Excerpt:
This "experimental history project" so to speak, is part of a program supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to explore the possibilities of using the internet to increase the collection of archival material in the history of recent science to supplement and complement expensive and time consuming oral history interviews and preparation of autobiographical memoirs. This site includes three projects devoted to topics in microbiology being developed and maintained through a grant to the American Society for Microbiology. Parallel projects are being developed by the Society for Neuroscience and the American Society for Virology.
Annotation:
This site provides essays, timelines, and personal recollections of the history of research on plasmids, extremophiles and second generation antibiotics. Currently, only the plasmid portion of the site is fully developed. A timeline of plasmid research outlines major breakthroughs from 1903-1969, a glossary covers most of the important terms related to the field, and an extensive bibliography covers published papers on plasmids from the 1940s and 50s. Microbiologists and others involved with plasmid research can add their comments and recollections to the site's archive. In addition, the site contains links to other sites and professional associations interested in the history of microbiology.