A Descriptive Inventory of the Byron Kratochvilfonds

Byron Kratochvil

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

A Descriptive Inventory of the Byron KratochvilFonds

Accession Number: 81-159 & 2002-33

Lynn McPherson

Spring 2005

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Byron KratochvilFonds

This guide was prepared with the assistance of a grant from the Archives Association of Alberta, Access to Holdings program. The University Archives gratefully acknowledges the assistance of this grant. Without it, these important records could not have been made accessible to researchers and the public.

Spring 2005

Byron Kratochvil Fonds

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Descriptive Inventory of the Byron Kratochvil Fonds

PREFACE......

INTRODUCTION......

BIOGRAPHY......

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE......

1. Professional Activities: Teaching/Courses Records......

i. Lecture Notes and Topic Reference Material......

ii. Courses......

iii. Experiments and Projects......

iv. Examinations......

v. Instructors’ Manuals, Laboratory Texts, and Student Course Guides......

2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Alberta Records......

i. Department Correspondence and Meeting Minutes......

ii. Faculty of Science......

iii. Committees/Groups......

3. Associate Vice-President’s (AVP) Office (Research)......

4. Professional Correspondence......

i. Letters of Recommendation......

ii. Professional Correspondence – General......

iii. Professional Correspondence – Individuals......

5. Professional Associations......

i. Editor, “Canadian Journal of Chemistry”......

ii. Seminars/Workshops/Conferences......

6.Professional Activities: Consulting......

7. Professional Activities: Research/Publishing......

i. Books and Manuals......

8. Personal Records......

i. Byron Kratochvil as Student......

ii. Faculty Reports/CV’s/Personnel Record......

iii. Day Planners......

iv. Collected Archives......

Byron KratochvilFonds

PREFACE

The University of Alberta Archives was established in 1968 at the recommendation of the President’s Standing Committee on Archives and Documents. Its primary mandate is to acquire, maintain, and preserve the records of the University, in any medium, which contain continuing administrative, legal, and historical value. The Archives constitutes the official “memory” of the University and represents the accumulated experience of our educational community. In addition to these official records, the University Archives also contain the private papers of the University staff whose subjects of research and teaching encompass the world.

Byron KratochvilFonds

INTRODUCTION

The Byron Kratochvilfonds consist of records created and collected by Professor Kratochvil, and subsequently donated to theUniversity of Alberta Archives. They document his teaching and research career in the field of analytical chemistry at the University of Alberta, forming a valuable addition to the holdings of the University’s archives.

SOURCE: The Byron Kratochvil records were received astwo separate personal donations to the Archives from Professor Kratochvil; one set of papers donated jointly with Walter E. Harris in 1981 and a second donation received in 2002. Both donations have been brought together in one comprehensive finding-aid.

ARRANGEMENT NOTE: The Kratochvilrecords are arranged in eight series and consist primarily of papers that document his professional career in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. There are a few records related to his student days and teaching career prior to accepting a position at the University of Alberta in 1967. As well, there are records related to consulting work and his involvement with professional Chemical Scientific associations. Together, Professor Byron Kratochvil and Professor Walter E. Harris wrote an analytical chemistry text book and drafts of the book are housed in accession 81-159 as described in this finding-aid. Kratochvil, interested in preserving records related to the history of teaching chemistry, saved and donated early teaching notes belonging to his colleague, Dr. Walter E. Harris.

The records are in good physical shape.

RELATED ACCESSIONS:Department of Chemistry records are described in Record Group 56 and Vice-President of Research records are described in Record Group 14. Some Walter E. Harris papers are also deposited in the University of Alberta archives.

ACCESS: Access restrictions to apply to some of the Kratochvil files as noted in the finding-aid.

EXTENT: 5.80 m of textual records and 13 photographs

DATERANGE: 1908-2004, predominantly 1967-1997

BIOGRAPHY

Byron Kratochvil was born in Osmond, Nebraska on September 15, 1932, and studied chemistry at IowaStateUniversity, receiving his B Sc. in chemical engineering in 1957, his M.Sc. in 1959, and his Ph.D. in 1961 in analytical chemistry. On graduation, he joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he taught and carried out research for six years. In 1967, he accepted a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. He was at the University of Alberta for the remainder of his professional career, serving as Chair of the Chemistry Department from 1989-1995, Associate Vice-President (Research) from 1995-1998, and Senior Advisor to the Vice-President (Research) from 1998-2001. In 1980-1981, Dr. Kratochvil had a leave from the University of Alberta to serve as a guest worker at the Centre for Analytical Chemistry at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in Washington, D.C. While at the Institute, he co-authored a treatise on analytical sampling with John K. Taylor.

Professor Kratochvil has published over 120 scientific publications and, with W.E. Harris, co-authored three textbooks in analytical chemistry (“Chemical Analysis” 1969, “Chemical Separations and Measurements” 1974, and “Introduction to Chemical Analysis” 1981). He was the Analytical Editor of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry for three years and Senior Editor of the Journal for a further five years. He served as Director of Planning and Operations for the Alberta Synchrotron Institute, a consortium of the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, and Lethbridge that supported access to synchrotron radiation for training, research, and industrial applications within Alberta. In 1989, Dr. Kratochvil was named Chair of the University of Alberta SLOWPOKE Reactor Facility Committee. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Chemical Institute of Canada andhis areas of research interest include: oxidation-reduction reactions, non-aqueous solvents, and sampling for chemical analysis.

Byron Kratochvil was awarded the Iowa State University Alumni Merit Award in 1990 and the 1990 Fisher Award of Canada, given by the Chemical Society of Canada for outstanding contributions to analytical chemistry. He is member of the American Chemical Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Chemical Institute of Canada. Dr. Kratochvil retired from the University of Alberta in 1998 and was made Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. He continues to study and write in the area of sampling for chemical analysis and was involved with studying the problems associated with sampling and analysis of the Athabasca oil sands.

Byron Kratochvil married Mariane in 1961, and has four children: Susan Joan, Daniel James, Jean Marie, and John David. He resides in Edmonton.

Byron Kratochvil

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Byron Kratochvil fonds documents the professional career of an important teacher, researcher, writer and administrator whowas associated with the University of Alberta for over thirty years. Dr. Kratochvil attained recognition as a respected analytical chemist, and served the University of Alberta as a professor of Chemistry, chairman of the Department of Chemistry, and as an administrator in his role as Associate Vice-President (Research).

The records, largely textual, document Byron Kratochvil’s career at the University of Alberta, but also touch upon his earlier teaching experiences and research interests. The records provide a significant documentation of Kratochvil’s teaching career, with several files of lecture notes, student examinations and projects, and class records. Also strongly represented in the fonds,are the records generated from the textbooks written by Kratochvil and W.E. Harris and originally computer-published by the University of Alberta. Various drafts of the textbooks are retained in the records, complete with numerous annotations, inserts, corrections and research notes.

There are fairly complete files of Chemistry Department-related records in the Kratochvil fonds, which include meeting minutes, internal memorandum, and committee reports retained on an annual basis. Byron Kratochvil was chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1989-1995, so the Department material for these years provides insight into the role of the Chairman, and the relationship the Department had with the larger Faculty of Science it reported to. Included also are the documents generated by the various University committees and research groups Professor Kratochvil sat on; of particular note are detailed files related to the Environmental Research and Studies Centre. A smaller series contains records generated during Byron Kratochvil’s time as Associate Vice-President (Research).

A comprehensive set of Byron Kratochvil’s professional correspondence forms one series, and provides a record of his written communication with colleagues, graduate students, and scientific associations, relating to his research and various other issues. Among Kratochvil’s research interest topics are those in the area of the theory and application of sampling for chemical analysis; the measurement of free metal ion concentrations in solution; and the development of new analytical reagents and methods in nonacqueous solvents. Two smaller series contain documents linked to professional associations Professor Kratochvil supported, with textual and photographs items documenting scientific conferences and workshops he attended; as well as consulting work undertaken.

The final series in this finding-aid consists of material designated as ‘personal’, although still very related to the series that precede it. Included here are copies of personnel documents related to salary and promotions, copies of CV’s and biographies as well as day planners and collected archives.

The records are in excellent physical shape and because of their completeness and the broad span of years represented, provide valuable insight into one man’s career at the University of Alberta.

Series 1

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES – TEACHING/COURSES RECORDS

1. Professional Activities – Teaching/Courses Records, -–1956-1988. --1 m of textual records.

Archival Description:The records in this series document Byron Kratochvil’s teaching career in the field of analytical chemistry, primarily at the University of Alberta. The records have been arranged in four sub-series and a chronological order is maintained within each file. The records are in good physical condition

Scope and Content: The records in this series document the many aspects involved in teaching a University course, and are arranged in the following five sub-series: Lecture Notes and Topic Reference Material; Courses; Experiments and Projects;Examinations; and Teaching Manuals, Laboratory Texts and Student Guides. There is a lot of information on the topics of Ion Exchange, Gas Chromatography, and Fluorescence as well as detailed information on the Quantitative Analysis Chemistry Course (Chemistry 312), and two courses in Advanced Analytical Chemistry (Chemistry 519 and Chemistry 615). The textbooks and manuals described in sub-series five were all used as teaching texts in the Department of Chemistry.

The series title is based on the content of the records.

A file listing follows.

1. Professional Activities: Teaching/Courses Records

i. Lecture Notes and Topic Reference Material

ii. Courses

iii. Experiments and Projects

iv. Examinations

v. Instructors’ Manuals, Laboratory Texts, and Student Course Guides

Series 2.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA RECORDS

2. Professional Activities: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Alberta Records, --1963-2002; predominant 1975-1995.--.65 m of textual records.

Archival Description: The textual records in this series document the broader Department and Faculty records, and include minutes of Department meetings internal memoranda, Faculty newsletters, and committee documents. The records are arranged in chronological order within each sub-series and are in good physical condition.

Scope and Content: The records in this series provide an overview of the Department of Chemistry and its place within the Faculty of Science. It includes documents created during Byron Kratochvil’s chairmanship of the Department, and includes also paperwork from committees he served on. The series, fairly small in extent, has been further organized into three sub-series: Department of Chemistry Correspondence and Meeting Minutes; Faculty of Science records; and Committee and Scientific Groups records. The largest sub-series is the Department records which include Departmental staff meeting minutes, internal memoranda and correspondence, reports and related meeting documents. This documentation is arranged in chronological order and is fairly complete for the years 1967 through 1989. The Faculty of Science records consists of Council meeting minutes and documents, reports, and newsletters. Finally, the Committee and Scientific Group records include the paperwork of a variety of University committees as well as records created by and for the Environmental Research and Studies Centre which undertook multi-disciplinary projects and involved communication between the University, government, industry and the public.

File titles were derived from original file titles.

A file listing follows.

2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Alberta Records

i. Department Correspondence and Meeting Minutes

ii. Faculty of Science

iii. Committees/Groups

Series 3