The Seth Macfarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive, The Library of Congress
The material documents Sagan’s energetic career as an astronomer, author, unrivaled popularizer of science and TV star, and it ranges from childhood report cards to college term papers to eloquent letters written just before his untimely death in 1996 at age 62. Also in the mix are files labeled F/C, for “fissured ceramics,” Sagan’s code name for letters from crackpots.
Until recently, all this stuff had been stacked in filing cabinet drawers in the Sphinx Head, a tomblike secret-society building that became Sagan’s home in Ithaca, N.Y. For years, Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, had carefully preserved her husband’s archive, hoping to find an appropriate repository. The Library of Congress had long been interested; the library owns the papers of such innovators and scientific luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, J. Robert Oppenheimer, E.O. Wilson and Margaret Mead.
Along came Seth MacFarlane, creator of TV’s “Family Guy” (and director of the new movie “Ted”). Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson introduced MacFarlane to Druyan when Tyson and Druyan were developing a remake of the enormously popular 1980 PBS series “Cosmos” that made Sagan famous. In the process of backing the new “Cosmos,” MacFarlane provided an undisclosed sum of money to the Library of Congress to buy the archive from Druyan.
Now comes the arduous task of sorting through it. The boxes fill two sprawling rooms. The organization of the archive is expected to be completed by November 2013, at which point the material will be open to researchers.
Until recently, all this stuff had been stacked in filing cabinet drawers in the Sphinx Head, a tomblike secret-society building that became Sagan’s home in Ithaca, N.Y. For years, Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, had carefully preserved her husband’s archive, hoping to find an appropriate repository. The Library of Congress had long been interested; the library owns the papers of such innovators and scientific luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, J. Robert Oppenheimer, E.O. Wilson and Margaret Mead.
Along came Seth MacFarlane, creator of TV’s “Family Guy” (and director of the new movie “Ted”). Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson introduced MacFarlane to Druyan when Tyson and Druyan were developing a remake of the enormously popular 1980 PBS series “Cosmos” that made Sagan famous. In the process of backing the new “Cosmos,” MacFarlane provided an undisclosed sum of money to the Library of Congress to buy the archive from Druyan.
Now comes the arduous task of sorting through it. The boxes fill two sprawling rooms. The organization of the archive is expected to be completed by November 2013, at which point the material will be open to researchers.
Finding Our Place in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond, The Library of Congress
A thematic collection exploring changing models of the universe through time, ideas of life on other words and Carl Sagan’s place in the tradition of science. It features manuscripts, rare books, celestial atlases, newspaper articles, sheet music and movie posters.
Like our ancestors, we look up at the heavens and wonder. What is the structure of the universe? How significant are we? Are we alone? In Carl Sagan's words, "we are a way for the cosmos to know itself." To commemorate the acquisition of The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive, the Library of Congress presents an exploration of these questions across the breadth of its collections and offers a first glimpse into Carl Sagan's papers.
This online collection includes three primary sections.
Life on Other Worlds: History of the PossibilityThis section showcases early science fiction books and pop-culture items like sheet music, movie posters and trailers alongsidenewspaper articles, astronomy books and items from Carl Sagan's papers. Through these materials, the section explores the interplay between imagination and science in how our ideas about life on other worlds have developed over time. Starting with the notion of life on the moon from the 1630s, essays also look at the history of interpreting the geography and alleged canals of Mars. From there, we consider how scientists and science fiction writers imagined civilization on Mars, Americans' persistent belief in UFO's, and our attempts to communicate with extraterrestrials. The primary goal of this section is to illustrate the important connection between imagination and rigorous science and present how our ideas about life in the universe have developed over time.
Carl Sagan and the Tradition of SciencePrimarily showcasing items from The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive this section contextualizes Carl Sagan in the tradition of science. It starts by presenting how Sagan became interested and passionate about the universe as a young child and then follows the development of the depth and breadth of his interests in high school and college. From there it focuses on his connections to mentors like Harold Urey, Gerard Kuiper and Hermann Muller. This section concludes by exploring the many roles Sagan played as a mentor and role model to scientists, science communicators and the public at large.
Collection ObjectivesThe goal of this collection is to explore connections between some of Carl Sagan's work, communicating about the cosmos and the possibilities of life on other worlds and the extensive diversity of collections of the Library of Congress. It is a thematic showcase of digitized items from many corners of the collections, brought together with the hope of prompting visitors to expand their knowledge and come to their own understanding by engaging with a range of digitized primary sources. Unlike a physical exhibition, this online presentation is not limited by what can be framed and hung on a wall. Whenever possible, books, manuscripts, radiobroadcast and other materials have been digitized in full. The result is a wealth of material, much of it full-text searchable for visitors to explore.
Nothing about this online collection and presentation is intended to be comprehensive. This is true of both the historical narrative in the thematic essay presentations and the selections of featured items from across the Library's collections. Instead, this collection and its essays, are intended to glance off the various topics discussed and serve as a point of entry to a wide array of primary source treasures related to the history of astronomy and ideas about life in the universe in the Library of Congress collections. It's a hypertext, a linked juxtaposition of interpretation – explication and primary sources intended to be explored in whatever path a visitor wants to take.
Given the massive scale of the Seth Macfarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive the few hundred items digitized from that collection and presented here in this online collection are a microscopic sliver of this archive's contents. Our hope is that this thematic collection showcases some of the kinds of treasures contained within. For those interested, a finding aid for the collection is located online here.
Like our ancestors, we look up at the heavens and wonder. What is the structure of the universe? How significant are we? Are we alone? In Carl Sagan's words, "we are a way for the cosmos to know itself." To commemorate the acquisition of The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive, the Library of Congress presents an exploration of these questions across the breadth of its collections and offers a first glimpse into Carl Sagan's papers.
This online collection includes three primary sections.
- The Cosmos: Its Structure and Historical Models
- Life on Other Worlds: History of the Possibility
- Carl Sagan and the Tradition of Science
Life on Other Worlds: History of the PossibilityThis section showcases early science fiction books and pop-culture items like sheet music, movie posters and trailers alongsidenewspaper articles, astronomy books and items from Carl Sagan's papers. Through these materials, the section explores the interplay between imagination and science in how our ideas about life on other worlds have developed over time. Starting with the notion of life on the moon from the 1630s, essays also look at the history of interpreting the geography and alleged canals of Mars. From there, we consider how scientists and science fiction writers imagined civilization on Mars, Americans' persistent belief in UFO's, and our attempts to communicate with extraterrestrials. The primary goal of this section is to illustrate the important connection between imagination and rigorous science and present how our ideas about life in the universe have developed over time.
Carl Sagan and the Tradition of SciencePrimarily showcasing items from The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive this section contextualizes Carl Sagan in the tradition of science. It starts by presenting how Sagan became interested and passionate about the universe as a young child and then follows the development of the depth and breadth of his interests in high school and college. From there it focuses on his connections to mentors like Harold Urey, Gerard Kuiper and Hermann Muller. This section concludes by exploring the many roles Sagan played as a mentor and role model to scientists, science communicators and the public at large.
Collection ObjectivesThe goal of this collection is to explore connections between some of Carl Sagan's work, communicating about the cosmos and the possibilities of life on other worlds and the extensive diversity of collections of the Library of Congress. It is a thematic showcase of digitized items from many corners of the collections, brought together with the hope of prompting visitors to expand their knowledge and come to their own understanding by engaging with a range of digitized primary sources. Unlike a physical exhibition, this online presentation is not limited by what can be framed and hung on a wall. Whenever possible, books, manuscripts, radiobroadcast and other materials have been digitized in full. The result is a wealth of material, much of it full-text searchable for visitors to explore.
Nothing about this online collection and presentation is intended to be comprehensive. This is true of both the historical narrative in the thematic essay presentations and the selections of featured items from across the Library's collections. Instead, this collection and its essays, are intended to glance off the various topics discussed and serve as a point of entry to a wide array of primary source treasures related to the history of astronomy and ideas about life in the universe in the Library of Congress collections. It's a hypertext, a linked juxtaposition of interpretation – explication and primary sources intended to be explored in whatever path a visitor wants to take.
Given the massive scale of the Seth Macfarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive the few hundred items digitized from that collection and presented here in this online collection are a microscopic sliver of this archive's contents. Our hope is that this thematic collection showcases some of the kinds of treasures contained within. For those interested, a finding aid for the collection is located online here.