Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Carl F. Cori Large Archive of Scientific and Personal Correpondence, 1920–1953

Carl Cori

Manuscript & Autographs

[Science and Medicine][Nobel Prize] Cori, Carl Ferdinand. Large correspondence archive preserving over three decades of transatlantic scientific exchange between a family central to twentieth-century biomedical research. Encompassing the career of Carl F. Cori, recipient of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for elucidating the enzymatic pathway of glycogen metabolism, alongside letters from his father, the zoologist and marine biologist Carl I. Cori. The letters document the intellectual formation of the Cori laboratory, the collaborative partnership between Carl and Gerty Cori, and the recognition that followed their identification of the biochemical pathway later termed the Cori cycle. Written across the interwar period, World War II, and the early Cold War, the correspondence covers topics relating to the Cori's metabolic research as well as their familial connections and immigrant life in the United States.

Cori, Carl Ferdinand, and Cori, Carl Isidor. Archive of more than 140 letters. 1920s–1950s. The archive includes 36 letters by Carl I. Cori, 34 congratulatory letters addressed to Carl F. Cori upon the announcement of the 1947 Nobel Prize, and the remainder authored primarily by Carl F. Cori. Early letters from 1922, written on the letterhead of the State Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease in Buffalo, record his research in metabolic physiology; in August 1922 he notes plans to travel to Pittsburgh to present “die Resultate unserer Katzenarbeit” at the American Chemical Society, and in June of that year he describes drafting scientific papers while reporting that Gerty had secured a position as “pathologische Assistentin mit 2500$ jährlich,” adding his intention to complete a Festschrift contribution collaboratively with her. Post-1947 correspondence reflects international recognition and diasporic response. A Viennese colleague writes of the “Welterfolg Ihres Herrn Sohnes,” while another laments that his mother could not witness “diese große Freude.” Letters from Carl I. Cori in postwar Vienna combine familial pride with scientific engagement, including reflections on emerging therapies during Gerty Cori’s illness in 1949. Additional correspondence addresses the difficulties faced by displaced scholars seeking to rebuild careers in Prague and elsewhere after the war. Together the letters chart laboratory development, professional advancement, and the emotional dimensions of scientific distinction within a community shaped by Central European displacement.

Letters exhibit varying degrees of creasing, toning, and edge wear consistent with age and transatlantic mailing; overall very good, with some items fair. As a sustained record of laboratory formation, Nobel recognition, and the persistence of Central European scientific identity in exile, this archive offers substantive primary documentation of the institutional and familial structures underlying modern biochemical research.

Item #22301

Price: $3,800.00