About history of UM math department:
From: duren
Subject: Re: history Q
Date: January 30, 2002 11:49:02 PM GMT-05:00
To: rlg
Cc: saz
Dear Bob,
Wilfred Kaplan and Allen Shields gave a verbal presentation of
Department history at a special function in Angell Hall about 20
years ago. In connection with the AMS Centennial in 1988, the
AMS issued a 3-volume collection of historical articles called
“A Century of Mathematics in America”. I was the editor-in-chief.
One aspect of that project was a series of historical articles on
various math departments in the U.S. Wilfred Kaplan wrote a long
article about Michigan, which appeared in Volume III of the
“Century” series. It was accompanied by a transcript of Ray Wilder’s
reminiscences, recorded (by initiative of Phil Jones and Allen Shields)
probably in the 1970’s, but published for the first time in the AMS
volume.
I’m surprised at how little known these articles are to people
in our Department. There is for instance some material about
Alexander Ziwet that would be useful to the person who introduces the
Ziwet Lectures. And material about Yuri Rainich for the Rainich Lectures.
Frank Raymond was recently asked to write a biographical sketch of Wilder,
and he learned about the published transcript only through a copy of
my correspondence with Una Wilder in 1988 or 1989, asking for her
permission to publish the transcript.
Peter