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Watson Davis

Watson Davis (1896-1967) was a US news reporter and founder of the American Documentation Institute.

Watson Davis

Life

Watson Davis was born in 1896 and died June 27, 1967 in Washington, DC. He was a US news reporter, populariser of science, microfilm advocate, and founder of the American Documentation Institute.

Watson Davis received a bachelors degree from George Washington University in 1918. He worked as physicist at the National Bureau of Standards from 1917 to 1920, when he became an editor at the Washington Herald.

In 1921 he became Managing Editor at Science Service, in 1922 editor of Science news-letter, and in 1933, Director of Science Service.

In 1935 Davis participated in the Congress of the International Institute of Documentation (IID) in Copenhagen and becomes familiar with European key issues and personalities in the field of documentation.

In 1937 Davis founds the American Documentation Institute and serves as founding President until 1946, then continues as Secretary-Treasurer.

Contributions

Davis devised methods for popularizing the study of science in general. He was editor at Science Service and of Science News Letter. He was also Director of the Science Clubs of America, which he saw as an "educational force for the future".

He did much to promote the use of microfilming, especially for scholarly purposes.

Principal founder of the American Documentation Institute, which became the Association for Information Science and Technology.

Publications

Watson Davis wrote and edited thousands of items for the Science News Letter. Other publications include:

  • The story of copper. New York, London, The Century Co. [©1924] [1]
  • "Project for publication of scientific papers and monographs that can not now secure prompt ad complete issuance." In: Bernal, J. D. The social function of science. New York: Macmillan Co., 1939. pp 449-455.
  • The advance of science. Edited by Watson Davis. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1934.
  • Science picture parade. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, [©1940].
  • Atomic bombing : how to protect yourself. With others. New York : Wm. H. Wise Co., Inc., 1950.
  • The century of science. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce [1963]

Honors

Further reading

  • "Watson Davis." Wikipedia [3]]
  • Farkas-Conn, Irene. From documentation to information science: The beginnings and early development of the American Documentation Institute—American Society for Information Science. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. [4]

Papers

  • Smithsonian Archives, Washington, DC. Watson Davis Papers, 1896-1967. [5]

See also Record Unit 7091. Science Service. Records, 1902-1965. Record Unit 7091. Science Service. Records, 1902-1965. [6]

[Revise:] Collection Overview Search under: Science Service. 1910-1963, 183 cubic feet. This collection consists of records documenting the daily activities of Science Service and Watson Davis. Unarranged, with the following apparent divisions: 1. Daily Mail Reports-Science Page; 2. Executive Committee minutes and reports, 1923-1942; 3. Edwin E. Slosson, personal files, circa 1910-1920; 4. Director's files, circa 1921-1928; 5. Managing editor, circa 1922-1925; 6. Watson Davis, personal files; 7. Manger of Science Service, circa 1921-1925; 8. General correspondence, 1927-1963; 9. American Documentation Institute, circa 1938-1946; 10. Syndicated correspondence, circa 1954; 11. Latin American translations, circa 1940-1950; 12. National Inventor's Council, circa 1940-1949; 13. Interlingua files; 14. Knud Rasmussen Expedition, 1920; 15. UNESCO, 1948-1951; 16. Rockefeller Foundation Survey and Conferences; 17. Photographs, posters, and cartoons; 18. CBS radio talks, circa 1939-1959.

  • Johns Hopkins, Special Collections. Mast (Samuel Otter) Papers. 1912-1947. 4.2 linear feet (10 document boxes.)
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