Guide to the Mildred Stratton Wilson papers
1925-1987
Collection number: HMC-0417.
Creator: Wilson, Mildred Stratton.
Title: Mildred Stratton Wilson papers.
Dates: 1925-1987.
Volume of collection: 3.5 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Copepoda research materials of the first Alaskan to receive an National Science Foundation grant.
Biographical note:
Mildred Stratton was born to Clark and Ella (Bock) Stratton in Seaside, Oregon, on April 25, 1909. She graduated from Marysville High School in Marysville, Washington, in 1925, and then began her studies at Western Washington Teachers College in Bellingham, Washington, where she remained until 1927. She taught elementary school and junior high school in the Marysville school system from 1927 to 1934. Mildred Stratton married Charles Sawyer Wilson in San Anselmo, California on June 25, 1934. She attended the University of California Berkeley and received her A.B. in 1938. She remained at Berkeley as a research assistant in invertebrate zoology until 1940. The first of her many professional papers appeared in 1941. In 1944, she became an assistant curator in the Smithsonian Institution’s Division of Marine Invertebrates. In 1946, she was appointed as a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution, a connection she retained for her entire career. Mildred S. Wilson moved to Alaska in 1948 and became a biology consultant to the Arctic Health Research Center of the U.S. Public Health Service. She became an Associate in Marine Science at the University of Alaska in 1968 with the Institute of Marine Science. The focus of her research was on copepoda; her laboratory was in her home in Spenard, Alaska. She received several notable grants and fellowships in the course of her career and was the first Alaskan to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship (1955) and also the first Alaskan to receive a National Science Foundation grant (1955). Mildred S. Wilson died in 1973.
Collection description:
The collection contains the papers of Mildred Stratton Wilson. Included are correspondence, writings and publications, drawings, photographs, and education records.
Arrangement: The collection is divided into the following series:
Series 1: Personal papers; 1950-1981
Series 2: Photographs; undated, 1954-1973
Series 3: Education records; 1925-1938
Series 4: Employment and grant-related records; 1944-1977
Series 5: Professional correspondence; 1938-1979
Series 6: Writings, speeches, and drawings; undated, 1938-1975
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Rights note: Published materials or materials authored by individuals other than Mildred Stratton will be subject to copyright not held by the Archives.
Preferred citation: Mildred Stratton Wilson, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Separated materials: Some published materials from the collection are held in the Rare Books collection.
Related materials: The Archives also holds the papers of her husband, Charles S. Wilson, HMC-0416.
Acquisition note: The collection was given to the Archives, and a deed of gift signed, by Peter W. Hill, Wilson’s grandson, in 1994. Additional materials were acquired from the Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) at the University of Alaska Anchorage in 1996.
Processing information: This collection was arranged and described by Michele Wellck in 1996. The collection guide was reformatted to meet current standards by Arlene Schmuland in 2016. Published materials were removed from the collection.
Container list:
Series 1: Personal papers; 1950-1981. 0.2 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/1-3 | Biographies | undated, 1974 |
| 1/4 | Will | 1969 |
| 4/1 | Charcoal drawing of Mildred Wilson | undated |
| 1/5 | Employment records: federal employment application, social security card, University of Alaska identification cards | undated, 1970, 1972 |
| 1/6 | Charles Wilson correspondence with Smithsonian Institution regarding Mildred Wilson | 1976, 1981 |
| 1/7 | Personal medical information and correspondence | 1952-1973 |
| 1/8 | Potholders: embroidered and appliqued with images of copepods | undated |
Series 2: Photographs; undated, 1954-1973. 0.05 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/9 | Family photographs: Clark Stratton (father), Ella Stratton Fisher (mother), Mildred as a child and an adult, and unidentified | undated, 1939-1973 |
| 1/10 | Professional work-related photographs, including Otto Pesta, Sergei Sergeivich Smirnov, B. Bary, Vagn Hansen, A. Fleminger, V. Jaschnov, K.A. Brodsky, E. Borutzky, F.D. Por, N. Della Croce, A. Brian, Dave Damkaer, Waldo Schmitt | 1966-1967 |
Series 3: Education records; 1925-1938. 0.3 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/11 | Quil Ceda yearbook, Marysville High School (Mildred Stratton was the Editor-in-Chief) | 1925 |
| 1/12-23 | College class notes, papers, and exams: anthropology, botany, and zoology | 1936-1938 |
| 1/24 | Phi Beta Kappa initiate ceremony program | 1937 |
Series 4: Employment and grant-related records; 1944-1977. 0.35 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/25 | Arctic Health Research Center library correspondence | 1958-1963 |
| 3/1 | Copepod sample, Findley Lake | 1972 |
| 1/26 | Microscope notes and correspondence | 1965-1973 |
| 1/27 | Grant correspondence and financial reports | 1955-1968 |
| 1/28 | Financial notes | 1971 |
| 1/29 | Institute of Marine Sciencefinancial and employment records | 1968-1972 |
| 1/30 | Library notes, correspondence | undated, 1965 |
| 3/2 | Colleague address cards, possibly for reprint exchanges | undated |
| 3/3 | Library rubber stamp | undated |
| 1/31 | Smithsonian correspondence and progress report regarding NSF grant and employment | 1954-1964 |
| 1/32 | Smithsonian memo regarding eligibility for employment | 1944 |
| 1/33 | Smithsonian proposal to Federal Water Pollution Control Administration | 1969 |
| 1/34 | Work-related notes | 1971-1972 |
Series 5: Professional correspondence; 1938-1979. 0.2 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/35 | Letters regarding the lending of copepod samples | 1952-1975 |
| 1/36 | Letters regarding sending and receiving article reprints | 1953-1976 |
| 1/37 | Correspondence with Anchorage Daily times regarding article | 1961 |
| 1/38 | Dr. Vincenz Brehm | 1950-1967 |
| 1/39 | Dr. Alessandro Brian | 1946-1947 |
| 1/40 | Dr. John L. Brooks | 1968, 1974 |
| 1/41 | Dr. David M. Damkaer | 1962-1975 |
| 1/42 | International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission | 1963-1964 |
| 1/43 | Letters of sympathy after Mildred Wilson’s death | 1974 |
| 1/44 | Dr. S.F. Light, Dept. of Zoology, U.C. Berkeley | 1938-1947 |
| 1/45 | Sandra Roberts | 1965-1969 |
| 1/46 | Incoming correspondence about research | 1946-1979 |
Series 6: Writings, speeches, and drawings; undated, 1938-1975. 2.4 cubic feet.
| Box/Folder | Description | Dates |
| 1/47-2/9 | Ward & Whipple’s fresh-water biology chapters on calanoida and harpacticoida: announcements, galley proofs, drafts, and drawings | 1954-1958 |
| 2/10 | “The Euryhaline copepod genus Eurytemora in fresh and brackish waters of the Cape Thompson region, Chukchi Sea, Alaska” by Mildred Stratton Wilson and Jerry C. Tash: drafts, proofs, and correspondence | 1964-1966 |
| 2/11 | “The life cycles of fresh-water calanoid copepods in Arctic Alaska, with description of a new species of Eurytemora” by Mildred Stratton Wilson and Jerry C. Tash: drafts and notes | 1961 |
| 2/11 | Myocheres old notes and manuscript attempts | undated |
| 2/13 | “The international nature of science” speech, “United Nations Workshop” luncheon, Anchorage League of Women Voters: speech, program, newsletter | 1957 March 30 |
| 2/14 | Article abstracts | undated, 1950 |
| 2/15 | Original drawings of figures I and J from “North American harpacticoid copepods 7. A new species of Stenhelia…” from Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. 78 | 1965 |
| 4/2 | Original drawings of figures 1-29 from “Two new species of the cyclopod copepod genus Pterinopsyllus from the Gulf of Mexico” from Bulletin of Marine Science, Volume 23 Number 3 | 1973 |
| 2/16 | Pseudocyclops notes and figures | 1958-1959 |
| 2/17 | “Shoshone decimnovemus” drawings | undated |
| 2/18 | “Skistodiaptomus” drawings | undated |
| 2/19 | “Lepto. Ant.” drawings | undated |
| 4/3 | “Onyehodiaptomus” drawings | undated |
| 2/20 | Light diaptimid drawings, Hesperadiaptomus | undated |
| 2/21 | Tyrelli group drawings | undated |
| 2/22 | Ridgewaya, Canuella drawings | undated |
| 2/23 | D. Sarsi drawings | undated |
| 2/24 | D. Glacialis, D. Sarsi, D. Trybomi drawings | undated |
| 2/25 | Eury arctica drawings | undated |
| 2/26-27, 4/4 | Drawings and notes | undated |
| 2/28 | Data tables | undated |