Home | Collection Home | Search | Browse | What's New | About

	Biographical Information Research Preceding the Discovery The Discovery of the "Transforming Principle" After the Discovery
	Finding Aid
	All Documents		All Visuals

Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955) was a distinguished bacteriologist and research physician and one of the founders of immunochemistry. He is best known, however, as a discoverer that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) serves as genetic material. The Oswald T. Avery Collection is a part of the Joshua Lederberg Papers, which are at the National Library of Medicine and available digitally. The collection was assembled by Nobel laureate Dr. Lederberg because of the strong connection between Dr. Avery's work and his own. The work of Avery and his lab, observes Dr. Lederberg, was "the historical platform of modern DNA research" and "betokened the molecular revolution in genetics and biomedical science generally."

Documents in the Oswald T. Avery Collection range from 1910 to 1990s, the majority dating from the 1940s and from the 1960s to the present day. The collection contains laboratory notes, research reports, published articles and books, correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, speeches, photographic prints, and audiovisual materials.

As part of its Profiles in Science project, the National Library of Medicine is digitizing and making available over the World Wide Web a selection of the Oswald T. Avery Collection, for use by educators and researchers. This Web site provides access to the portions of the Oswald T. Avery Collection that are now publicly available. Individuals interested in conducting research in the Oswald T. Avery Collection are invited to contact the National Library of Medicine.

This online Exhibit is designed to introduce you to the various phases of Dr. Avery's scientific career and professional life. It is divided into sections that focus on Avery's life and major scientific contributions. We suggest that new visitors begin with this exhibit, which includes a small selection of documents and visuals, organized within these sections. Each section begins with a "Background Narrative," which leads to "Documents" and "Visuals."

Visitors may access additional materials through Search on the navigation bar. They may also view the materials alphabetically or chronologically by choosing Browse on the navigation bar. Documents and visuals in these lists are arranged by format and then either alphabetically by title or chronologically.