Contents and Arrangement
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Series 4: Government Service, 1954-2005

29 boxes

Collection Overview

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The Government Service series documents Baker's work as a member of committees and as a consultant to the U.S. government and New Jersey state government throughout his career at Bell Labs and after his retirement. For the federal government, Baker primarily worked on issues related to intelligence, national security, and implementing communications or information systems. For New Jersey, Baker worked on matters concerning education and supporting technological development to aid the state's economy. Please see the subseries descriptions for additional information about individual subseries.

Arrangement

Divided into two subseries: U.S. Government and New Jersey State Government.

Collection History

Appraisal

The majority of the materials separated from the William O. Baker Papers are related to Baker's involvement, often as a member of a board or committee, with numerous professional and academic organizations, institutes, and non-profit organizations devoted to science research, including the American Chemical Society, the Health Effects Institute, the Mellon Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as universities and corporations, notably Princeton University and Rockefeller University. These papers included reports and publications of the organizations, as well as meeting materials and routine correspondence. Other materials separated from the Baker Papers include published materials that Baker collected on areas of interest to him, notably education and his areas of scientific research, personal files related to Baker's finances, property ownership and medical treatment of himself and his wife, invitations, awards certificates, plaques and medals, Baker's college papers and class notes, and duplicate materials.

Sponsorship:

These papers were processed with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Processing Information

Eleven accessions were combined to form this collection. The collection was initially processed in 2008 by L. Durgin after the 2004-2007 accessions were received and a collection-level MARC record and finding aid were created at this time. Further processing was conducted in 2010 by Adriane Hanson. An updated finding aid and series-level description were created at this time.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to The Trustees of Princeton University and researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of donor-created materials within the collection. For materials in the collection not created by the donor, or where the material is not an original, the copyright is likely not held by the University. In these instances, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Box 14, Interviews and Oral Histories, includes seven VHS tapes.

Credit this material:

Series 4: Government Service; William O. Baker Papers, MC218, Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (mudd): Box 29-57

Find More

Related Materials

Researchers seeking to identify related collections at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library should consult the Princeton University Library Finding Aids page and browse the subjects American politics and government, Cold War, and History of science. The Manuscripts Division in Firestone Library at Princeton University holds the papers of several members of the chemistry faculty who were at Princeton while Baker was a graduate student, including the papers of his advisor Charles Smyth.

Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical note: "William O. Baker, 90, an Adviser to Five Presidents About Scientific Matters" by Margalit Fox. The New York Times, November 3, 2005. "William Oliver Baker, 15 July 1915-31 October 2005" by Frederick Seitz. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 152, No. 1, March 2008. "William Oliver Baker (Deceased)" Marquis Who's Who Online http://marquiswhoswho.com Accessed June 18, 2009. Biographical materials; William O. Baker Papers, Box 11-12; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Names:
Bell Telephone Laboratories‏
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
United States. National Security Agency
United States. President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
United States. President's Science Advisory Committee
New Jersey Board of Higher Education
New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology
Baker, William O. (William Oliver) (1915-2005)