2 Projectors

This collection documents the professional life of Johannes Holtfreter who was a prominent developmental biologist in the mid-1900s. This collection includes both handwritten and typed letters with colleagues and students, newspaper clippings, lecture announcement posters, handwritten experiment notes, embryo experiment sketches, notebooks, travel documents, projectors, and 44 rolls of 16mm movie film. The collection follows various activities within Dr. Holtfreter’s career, including his numerous achievements within the field of embryology, his invitations to join various professional societies, as well as his friendship and collaboration with fellow embryologist Viktor Hamburger. Records within the collection date back to the early 1920s during his time in Germany before World War II, and follow his career and retirement until his death in 1992.

The Correspondence Series of this collection documents Johannes’ time in Germany, his two-year stent within the Canadian Internment Camps, and his academic professorship at the University of Rochester in the United States. The records also include biographical information, travel documents, letters written during trips and sabbatical appointments, lecture announcements, professional invitations, citizenship correspondence, consultations, appointments, criticisms, colleague letters, and correspondence with family and friends. Prominent holdings within this collection are the numerous letters of correspondence between Johannes and fellow embryologist Viktor Hamburger, as well as experiment notes and illustrations that focus on amphibian embryos and Spemann-Mangold’s Organizer.