MARKUS LIBRARY: PAST AND PRESENT
Description
The Historic Instrument Collection at The Rockefeller University was created by Professor Merrill W. Chase during his distinguished career as an immunologist from 1932 until his death in 2004. One by one, he acquired from his Rockefeller colleagues instruments of historic interest when they were no longer needed in the laboratory. He documented each instrument, so that its place in the history of The Rockefeller Institute and later the University would not be forgotten. He enjoyed the intellectual challenge, but did not publicize it. Nor did he ever ask the institute to provide facilities or a budget for the collection. Nevertheless, it was by his efforts that the collection has survived and grown, even though until 1996 it was crowed into odd corners with no real home. When in 1997 President Torsten Wiesel gave a formal recognition to a collection, it had 262 instruments. Today, it has 358 and grows by a few every year.
Photo by Lubosh Stepanek