The Papers reflect the multi-level career of Lewis Thomas (Princeton Class of 1933)—as medical practitioner, research center director, and best-selling writer on scientific and medical topics. The bulk of the collection dates from the years (1973-1983) Dr. Thomas served as president and, later, chancellor, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. Included are extensive correspondence with an international group of colleagues, such as Fred Plum, Robert A. Good, Baruj Benacerraf, Edward Boyse, Bernard Amos, Edward Beattie, Attallah Kappas, Benno Schmidt, George Cotzias, Otto Westphal, Ion Gresser, and Rene Dubos (all well-known research scientists); administrative files dealing with policies, issues, and activities of MSKCC, such as the Committee on Scientific Policy, the Managers and Overseers Committee, By-laws of the Center, the Commission on the Humanities, conflicts of interest and ethics, patents, patient complaints, Blue Cross and Medicaid-Medicare; correspondence with boards of trustees; files related to his publications—editorial correspondence, fan mail, permissions, etc.—as well as reprints of his column "Notes of a Biology Watcher" and of his scientific papers; and a chronological series containing all of his presentations, lectures, and awards from 1966 to 1990, including commencement addresses, statements before congressional committees, and conference speeches, seminars, and talks at awards dinners.