Faculty Collections
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Title
George C. Williams Papers
Collection Number
UA 2155
OCLC Number
1434254848
Creator
George C. Williams (1926-2010)
Provenance
The collection was donated by George C. Williams in two accessions in 2003 and 2006.
A third accession was received from the family of George Williams in 2022.
Extent,Scope, and Content Note
The collection comprises 12.5 linear feet of George Williams' research notes; correspondence;
manuscripts; framed awards and related documents created between 1954 and 2007. There
are also materials in the collection pertaining to his wife Doris Calhoun Williams.
Subject coverage includes natural selection, life history evolution, and the evolution
of behavior.
Arrangement and Processing Note
The papers have been arranged in the original order maintained by George C. Williams.
The collection was processed by Kristen J. Nyitray and Lynn Toscano in June 2012. The third accession was processed in May 2024. Finding aid updated in May 2024.
Language
English
Restrictions on Access
The collection is open to researchers without restriction.
Rights and Permissions
Stony Brook University Libraries' consent to access as the physical owner of the collection
does not address copyright issues that may affect publication rights. It is the sole
responsibility of the user of Special Collections and University Archives materials
to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission
where needed prior to publication.
Citation
[Item], [Box], George C. Williams Papers, Special Collections and University Archives,
Stony Brook University Libraries.
Historical Note
George Christopher Williams (1926-2010) was a leading theoretician in natural selection,
life history evolution, and the evolution of behavior. He worked for many years on
the evolutionary biology of fishes, and was a noted contributor to the literature
on the evolution of sex. He authored the classic books Adaptation and Natural Selection, Sex
and Evolution (1975), Natural Selection: Domains, Levels, and Challenges (1992), and Why
We Get Sick: the New Science of Darwinian Medicine (1996 with R. M. Nesse). Williams
was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Guggenheim Fellow. He served
as editor of The American Naturalist and The Quarterly Review of Biology and was the
president of the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1989. Williams was recognized
by the Ecological Society of America as its Eminent Ecologist in 1989. He was awarded
the Elliot Medal by the National Science Foundation in 1992, and shared the prestigious
Crafoord Prize with Ernst Mayr and John Maynard Smith in 1999. (source: Department
of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University)
Librarian Emerita Doris Calhoun Williams began her career at Stony Brook in 1971. She most notably was the head of the biology library, a former branch library located in close proximity to the Life Sciences building. She received a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California at Berkeley, a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in biological sciences from Stony Brook. In 1988, Doris was recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship. She was predeceased by her husband of 60 years Dr. George Williams, an evolutionary biologist of worldwide renown and professor emeritus of Stony Brook’s Department of Ecology and Evolution. Doris and George co-authored one paper together, “Natural Selection of Individually Harmful Social Adaptations Among Sibs with Special Reference to Social Insects,” published in the journal Evolution in 1957 (vol. 11, no. 1, 32-39).
Subjects
Williams, George C. (George Christopher), 1926-2010.
Williams, George C. (George Christopher), 1926-2010 -- Archives.
Williams, Doris Calhoun.
Stony Brook University. Department of Ecology and Evolution.
Adaptation (Biology)
Evolution (Biology)
Evolution.
Human evolution.
Natural selection.
INVENTORY
Box 1
Correspondence, 1954-1970
Box 2
Correspondence, 1971-1975
Box 3
Correspondence, 1976-1978
Box 4
Correspondence, 1979-1981
Box 5
Correspondence, 1982-1984
Box 6
Correspondence, 1985-1987
Box 7
Correspondence, 1988-1990
Box 8
Correspondence, 1991-1992
Box 9
Correspondence, 1993-June 1994
Box 10
Correspondence, July 1994-September 1995
Box 11
Correspondence, October 1995-October 1996
Box 12
Correspondence, November 1996-August 1997
Box 13
Correspondence, September 1997-June 1998
Box 14
Correspondence, July 1998-August 1999
Box 15
Correspondence, September 1999-June 2000
Box 16
Correspondence, July 2000-April 2002
Box 17
Correspondence, May 2002-March 2005
Box 18
Correspondence, April 2005-May 2005
Box 19
Correspondence, 2005-2007 (5f)
DVD, interview with George Williams, August 2001
Box 20
Manuscripts, 1939-1952
Curriculum vitae
Yearbook, Doris Calhoun Williams, 1947
Manuscript, Ph.D. dissertation, George C. Williams
Manuscript, Master of Arts thesis, Doris Calhoun Williams
Scrapbook contents of honors, George C. Williams (3f)
Box 21
1999 Crafoord Prize, George C. Williams
Files on Nesse/Williams manuscript
Manuscript, "Plan and Purpose in Nature," George C. Williams (4f)
Research and correspondence related to Iceland (2f)
Box 22
Awards, honors and degrees of Doris Calhoun Williams and George C. Williams
Awards and honors of George C. Williams
Box 23
Awards and honors of George C. Williams with photographs
Box 24
Awards and honors of George C. Williams