Series 4 - Microscope Slides

1935-1969 - 155 Boxes - 77.5 linear feet

Scope and Content Note

The Microscope Slides Series contains all the existing slides of Dr. Sabin's laboratory work. It is organized into 13 alphabetical sub-series. Each sub-series is arranged chronologically and then alphabetically within any given year. This series held a large number of odd-sized and over-sized slide cases. With the exception of the Toxoplasmosis sub-series where the odd sizes come at the beginning, the odd- and over-sized slide cases can be found at the end of each sub-series. They are arranged chronologically from n.d. to the most recent available year, and alphabetically within each year. The "file" numbers denote, in this series, the slide container number rather than an actual file-folder.

Of the thirteen sub-series, eight cover specific diseases, which Dr. Sabin investigated from the period 1939 to 1969 in Cincinnati, including his period of military service during World War II. The eight major diseases covered are Cancer, Dengue, ECHO-viruses, Encephalitis (including Western and Eastern Equine, as well as the St. Louis varieties), Poliomyelitis (the largest of the sub-series), Rabies, Sandfly Fever, and Toxoplasmosis. Three additional sub-series cover a variety of other diseases. Within "General Viruses" can be found Dr. Sabin's work on diseases such as pneumonia, small pox, Yellow Fever, and Multiple Sclerosis. Enteric viruses not already found in one of the major sub-series can be located in "Other Enteric Viruses." There is one box of "Miscellaneous Over-sized" material holding over-sized slide cases of Poliomyelitis and Toxoplasmosis, among other diseases.

The two remaining sub-series, "Animals" and "Unidentified," could not be readily divided by disease. The "Animals" sub-series contains slides that could only be identified by the animal concerned in the study. This sub-series, like the others, is arranged chronologically and within the chronology, alphabetically by animal (abbreviations for each can be found at the beginning of the sub-series). In the case of the "Unidentified" sub-series, identifiers were not available beyond some dates and various numbers and/or letters, which allowed for chronological/alphabetical ordering.

No original order existed when these slides arrived for processing, making this arrangement one imposed by the archivist and processor. However, anticipating that the series might be used in conjunction with Dr. Sabin's Laboratory Notebook series, a similar arrangement was used.

In some instances, there are lab notes, correspondence, paraffin-preserved cross-sections from which the slides were made, or other such material, enclosed in the slide cases. Where this is relevant, it has been noted in the inventory, i.e. in brackets [c] = correspondence.