iC^ 100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



In the two decades since, I have never failed to feel the excitement of 

 this library each day— as much, perhaps, as the embryologist still feels each 

 time he or she looks at a developing ctenophore or sea urchin embryo. I am 

 reminded of the tribute Stephen Jay Gould paid to the MBL Library in his 

 book. Ontogeny and Phylogeny, written partly in Woods Hole over a decade 

 ago: "Where else could an idios3ncratic worker like me find a library open 

 all the time, free from the rules and bureaucracy that stifle scholarship and 

 'protect' books only by guarding them from use. It is an anomaly in a 

 suspicious and anonymous age. " 



It is difficult to capture these many and varied facets of the MBL's 

 personality in one book, especially one aimed at a general audience of 

 nonspecialists. If you have spent one or more summers at the MBL, you 

 know some of the magic that it holds. But to someone who only knows of 

 the MBL, or is just learning about it, the qualities that make it so special to 

 its friends may seem elusive, almost mystical. 



It is a testament of Jane Maienschein's knowledge of the MBL and to 

 her historical and verbal skills that she has captured much of the magic of 

 the institution in a very down-to-earth way. She has truly written a biography 

 of the laboratory. Professor Maienschein has chosen to write not so much 

 of the Nobel laureates or of the detailed scientific accomplishments that 

 have made the MBL's first century so eminent, but of the people — the 

 everyday people, scientists and nonscientists alike— who have made up the 

 life of the Laboratory and created its very special personality. 



This is the story of an institution written in highly personal terms. The 

 Nobel laureates are there, as they should be. So, too, are the directors, 

 trustees and others who have given special parts of their lives to guiding and 

 managing the institution. But it is the working scientists and support 

 staff— the collecting crews, the technicians, even the doyens of the Mess 

 Hall — whose story Professor Maienschein paints with such clarity and 

 humor. The work-a-day activities of people from every facet of MBL life 

 occupy the main focus of Professor Maienschein's attentions. It is, after all, 

 the activity of everyday people that makes up the real spirit of any institution. 

 That spirit existed from the beginning at the MBL, before there were Nobel 

 prizes or year-round administrative staff. In many ways, it would have been 

 easier to write a book that traced only the illustrious individuals who figured 

 prominently in the MBL during its first century. The more difficult task, 

 which Professor Maienschein has carried out so well, is to portray that 

 history in terms of on-going, everyday activities. 



Although Jane Maienschein has served as principal author, in a very 

 real sense this book is a collaborative effort. Some of the collaborators are 

 long deceased, but their voices are heard in the quotations from archival 

 sources, both published and unpublished, that Professor Maienschein has 

 included. Others of the collaborators are still very much with us, and they 



