Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

MS 371
W. C. Shaw (1922-1987)
Papers, 1949-1984


Descriptive summary

creator: Shaw, W. C. (1922-1987)
title: Papers
dates: 1949-1984, undated
extent: 3.99 linear feet (8 document boxes, 3 half-document boxes )
collection number: MS 371
repository: Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access: Open for research
publication rights: Consult Head, Special Collections Department
preferred citation: W. C. Shaw Papers, MS 371, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Abstract

Weed scientist Warren C. Shaw worked at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in various capacities throughout his career. His research included weed control, pesticides, herbicides, herbicidal properties in chemicals, and carbamates. He was a founding member of the Weed Science Society of America and member of numerous other professional societies. This collection contains biographical information, daybooks, conference proceedings, research results, correspondence, photographs, reports, articles, speeches, foreign travel materials, reference files, a partial list of Shaw's scientific publications, and a manuscript, The Relation of Structural Configuration to the Herbicidal Activity of the Carbamates (by Shaw and C. R. Swanson).

 

Biographical note

Weed scientist Warren C. Shaw was born May 8, 1922, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. He received a degree (1943) in agricultural education from North Carolina State University. Shaw taught (1942-1943) vocational agriculture in Gatesville, North Carolina, served in the U.S. Army (1943-1945) and then returned to North Carolina State University. He received an M.S. (1947) from North Carolina State University and a Ph.D. (1949) from The Ohio State University in agronomy. After a year on the faculty of North Carolina State University, where he taught weed science and served as an Extension weed specialist, Shaw joined the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

During his many years (1950-1985) with the USDA he worked in several different divisions of the Agricultural Research Service including the Plant Science Research Division, Crops Research Division, and as interdepartmental pesticides coordinator. He held many different positions such as weed scientist and research supervisor, leader, manager, coordinator and administrator in crops, weed science, and pests and their control. At the time of his retirement from the Department, he was National Program Leader of two Agricultural Research Service programs, Weed Control Technology and Agricultural Chemicals Technology. After 1985, Shaw was a consultant with Shaw and Associates of Silver Spring, Maryland.

Shaw was a founding member of the Weed Science Society of America and served as the Society's president (1962-1964). He was also active in the Southern Weed Science Society, serving that group as Chairman of the Research Committee, Vice President, and President (1954-1955). He was a member of numerous other professional associations, including the American Society of Agronomy, American Society of Plant Physiologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Chemical Society.

He was the author of over one hundred forty scientific papers. The methods he devised for the discovery of herbicidal properties in chemicals were adopted worldwide by the chemical industry. He was considered an international authority on the chemical control of weeds. While with the USDA, he received both the USDA Superior Service Award and the USDA Distinguished Service Award. He served as a consultant to the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies, as well as to the Rockefeller Foundation.

Shaw died at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 18, 1987. (For more biographical information, see file 1/1. This introduction is taken in large part from In Memory, Warren C. Shaw, WSSA Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 4, October 1987, p. 5).

 

Collection description

This collection (1949-1984, undated) contains biographical information, daybooks, conference proceedings, research results, correspondence, photographs, reports, articles, speeches, foreign travel materials, reference files, a partial list of Shaw's scientific publications, and a manuscript, The Relation of Structural Configuration to the Herbicidal Activity of the Carbamates (by Shaw and C. R. Swanson).

Some of the correspondence discusses the 1961 Yearbook of Agriculture and Public Law 93-629, "The Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974". The daybooks are notebooks used by Shaw to keep track of daily events, "to do" lists, notes on interviews with various individuals, and notes on staff and committee meetings. In addition, the collection contains background information on visits to USDA Agricultural Research Service facilities by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1959, and the Japanese Pesticide Residues Research Team in 1967. Foreign travel material includes brochures, correspondence, and reprints about Japan and Taiwan. Also included is a report on a trip Shaw took to Japan and the Republic of China in March of 1968. The photographs include those of Shaw and other USDA staff members, including Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman.

A large part of the collection consists of research materials and reference files including Shaw's dissertation, The Use of Chemicals for Weed Control in Field Crops, completed in 1949 at The Ohio State University. The research material includes background material and data for Shaw's personal research for the years 1952-1957 and 1959.

 

Related materials

The Special Collections Department contains many collections related to weed science including:

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Biographical sketches and obituary

1976-1987, undated

1

2

Correspondence: 1961 Yearbook of Agriculture and Public Law 93-629, "The Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974." (See also file 5/3 for a photograph of persons involved with the passage of the Act and file 8/7 for background material on the Act)

1971, 1975

1

3

Daybook: 2 November 1964 - 12 May 1965

1964-1965

1

4

Daybook: 18 June 1965 - 5 January 1966

1965-1966

1

5

Daybook: 12 February 1966 - 5 December 1967

1966-1967

1

6

Daybook: 6 December 1967 - 25 November 1968

1967-1968

1

7

Daybook: 9 December 1968 - 29 October 1969

1968-1969

1

8

Daybook: 13 February 1969 - 18 May 1970

1969-1970

1

9

Daybook: 4 November 1969 - 1 September 1970

1969-1970

1

10

Daybook: 3 September 1970 - 10 June 1971

1970-1971

1

11

Daybook: 21 June - 13 December 1971

1971

1

12

Daybook: 5 January - 15 August 1972

1972

1

13

Daybook: 6 September 1972 - 23 January 1973

1972-1973

2

1

Daybook: 31 January - 19 April 1973

1973

2

2

Daybook: 19 April - 1 October 1973

1973

2

3

Daybook: 2 October 1973 - 5 February 1974

1973-1974

2

4

Daybook: 12 February - 22 July 1974

1974

2

5

Daybook: 22 July - 2 December 1974

1974

2

6

Daybook: 3 December 1974 - 5 May 1975

1974-1975

2

7

Daybook: 5 May - 1 October 1975

1975

2

8

Daybook: 6 October 1975 - 26 March 1976

1975-1976

2

9

Daybook: 2 March - 29 September 1976

1976

2

10

Daybook: 3 October 1976 - 11 April 1977

1976-1977

2

11

Daybook: 21 April - 31 October 1977

1977

2

12

Daybook: 19 October 1977 - 30 June 1978

1977-1978

2

13

Daybook: 5 July - 22 November 1978

1978

3

1

Daybook: 28 November 1978 - 28 April 1979

1978-1979

3

2

Daybook: 26 April - 13 November 1979

1979

3

3

Daybook: 13 November 1979 - 16 April 1980

1979-1980

3

4

Daybook: 16 April - 14 September 1980

1980

3

5

Daybook: 8 May 1980 - 18 March 1981

1980-1981

3

6

Daybook: 19 March - 2 November 1981

1981

3

7

Daybook: 2 November 1981 - 19 March 1982

1981-1982

3

8

Daybook: 17 February - 17 September 1982

1982

3

9

Daybook: 17 September 1982 - 1 February 1983

1982-1983

3

10

Daybook: 4 February - 12 July 1983

1983

3

11

Daybook: 13 July 1983 - 13 January 1984

1983-1984

4

1

Daybook: 13 January - 15 May 1984

1984

4

2

Dignitary Visits: President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Agricultural Research Center (Beltsville, Maryland)

1959

4

3

Dignitary Visits: Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev to the Agricultural Research Center (1 photograph, b/w)

1957-1960

4

4

Dignitary Visits: Japanese Pesticide Residues Research Team to the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Industry Station (1 photograph, b/w)

1961-1968

4

5

Dissertation: The Use of Chemicals for Weed Control in Field Crops. Columbus: The Ohio State University

1949

4

6

Foreign Travel: Report of Foreign Travel to Japan and the Republic of China, March 4-19, 1968

1968

4

7-8

Foreign Travel: Japan - Taiwan brochures

1966-1968

4

9

Foreign Travel: Japan - Taiwan correspondence

1968

4

10

Foreign Travel: Japan - Taiwan trip reprints

1965-1967

5

1

Photographs: official (5- b/w)

1985

5

2

Photographs: Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting (12- b/w)

1964

5

3

Photographs: persons involved with the passage of the Federal Noxious Weed Act (1- b/w)

1975

5

4

Photographs: USDA staff members (4- b/w)

undated

6

1

Publications: Scientific Publications

1948-1960

6

2

Publications: Present Status and Future Needs in Weed Control

undated

6

3-11

Publications: various

1949-1964

7

1-16

Publications: various

1965-1985

8

1

Reference files: ARS Management and Planning System

1976

8

2

Reference files: ARS Needs Assessment Committee

1982

8

3

Reference files: ARS Scientists Who Conduct Evaluation Research with Agricultural Chemicals

1981

8

4

Reference files: ARS Strategic Plan - Task Force for Broad Policy Implementation Strategy

1982

8

5

Reference files: crop losses

1965-1984

8

6

Reference files: current research information system

1983

8

7

Reference files: Federal Noxious Weed Act

1968-1975

8

8

Reference files: Future Demand for U.S. Farm Products: Implications for Agricultural Research to Raise Productivity

1982

8

9

Reference files: Plan of Work - Pesticide Coordination (File 1)

1964

8

10

Reference files: Plan of Work - Pesticide Coordination (File 2)

1965

8

11

Reference files: Plan of Work - Pesticide Coordination (File 3)

1965

8

12

Reference files: Research Needs on the Weed Control Problem

1961

8

13

Reference files: Research on Natural Enemies of Insects, Weeds, and Other Pests in the Science and Education Agricultural Research Service, USDA

1981

8

14

Reference files: Silent Spring and USDA response

1962

8

15

Reference files: Summary of Funds for Weed Control Technology

1984

9

1

Reference files: vital speeches and reports (1 of 4)

undated

9

2

Reference files: vital speeches and reports (2 of 4)

1949-1955

9

3

Reference files: vital speeches and reports (3 of 4)

1956-1963

9

4

Reference files: vital speeches and reports (4 of 4)

1964-1965

9

5

Reference files: Weed Science Society of America membership cards

1956-1962

9

6

Research: Behavior of Herbicides in Soils

undated

9

7

Research: carbamate paper

1953, undated

9

8

Research: carbamate paper data

1953-1954, undated

9

9

Research: The Evaluation of Chemicals for Their Herbicidal Properties - Project No. 1-13401-x/10-270-4

1952-1953

9

10

Research: herbicide structure

1953-1959, undated

9

11

Research: literature review on phenoxyalkylcarboxylic acids

1952-1957, undated

10

1

Research: The Relation of Structural Configuration to the Herbicidal Properties and Phytotoxicity of Several Carbamates and Other Chemicals

1952