| Administrative History | Dr Sydney Archer (1927 - 1996), one of the founders of INRC [International Narcotics Research Conference; or Club pre - 1970s]. 'He attacked 3 of mankind’s major scourges, drug abuse, cancer and schistosomiasis'. Between 1943 and 1973 'Syd' worked at the Sterling - Winthrop Research Institute, and 'rose to the rank of Vice President for Research. He returned to Academia in 1973, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he remained as Professor of Chemistry until his death'. [Correspondence includes a letter, dated 21 October 1973, from Archer, saying: 'Dear Hans, Congratulations on your retirement and new appointment! ... I am now Research Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.)']. Archer also served as 'Dean of the RPI School of Science from 1980 to 1985' [Letter from Archer, dated 24 May 1980, says that 'Teddy' [or 'Teddie', his wife] 'is retiring from teaching at the end of the current term and as of 1 July I will assume the post of Dean of the School of Science at R. P. I.'
Dr Archer 'received many awards, among them the Medicinal Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society in 1968 and the Inventor of the Year Award from the Eastern Patent Law Association. He was the holder of well over 100 patents as well as the author of numerous publications in prestigious journals'.
He served on NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] 'Study Sections, the Editorial Advisory Board, the Board of Advisors of the Addiction Research Center and on the Director’s External Advisory Committee. He was active in CPDD [Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence] and served on its Board of Directors. He also served on an Advisory Committee on Schistosomiasis of WHO [World Health Organization], for which he did a considerable amount of work and traveling'.
Cited from the INRC web page, 'News', http://www.inrcworld.org/news.htm#DR.%20SYDNEY%20ARCHER (2005).
The Rensselaer School was founded in 1824 by Stephan Van Rensselaer 'for the purpose of instructing persons ... in the application of science to the common purposes of life'. 'In 1833 the school became the Rensselaer Institute, and in the 1850s its purpose was broadened to become a polytechnic institution. The name was changed in 1861 to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The Institute is currently a technological university comprising five schools: Architecture, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management, and Science'.
Cited from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) web page, 'Rensselaer History', http://www.rpi.edu/about/history.html (2005). |
| Description | Correspondence regarding Dr Archer's and Kosterlitz's research and work, particularly the sending of scientific samples for experiments and the exchanging of copies of their scientific papers. Correspondence talks about Kosterlitz and Hanna's visits to Archer and Teddy and Archer's visits to the UK. Also talks about Kosterlitz's other travelling and visiting, including his visits to the USA, and visit in 1974 to the Max - Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich. Correspondence mentions the Gordon Conferences and annual & biannual meetings of the INRC, for example the letter from Archer dated 15 October 1976.
Letters, dated 18 June 1975 from Archer and 26 June 1975 from Kosterlitz, saying that NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] might be a potential source of travel funds 'for Aberdeen'.
Correspondence includes an article from the 'Times - Union' newspaper, dated 15 November 1975, entitled 'Researchers find new painkiller', which says that 'researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered a naturally - occurring, opiate - like substance [called 'Endorphin'] in human and other animal brains'.
Includes a letter, dated 12 December 1980, from Archer to Dr Leo Hollister, Executive Secretary, The Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc., Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto, California, nominating Raymond D. Houde 'to be the next recipient of the Nathan Eddy Award'.
Includes letter, dated 22 July 1986, from Archer, enclosing an annotated copy of Louis S. Harris' Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award Lecture.
There are gaps in the correspondence: in 1977, 1978, 1980, between 1981 and 1982 and in 1982. There is no correspondence for 1983. Also gaps between 1984 and 1985, between 1985 and 1986, and there is only one letter dating from 1986.
The second file contains research notes relating to Archer's work, such as a transcript copy of his talk he made in 1979 in Cocoyoc, entitled 'A Model of an Opiate Receptor', and a transcript of: Sydney Archer, 'A Model for the Analgesic Receptor'. |