochemistry Department. This is reflected in all the series.

The addresses are lectures or papers presented to scientific gatherings and include such topics as chromatograms, selenium or radioactive isotopes of selenium.

The correspondence contains a few fragments concerning a dairy, an assistantship in the department and miscellaneous communications to and from Professor Rosenfeld.

The results of research experiments are recorded either on (A) data sheets or in (B) notebooks/notes. Some experiments that were recorded separately may overlap as to subject matter or dates. There are general experiments as well as an explanation of the Warburg Analysis technique in which plants with a high selenium content were ground up and made into solutions for analysis. Other experiments include: Radioactive Se/Nitrogen data, or distribution of Y-NH2 or GABA in various organs or muscles; chromatography; relationship of high/low protein diet to Selenium poisoning; Brisquet disease; chromatograms; amino acid tissue data. Folder titles that were copied directly from original titles appear in caps in the folder list.

Index card information was used for indexes; an abstract file on liver disease; library information/requests.

Microscope slides contain tissue or blood samples for analysis. There are few dates. Most of the indexes are not filled in. There is very little other identification and no key was found. 85 slide cases.

The reports, projects and grants show the moving forces and outside financial assistance behind the important accomplishments of this researcher.

The development of the book Selenium is shown through 4 draft versions; chapter resource material includes some new information not published in the book. Chapters I, III, IV are missing. There are a few plates, photographs and negatives which did not appear in the book.

The subject files contain reprints, transcripts, photocopies, bulletins, journals, circulars, booklets, etc., on subjects of interest to Professor Rosenfeld. These files begin in the 1920s with a few earlier items and constitute, in some instances, a source of information on these topics that cannot be reproduced today. Occasional articles are in a foreign language (German, French, Russian, Czechoslovakian, Japanese, Spanish) with and without translations.

Since selenium is the most important aspect of these papers, where there is even a mention of the topic selenium the folder has been marked in the folder list with an Selenium for easy identification. For further information on selenium see the papers of O.A. Beath, Carl Gilbert and Harold Eppson.

A partial list of Irene Rosenfeld publications may be found in the subject files under Rosenfeld Publications.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Copyright Information

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Preferred Citation

Preferred Citation

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Irene Rosenfeld Papers, Collection Number 09774, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into eight series:

Series I. Addresses and Speeches

Series II. Correspondence

Series III. Experiments

Series IV. Index Cards

Series V. Microslides

Series VI. Reports, Projects, Grants

Series VII. SELENIUM (Book)

Series VIII. Subject Files

Related Materials

Related Materials

There are no known other archival collections created by Irene Rosenfeld at the date of processing.

Acquisition Information

Acquisition Information

Donated in 1976.

Processing Note

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Indez Dillon Prinster.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Container List

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Botanical chemistry.
  • Livestock poisoning plants -- West (U.S.)
  • Plant-soil relationships -- West (U.S.)
  • Poisonous plants -- Composition.
  • Range plants -- West (U.S.)
  • Selenium -- Physiological effect.
  • Selenosis.
  • Soils -- Selenium content.

Corporate Names

  • University of Wyoming

Processed by Indez Dillon Prinster
2007

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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