[Name of document, date.] James R. Slater papers, Mss.023. University of Puget Sound Archives & Special Collections. Tacoma, Washington.
James Rodenburg Slater (b. 1890, d. 1989) taught biology at the University of Puget Sound for thirty-two years, from 1919 to 1951. Slater served in the U.S. Air Force during World War I, later receiving his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and a graduate degree from Syracuse University (1917). Slater joined the biology faculty of the College of Puget Sound (now University of Puget Sound), in Tacoma, Washington, in 1919. Professor Slater taught at CPS until the summer 1951, when he began teaching at Florida Southern College. Slater later returned to Tacoma where he continued his research as a herpetologist, focusing on the reptiles and amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. The University of Puget Sound awarded Slater an honorary doctorate.
Slater founded and directed the college's natural history museum from 1930 to 1951. In 1979, the museum was renamed the Slater Museum of Natural History. In 2023, the University of Puget Sound Board of Trustees approved removing Slater's name following recommendations from President Crawford and the Slater Museum Name Review Committee, a group representing students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and experts across biology, history, ethics, DEI, communications, fundraising, and donor relations.
The committee was formed in response to a request by Grace Eberhardt '20, a biology and African American studies double major, whose research found that Slater taught a eugenics course at CPS for 30 years. While the course initially reflected standard biology curricula of its time, Slater continued teaching it until his retirement in 1951, long after many other institutions had removed similar courses.
Collection is arranged by format.
The James R. Slater papers contain the personal and professional papers, books, photographs, and correspondence of Professor James Slater as well as numerous academic awards and medals of recognition received throughout his career. Slater's papers offer insight into his involvement in the community of biological research and shows how he was connected to biologists nationwide. Incomplete manuscript papers in the collection include organism inventories and Slater's graduate thesis. Some books in the collection are academic, though the collection also contains a small bible and literary texts. While most of the photographs are unidentified, a small number of photographs are of family members from the early twentieth century. There are also photographs of biological samples and landscapes. The Slater papers also hold a series of the University of Puget Sound's Slater Musuem papers and pamphlets labeled as the Jewett Collection.
This collection is available for research.
Property rights reside with the University of Puget Sound. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Collins Memorial Library provides access to its collections in order to support research and education. Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the use or reproduction of some items may be restricted by the terms of the gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, or university policy. It is the user's responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or any other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise disseminating materials found in the collections.
The Certificates and Awards series includes letters and certificates recognizing Slater for his academic excellence, pedagogical excellence, and diversity of achievements between 1907 and 1986. University commendations come from Syracuse University, Rutgers, the University of Puget Sound, the University of Michigan, and Brown. Two folders contain certificates denoting Slater' s pre-collegiate achievements and ability to teach Sunday school through the New York Sunday School Association. The series also includes Slater's emeritus membership to the honors society Phi Kappa Phi.
The Correspondence series contains material dating from the beginning of Slater's professional scientific career in the 1910s to his retirement in the late 1980s. Materials include personal correspondence with friends, family, and mentors, and professional correspondence with other scientists and schools.
These folders contain Slater's correspondence regarding specimen collection and scientific research between the 1930s and the end of his life. The folders are organized according to the last initial of the corresponder. Some of Slater's letters are attached to corresponding replies. Folders are organized from earliest date to latest date. When letters with different dates are stapled together, the first letter in that packet is used for dating organization.
The subseries on Personal Correspondence contains Slater's letters with friends and family.
Slater's Professional Correspondence contains letters pertaining to scientific research on taxonomy, species diversity, and for textbooks.
General and Research Materials includes a booklet on Washington's vascular plants from Nelsa Buckingham in 1979, a University disbursement receipt with an attached memo note, a loan receipt regarding specimen exchange of Plethodon idahoensis from University of California - Berkeley, 2 loan receipts regarding specimen exchange of Typhlotriton spelaeus and Thamnophis ordinoides vagrans (on separate occasions)from Chicago Natural History Museum, a receipt of a scientific book purchase in 1936, 3 pages on the volumes, dates, and authorship of Occasional Papers in Biology, a surface temperature graph, and a membership notice from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (publishers of "Copeia").
The Research series includes Slater's handwritten and typed notes, research materials, newspaper clippings, and course syllabi and tests from his teaching career.
The General subseries includes notes on research contacts, research locations, specimen locations, dated findings of specimens, Slater's masters thesis, and research notes on Diemyctylus viridiscens.
Newspaper Articles includes an article about James Slater, an article about a local nature-lover, and an article about local biodiversity.
3 copies in folder
Notes on Flower Orders contains notes on different flower specimens (identified by their Latin taxonomical names) including information such as location of findings, directions to that location, and date of findings. Each set of notes is kept in an envelope with the heading of the flower order.
Organism Distribution Notes and Catalogues contains quantitative data regarding plant and animal diversity in different parts of Washington and Oregon. Some of the research was done by Slater, while some is published material.
The Slater Museum and University of Puget Sound subseries contains professional correspondence and papers regarding upkeep of the Slater Natural History Museum, including specimen transfer, donors, and budget information. Three items concern broad University affairs, such as landscaping, May Day, and governmental reorganization.
Pedagogical Materials includes three folders containing material generated for students such as homework problems, species lists, and local maps. The subseries also contains a recommendation request for a student applying to medical school, and a request for a list of Slater's students who went on to complete doctoral degrees.
The Personal series includes two receipts of personal transactions, three media items (a sketch, a family tree, and 2 Kodak images), a booklet from Slater's time at Rutgers, two items attributed to Elsie Slater (wife), and a collection of blank postcards.
The Photographs series contains material collected by Slater including images of biological specimens, friends, family, and unidentified individuals.
The Annotated subseries contains photos with small notations on them but no significant identification marks.
The undated and unidentified photograpghs have no identification markers. The labels of people as "man #1' or "woman #5" signify that the person appears in multiple photographs.
2 copies in folder
3 copies in folder
The undated and identified photographs are those that are labeled with a name but no dating markers.
The portrait of Robert Schmidt notes his graduating class but does not specify when the photo was actually taken.
The dated and unidentified photographs have dating markers but no markers of identity. The labels of people as "man #1' or "woman #5" signify that the person appears in multiple photographs.
2 copies in folder
Dated and identified photohraphs have both date and identity markers.
Images of Objects, Places, and Non-human animals include photographs of Slater's specimens, photos of nature, travel, hand-colored artistic photos, and photos of unidentified locations such as large buildings and houses.
Photographs of Slater's family and friends are from the span of his adult life. Items include portraits of Slater, wedding photographs, family albums, albums from Slater's young adulthood with friends, and photographs from Slater's army service.
3 copies in folder
6 copies in folder
4 photos in folder
The Printed Material series contain Slater's books on science and personal reading materials. Professional reading material includes outdoors/wilderness guides, Slater's scientific writings at the University of Puget Sound, information on particular species and kingdoms, and information on new scientific trends. Personal reading includes books Slater had while in the military, and a small number of books of poetry.
The Realia series includes objects such as a silver knife and bronze medal.
The Jewett mammal collection contains materials on Pacific Northwestern mammalia, all of which is stamped "JEWETT COLLECTION." Stanley G. Jewett was a naturalist who worked in the Pacific Northwest, and the Jewett family were donors to the University of Puget Sound who financed much of the construction of McIntyre Hall.
The Bulletin of New England Bird Life is a monthly periodical published in Boston, Massachusetts, through the New England Museum of Natural History. These copies are typed manuscripts stamped with the Jewett Collection label.