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Alexander Vucinich Papers

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us]3401 Market Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
UPT 50 V986
Repository:
University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
Extent:
3 cubic feet
Language:
English
Date:
1961-1984 (inclusive)
Creator:
Vucinich, Alexander
Abstract:
The Alexander Vucinich papers document Vucinich's tenure as a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of History and Sociology of Science and his work as a scholar of the social and cultural history of science in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.

Alexander Vucinich was a Professor in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania from 1976 to 1985. He was also a scholar of the social and cultural history of science in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union.

Born on October 23, 1914 in Wilmington, California to parents who had emigrated from Serbia, Vucinich was orphaned when both parents died in 1918 of influenza. He and two older siblings were sent to live with an uncle in a small village in Herzegovina called Bileca Rudine. After graduating from the University of Belgrade in 1938, Vucinich came back to California and attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an M.A. in 1941. He then earned a Ph.D. in sociology in 1950 from Columbia University in New York City. He taught at San Jose State College from 1950 to 1964, the University of Illinois from 1964 to 1970 and the University of Texas from 1970 to 1976. Vucinich joined the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1985.

Vucinich studied the history of Russian science at a time when most Western scholars were dismissive of their scientific traditions and contributions. He sought to restore the legacy of Russian science and scientists to the mainstream academic intellectual current. In addition to several scholarly articles, he authored several books on the topic, including: Soviet Economic Institutions: The Social Structure of Production Units (1952);The Soviet Academy of Sciences (1956); Science in Russian Culture: A History to 1860 (1963); Science in Russian Culture: 1861-1917 (1970); Social Thought in Tsarist Russia: The Quest for a General Science of Society (1976); Empire of Knowledge: The Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1917-1970 (1984); Darwin in Russian Thought (1988); and Einstein in Soviet Ideology (2001). In the spring of 1967 he went to the Soviet Union as part of an exchange program between the American Council of Learned Societies and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. This program gave him the chance to work first hand with leading Soviet experts in the history of science at the Lenin Library in Moscow and the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in Leningrad.

Alexander Vucinich died on May 25, 2002 at his home in Berkeley, California. He was survived by his brother Wayne (a professor of Eastern European studies at Stanford University), his wife Dorothy, and their two children, Andrea and John.

The Alexander Vucinich papers are professional in nature and document Vucinich's tenure as a Professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of History and Sociology of Science and his work as a scholar of the history of Russian science.

The bulk of the Vucinich papers are contained within the Research and Writings series. This material pertains to his studies of the social and cultural history of science in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. Most of this research consists of bibliographic citations and notes grouped topically. There is, however, a group of untitled notebooks as well as a sequence of numbered but otherwise untitled notebooks that contain bibliographic notations along with summaries or analysis of the notated source. There is no indication what article, book, or project this research correlates to. Vucinich took notes in a combination of English and what appears to be Russian (but could also be Serbian). This series also includes a complete draft of Vucinich's Empire of Knowledge: The Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1917-1970).

The Teaching Material series contains lectures and syllabi for courses Vucinich taught in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of History and Sociology of Science. There is some material for a course called HIS 339 which likely comes from one of Vucinich's professorships prior to coming to the University of Pennsylvania.

Finally, the General File series contains material that is not related to teaching or research, including correspondence, letters of recommendation written by Vucinich, and reports on the Department of History and Sociology of Science.

The papers of Alexander Vucinich are organized into three series – General File, Teaching Material, and Research and Writings – which are each arranged alphabetically.

The Alexander Vucinich papers were donated to the University Archives by the Department of History and Sociology of Science in 1993 (accession number 1993:040).

Subject

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
Finding Aid Author
Timothy H. Horning
Finding Aid Date
September 2014
Access Restrictions

Access to collections is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.

Collection Inventory

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American Council of Learned Societies Cultural Exchange, 1961-1968.
Box 1 Folder 1
American Philosophical Society, 1962-1972.
Box 1 Folder 2
American Physical Society, 1975.
Box 1 Folder 3
Biographical Information, 1977-1983.
Box 1 Folder 4
Correspondence, 1949-1984.
Box 1 Folder 5
Department of History and Sociology of Science: Report and Review, 1980-1981.
Box 1 Folder 6
Department of History and Sociology of Science: Report and Review, 1981-1982.
Box 1 Folder 7
Department of History and Sociology of Science: Report and Review, February 1984.
Box 1 Folder 8
Ford Foundation, 1975.
Box 1 Folder 9
Grants, 1969-1973.
Box 1 Folder 10
History and Sociology of Science Department Brochures, undated.
Box 1 Folder 11
Journal, undated.
Box 1 Folder 12
Letters of Recommendation, 1976-1985.
Box 1 Folder 13
University of Chicago Press, 1974-1976.
Box 1 Folder 14

Lecture: American Science in the 20th Century, undated.
Box 1 Folder 15
Lecture: Cultural Anthropology, undated.
Box 1 Folder 16
Lecture: Darwin and Soviet Biology, undated.
Box 1 Folder 17
Lecture: Emergence of Modern Science in America, undated.
Box 1 Folder 18
Lecture: General Characteristics of 18th Century Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 19
Lecture: Major Interpretations, undated.
Box 1 Folder 20
Lecture: Major Interpretations of the Causes, Nature and the Scope of 17th Century Revolution in Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 21
Lecture: Science and Society After 1800, undated.
Box 1 Folder 22
Lecture: Soviet Scientific Establishment, undated.
Box 1 Folder 23
Lecture: William Harvey, undated.
Box 1 Folder 24
Lecture: Benjamin Franklin and American Science in the 18th Century, undated.
Box 1 Folder 25
Lecture: Bernard de Fontenelle, undated.
Box 1 Folder 26
Lecture: Copernicus, undated.
Box 1 Folder 27
Lecture: Ethos of Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 28
Lecture: Galileo Galilei, undated.
Box 1 Folder 29
Lecture: Historical Orientation, undated.
Box 1 Folder 30
Lecture: Industrial Revolution, undated.
Box 1 Folder 31
Lecture: Mechanistic Philosphy and Social Thought, undated.
Box 1 Folder 32
Lecture: Mechanistic Science and Social Theory, undated.
Box 1 Folder 33
Lecture: Philosophical Essence of the Revolution, undated.
Box 1 Folder 34
Lecture: Social Sciences, undated.
Box 1 Folder 35
Lecture: William Gilbert and Robert Boyle, undated.
Box 1 Folder 36
Syllabus, Fall 1980.
Box 1 Folder 37
Syllabus, Fall 1981.
Box 1 Folder 38
Lecture: Biological Synthesis, undated.
Box 1 Folder 39
Lecture: Darwin and Social Theory, undated.
Box 1 Folder 40
Lecture: Darwin in Germany and France, undated.
Box 1 Folder 41
Lecture: Darwinian Revolution, undated.
Box 1 Folder 42
Lecture: Darwin's Theory of Evolution, undated.
Box 1 Folder 43
Lecture: Einstein, undated.
Box 1 Folder 44
Lecture: Encyclopedia, undated.
Box 1 Folder 45
Lecture: French Positivism, undated.
Box 1 Folder 46
Lecture: French Revolution and Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 47
Lecture: French Revolution and English Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 48
Lecture: German Science and the French Revolution, undated.
Box 1 Folder 49
Lecture: Karl Marx, undated.
Box 1 Folder 50
Lecture: New Physics, undated.
Box 1 Folder 51
Lecture: Newtonian Science in the Eighteenth Century, undated.
Box 1 Folder 52
Lecture: Nineteenth Century Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 53
Lecture: Physical Synthesis - Claude Bernard, undated.
Box 1 Folder 54
Lecture: Physical Synthesis - Maxwell, undated.
Box 1 Folder 55
Lecture: Quest for a General Science of Society, undated.
Box 1 Folder 56
Lecture: Reception of Darwin in America, undated.
Box 1 Folder 57
Lecture: Upsurge of American Science During the 1860s, undated.
Box 1 Folder 58
Syllabus, Spring 1980.
Box 1 Folder 59
Syllabus, Spring 1981.
Box 1 Folder 60
Syllabus, Spring 1983.
Box 1 Folder 61
HSS 220: Lecture: Elaboration of Newtonian Legacy, undated.
Box 1 Folder 62
HSS 220: Lecture: Spread of Newtonianism, undated.
Box 1 Folder 63
Lecture: Age of Crisis, undated.
Box 1 Folder 64
Lecture: Age of Enlightenment, undated.
Box 1 Folder 65
Lecture: Age of Lomonosov, undated.
Box 1 Folder 66
Lecture: Age of Mysticism, undated.
Box 1 Folder 67
Lecture: Age of Nicholas I, undated.
Box 1 Folder 68
Lecture: Age of Political Crisis, undated.
Box 1 Folder 69
Lecture: Age of Reform, undated.
Box 1 Folder 70
Lecture: Dr. I. Mendeleev, undated.
Box 1 Folder 71
Lecture: French Revolution and Russian Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 72
Lecture: Peter the Great, undated.
Box 1 Folder 73
Lecture: Post-Newtonian Science, undated.
Box 1 Folder 74
Lecture: Reception of Darwin, undated.
Box 1 Folder 75
Lecture: Roots of Scientific Tradition in Russia, undated.
Box 1 Folder 76
Syllabus, Spring 1984.
Box 1 Folder 77
HSSGH 010: Syllabus, Fall 1983.
Box 1 Folder 78

Age of Einstein, undated.
Box 2 Folder 1
(1).
Box 2 Folder 2
(2).
Box 2 Folder 3
(3).
Box 2 Folder 4
(4).
Box 2 Folder 5
(5).
Box 2 Folder 6
(6).
Box 2 Folder 7
(7).
Box 2 Folder 8
(8).
Box 2 Folder 9
(9).
Box 2 Folder 10
Book Reviews, 1949-1983.
Box 2 Folder 11
Darwin, Charles, undated.
Box 2 Folder 12
Darwinian Biology, undated.
Box 2 Folder 13
Descartes, Rene, undated.
Box 2 Folder 14
Earth Sciences, undated.
Box 2 Folder 15
Preface and Introduction.
Box 2 Folder 16
Chapter One.
Box 2 Folder 17
Chapter Two.
Box 2 Folder 18
Chapter Three.
Box 2 Folder 19
Chapter Four.
Box 2 Folder 20
Chapter Five.
Box 2 Folder 21
Chapter Six.
Box 2 Folder 22
Conclusion.
Box 2 Folder 23
Notes.
Box 2 Folder 24
Bibliography.
Box 2 Folder 25
Heights of Mathematics, undated.
Box 2 Folder 26
Historiography of Science, undated.
Box 2 Folder 27
History of Science, undated.
Box 2 Folder 28
In Search of Universal Order, undated.
Box 2 Folder 29
Ivan Pavlov: Science, Philosophy and Ideology, 1974.
Box 2 Folder 30
Legal Aspects of Science, undated.
Box 2 Folder 31
New Cosmology, undated.
Box 2 Folder 32
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevskii: The Man Behind the First Non-Euclidean Geometry, 1962.
Box 2 Folder 33
One.
Box 2 Folder 34
Two.
Box 2 Folder 35
Three.
Box 2 Folder 36
Four.
Box 2 Folder 37
Five.
Box 2 Folder 38
Nine.
Box 2 Folder 39
Ten.
Box 2 Folder 40
Eleven.
Box 2 Folder 41
Twelve A.
Box 2 Folder 42
Twelve B.
Box 3 Folder 1
Thirteen.
Box 3 Folder 2
Fourteen.
Box 3 Folder 3
Fifteen.
Box 3 Folder 4
Sixteen.
Box 3 Folder 5
Seventeen.
Box 3 Folder 6
Eighteen.
Box 3 Folder 7
Twenty.
Box 3 Folder 8
Twenty-One.
Box 3 Folder 9
Twenty-Two.
Box 3 Folder 10
Twenty-Three.
Box 3 Folder 11
Twenty-Four.
Box 3 Folder 12
Twenty-Five.
Box 3 Folder 13
Twenty-Seven.
Box 3 Folder 14
Thirty.
Box 3 Folder 15
October Revolution and Science, undated.
Box 3 Folder 16
Pavlov, Ivan, undated.
Box 3 Folder 17
Pavlovian Science, undated.
Box 3 Folder 18
Philosophy of Science, undated.
Box 3 Folder 19
Post-Stalin, undated.
Box 3 Folder 20
Puzzles, Problems and Enigmas, undated.
Box 3 Folder 21
Quest for a General Science of Society, undated.
Box 3 Folder 22
Science and Morality: A Soviet Dilemma, 1968.
Box 3 Folder 23
Science in Russian Culture Bibliographic Notes, undated.
Box 3 Folder 24
Sociology of Science, undated.
Box 3 Folder 25
Soviet Science, undated.
Box 3 Folder 26

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