Historical note

Hans Edmund Gruen was born in Berlin, Germany, on 20 October 1925. He attended primary and middle schools in Germany and Switzerland; and during World War II (from 1942-1946) he attended high school in Montevideo, Uruguay. Gruen became a naturalised U.S. citizen in 1950 and attended university in the United States, receiving his B.Sc. from Brooklyn College in 1951 (majoring in Biology) and both his M.Sc. (1953) and Ph.D. (1957) from Harvard, specialising in plant physiology and mycology. He did postdoctoral work at the Biological Laboratories, Harvard from 1956-1959, and from 1959-1964 was a research fellow at Harvard's Farlow Herbarium with the exception of seven months in 1963 (March - September) when he was a Lalor Foundation research fellow in the Biological Institute of the College of General Education, University of Tokyo. In 1964 Gruen accepted a teaching position in the Department of Biology of the University of Saskatchewan; by 1973 he had been made full professor. While on sabbatical leave he returned three times to the University of Tokyo as visiting research scholar, during the 1971-72 and 1978-79 academic years at the College of General Education, and in 1985-86 at the Institute of Microbiology, College of Agriculture. He also served as associate editor (1980-1983) and acting co-editor (Nov. 1982 - May 1983) of the Canadian Journal of Botany. On 1 July 1993 the University of Saskatchewan awarded Gruen the title of Professor Emeritus. Hans Gruen died in Saskatoon on 7 September 2000

Scope and content note

This fonds contains materials relating to Gruen's academic research in applied mycology and botany, and documents his personal interest in Japan, in philately, and on the uses of fungi as tinder for early methods of fire making. It contains personal correspondence, including diaries; as well as material documenting his early life and education

This fonds has been organized into 12 series:

1. Correspondence
2. Personal
3. Grants and Fellowships
4. Course Materials, Laboratory Manuals, Handbooks, and Lectures
5. Reference Material
6. Research and Publications
7.Photographs
8. Postcards
9. Stamps
10. Clippings
11. Memorabilia
12. Reprints

Gruen, Hans Edmund, 1925-2000

Finding aids:

Finding aid available: file titles with some descriptions

Restrictions on access:

As requested under the terms of Dr. Gruen's will, his personal diaries (35 volumes) are closed until 2005, and made accessible thereafter under the condition that no personal names or identifying information may be published for an additional 5 year period (until 2010). Following this 10-year period the diaries will be considered open

Arrangement note:

Three separate accessions were organized and guides for each created separately. These three accessions have not yet been combined either physically or intellectually

Language of material:

Material in English, French, Japanese, German, and Polish

Location:

University of Saskatchewan Archives

Retrieval numbers:

Fonds 116