The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Bleyman, Lea K.

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Lea K. Bleyman Papers

1958-2004
2 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 548

The protistologist Lea Bleyman has conducted research into the genetics, mating systems, and life cycles of ciliates. A former student of Tracy Sonneborn, Bleyman has served as past Secretary and President (2001-2002) of the Society of Protozoologists, and spent many years on the faculty of the Department of Natural Sciences at Baruch College.

The Bleyman Papers contain lab and research notes, abstracts of talks and conference materials, along with some correspondence and annual progress reports from Baruch College. The earliest materials in the collection relate to her years as a student in Sonneborn’s lab; other Bleyman material is located in the records of the International Society of Protistologists at the University of Maryland Baltimore County Library.

Background on Lea K. Bleyman

Lea Kanner Bleyman was born into a Jewish family in Halle, Germany, of November 9, 1936. As an infant, she and her family fled Germany to France, where they remained for the duration of the war, even as her older sisters, Eva and Ruth, were evacuated to the United States by the Kindertransport Program of the humanitarian organization OSE (Oeuvre de Sécours aux Enfants).

Reunited in the United States in 1946, the Kanners settled in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Entering the local public schools, Lea found her first brush with science leavened by her first experience with gender bias, but undeterred, she pursued biology as an undergraduate at Brandeis University. After graduation in 1958, and marrying Michael A. Bleyman, a philosophy major, then studying law at New York University, Bleyman relocated to New York for two years, earning a master’s degree from Columbia University. During her first forays as a graduate student into the world of protozoans, she encountered the work of her future mentor, Tracy S. Sonneborn, and was drawn ever deeper into ciliate genetic research.

In 1961 the Bleymans moved to Indiana University, where Michael returned to his studies in philosophy, while Lea pursued a doctorate under Sonneborn in the Department of Zoology. At the time, Sonneborn’s lab was one the nation’s most vibrant centers for study of the biology and evolutionary genetics of ciliates, and Bleyman fell in with a remarkable community of graduate students, including Akio Miyake and Koichi Hiwatashi, with whom she would later collaborate. Her dissertation research centered on selfing in Paramecium aurelia with relation to macronuclear differentiation, and developing a new medium for culturing Paramecium.

Moving to the University of Illinois in 1964, Bleyman shifted course to study reproduction in Tetrahymena, even as she was completing her dissertation. Hired as a research associate in the lab of David L. Nanny (himself a former Sonneborn student), Bleyman formed a range of intellectually advantageous relationships with fellow protistologists, including John Corliss and Jerome Paulin (both past presidents of the Society of Protozoologists), Eduardo Orias, Peter Bruns, and Ellen Simon.

After a brief stint at the University of North Carolina, and her divorce, Bleyman returned to New York in 1973 to join the Biology faculty at Baruch College. Active in several professional organizations, she was a regular contributor to conferences and symposia on ciliate biology and served on the Executive Committee of the Society of Protozoologists (1981-1986 and 1999-2004), as Secretary (1991-1997), and ultimately President (2001-2002). At Baruch, she took up work on the mating patterns of a different genus of ciliates, Blepharisma, and beginning in 1975, she spent her next ten summers at Cornell, working with her old colleague Peter Bruns on Tetrahymena genetics. The author of dozens of papers on protists, Bleyman is currently Professor Emerita at Baruch.

Contents of Collection

Consisting chiefly of materials relating to Bleyman’s participation in professional conferences, laboratory and lecture notes, and published works, the Bleyman Papers offer Lea K. Bleyman’s research on a range of ciliate taxa. The collection is organized into four series: Conferences; Laboratory and Lecture Notes; Professional Organizations; and Publications.

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Series Descriptions
1962-2006
40 folders

Materials deriving from Bleyman’s participation in professional conferences, including programs and schedules, press materials, abstracts, participant lists, maps, itineraries, and travel ephemera. Correspondence, notes, and relevant papers from conferences are included in the appropriate folders.

1958-1985
20 folders

Laboratory and lecture notes encompass bound and loose materials drafted or drawn during formal lectures as well as at various research facilities. Where laboratory records pertain expressly to published writings, they have been collocated therewith.

1972-2004
2 folders

A small assemblage of materials relating to Bleyman’s professional organizational commitments, particularly her service as an officer of the Society of Protozoologists.

1959-2003
16 folders

Bleyman’s articles have been organized into two sub-categories: shorter articles and abstracts versus longer works (e.g., book chapters, theses, and comprehensive studies). In some cases, these are accompanied by substantial supporting research material, correspondence, drafts, copyright agreements, or other records.

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Inventory of Collection
Series 1. Conferences
1962-2006
40 folders
Symposium on RNA Coding, Bloomington (Ind.)
1962
Box 1:1
Society of Protozoologists, 19th Annual Meeting, Shelter Island (N.Y.)
1966
Box 1:2
MT Conference, Estes Park (Colo.)
1967
Box 1:3
International Cell Cycle Conference, 3rd Meeting, Wrightsville Beach (N.C.)
1969
Box 1:4
Invertebrate Model Systems for Aging Research, Memphis (Tenn.)
1970
Box 1:5
Genetics Society of America, 40th Annual Meeting, Rochester (N.Y.)
1971
Box 1:6
Society of Protozoologists, 25th Annual Meeting, Minneapolis (Minn.)
1972
Box 1:7
Ciliate Genetics Conference / Sonneborn Festschrift, Madison (Wis.)
1976
Box 1:8
Ciliate Genetics and Cell Biology Meeting, Santa Barbara (Calif.)
1979
Box 1:9
Genetics Society of America, 49th Annual Meeting, San Diego (Calif.)
1980
Box 1:10
Conference on Origins and Evolution of Eukaryotes, New York (N.Y.)
1980
Box 1:11
Ciliate Conference, Aurora (N.Y.)
1980
Box 1:12
Society of Protozoologists, 34th Annual Meeting, Dallas (Tex.)
1981
Box 1:13
Society of Protozoologists, 37th Annual Meeting, Athens (Ga.)
1984
Box 1:14
International Ciliate Molecular Genetics Conf, 1st Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.)
1984
Box 1:15
Midwest Protozoology Conf., 17th Meeting, Cincinnati (Ohio)
1985
Box 1:16
Asian Conference on Ciliate Genetics, 1st Meeting, Sendai (Japan)
1985
Box 1:17
International Congress of Protozoology, 7th Meeting, Nairobi (Kenya)
1985
Box 1:18
Asian Conference on Ciliate Genetics, 2nd Meeting, Shanghai (China)
1986
Box 1:19
Society of Protozoologists, 39th Annual Meeting, Kingston (R.I.)
1986
Box 1:20
Society of Protozoologists, 41st Annual Meeting, Bristol (England)
1988
Box 1:21
East Coast Regional Meeting, Soc. of P, 1st Meeting, Hempstead (N.Y.)
1989
Box 1:22
Society of Protozoologists, 44th Annual Meeting, Bozeman (Mont.)
1991
Box 1:23
International Conf. on Ciliate Mol. Biol., 4th Meeting, Pacific Grove (Calif.)
1991
Box 1:24
East Coast Conference on Protozoa, 2nd Meeting, Hamden, (Conn.)
1991
Box 1:25
East Coast Conference on Protozoa, 3rd Meeting, Washington (D.C.)
1992
Box 1:26
East Coast Conference on Protozoa, 4th Meeting, Oneonta, (N.Y.)
1993
Box 1:27
Gordon Research Conference on Molecular, Henniker, (N.H.)
1993
Box 1:28
Biology of Ciliated Protozoa
Box :
International Congress of Protozoology, 9th Meeting, Berlin (Germany)
1993
Box 2:1
International Congress of Protozoology, 10th Meeting, Sydney (Australia)
1997
Box 2:2
East Coast Protozoology Conference, 9th Meeting, Smithfield (R.I.)
2001
Box 2:3
International Congress on Protozoology, 11th Meeting, Salzburg (Austria)
2001
Box 2:4
Society of Protozoologists, 54th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City (Utah)
2002
Box 2:5
Society of Protozoologists, 55th Annual Meeting, Gleneden Beach (Ore.)
2003
Box 2:6
East Coast Protozoology Conference, 11th Meeting, Catonsville (Md.)
2003
Box 2:7
Society of Protozoologists, 56th Annual Meeting, Smithfield (R.I.)
2004
Box 2:8
East Coast Conference on Protozoology, 12th Meeting, Richmond (Va.)
2005
Box 2:9
East Coast Conference on Protozoology, 13th Meeting, Troy (N.Y.)
2006
Box 2:10
Correspondence and personal material
Box 2:11
Figures, tables, illustrations
Box 2:12
Series 2. Laboratory and Lecture Notes
1958-1985
20 folders
Laboratory and lecture notes
Undated
Box 2:13
Laboratory and lecture notes
1958
Box 2:14
Laboratory and lecture notes
1960
Box 2:15
Laboratory and lecture notes
1961
Box 2:16
Laboratory and lecture notes
1961
Box 3:1
Laboratory and lecture notes
1964
Box 3:2
Laboratory and lecture notes
1970
Box 3:3
Laboratory and lecture notes
1971-1972
Box 3:4
Laboratory and lecture notes
1974
Box 3:5
Laboratory and lecture notes
1975
Box 3:6
Laboratory and lecture notes
1976
Box 3:7
Laboratory and lecture notes
1976
Box 3:8
Laboratory and lecture notes
1977
Box 3:9
Laboratory and lecture notes
1980
Box 3:10
Laboratory and lecture notes
1980
Box 3:11
Laboratory and lecture notes
1980-1981
Box 3:12
Laboratory and lecture notes
1982
Box 4:1
Laboratory and lecture notes
1983-1984
Box 4:2
Laboratory and lecture notes
1985
Box 4:3
Laboratory and lecture notes
1985
Box 4:4
Series 3. Professional Organizations
1972-2004
2 folders
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1997
Box 4:6
Federation of Societies for Parasitology
1993
Box 4:7
Genetics Society of America
1972-1980
Box 4:8
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1978
Box 4:9
New York University
1976
Box 4:10
Society of Protozoology
1994-2004
Member directories and by-laws
1994-2001
Box 4:11
Meeting minutes
2003-2004
Box 4:12
Ballots
2003-2004
Box 4:13
Series 4. Publications
1959-2003
16 folders
Articles and abstracts
1959
Box 4:14
Intracolonal Conjugation in Early-Maturing Clones of Tetrahymena pyriformis g
Undated
Control of Maturation Time in Tetrahymena pyriformis
Undated
Articles and abstracts
1959
Box 4:15
Genetic Control of Maturity in Tetrahymena pyriformis
1967
Determination and Inheritance of Mating Type in Paramecium aurelia, Syngen 5
1967
Clonal Analysis of Nuclear Differentiation in Tetrahymena
1968
Aging in Early Maturing Mutants of Tetrahymena pyriformis
1971
Mating Type Frequencies in Early and Late Maturing Clones of Tetrahymena pyriformis
1972
Articles and abstracts
1976-2003
Box 4:16
Gamones and Mating Types in the Genus Blepharisma and their Possible Taxonomic Application
1976
Genetics of Cycloheximide Resistance in Tetrahymena
1977
Temperature-Sensitive Motility Mutants in Tetrahymena thermophila
1977
Food Vacuoles and Life Cycle Duration in Paramecium and Tetrahymena
1977
Mapping the mat Locus of Tetrahymena thermophila
1980
Long-Term Maintenance of Tetrahymena Spp.
1980
The Accidental Protozoologist: My Journey through the World of Ciliates
2003
The Link Between Excitation and Contraction in Muscle (thesis)
1959
Box 4:17
Selfing in Relation to Macronuclear Differentiation in Syngen 5 of Paramecium aurelia (master’s thesis)
1966
Box 5:1
Temporal Patterns in Ciliated Protozoa (in Developmental Aspects of the Cell Cycle)
1971
Box 5:2
The Early Mature Phenotype: A Comparison of Spontaneous and Induced Mutations in Tetrahymena pyriformis
1972
Box 5:3
Enhancement of Nuclear Instability by Growth at High Temperatures in Tetrahymena pyriformis
1972
Box 5:4
Inhibition of the Mating Reaction in Tetrahymena by Concanavalin-A
1975
Box 5:5
Genetics of Cycloheximide Resistance in Tetrahymena
1977
Box 5:6
Chromosomal Localization of an Exocytosis Mutant in Tetrahymena thermophila
1984
Box 5:7
Control of the Immaturity Interval in the Ciliate Euplotes crassus
1986
Box 5:8
Non-Mendelian Inheritance of Early Maturity in Euplotes crassus
1990
Box 5:9
Use of Tetrahymena and Paramecium in Studies of Exocytosis
1990
Box 5:10
Ciliate Genetics in Ciliates: Cells as Organisms
1990
Box 5:11
Meiotic Linkage of mat to the Ribosomal RNA Gene
1991
Box 5:12
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Provenance

Acquired from Lea K. Bleyman, January 2008, through Michael F. Dolan.

Processing Information

Processed by Emily Toder, December 2010.

Related Material

For other materials related to Bleyman and the history of protistology, see:

  • Seymour Hutner Papers; Call no.: MS 549
  • David L. Nanney Collection; MS 592

Copyright and Use (More informationConnect to publication information)

Cite as: Lea K. Bleyman Papers (MS 548). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Subjects

Baruch College--FacultyParamecium--GeneticsProtozoans--CompositionProtozoans--GeneticsProtozoology--ConferenceSociety of ProtozoologistsTetrahymena--Genetics

Contributors

Bleyman, Lea KNanney, David Ledbetter, 1925-Sonneborn, Tracy Morton, 1905-1981

Types of material

Laboratory notes