The MSA Archives
The MSA Archives are a collection of historical information relating to the Microscopy Society of America (MSA), curated by the MSA Archivist.
We encourage you to browse the Archives below, and reach out to the MSA Archivist with any questions.
For a comprehensive history of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) visit our History page here.
The MSA Archives Booklist includes over 500 books on microscopy and microanalysis that are in the Othmer library at the Science History Institute. The booklist includes proceedings from microscopy meetings going back to the 1950s, including all proceedings of the Society. The booklist also includes classic books on theory and practice from the 1930s to the present.
Click here to view a gallery of MSA historical and biographical posters, curated by the MSA Archivist.
The MSA Archivist has a collection of instruments, advertising brochures, operation manuals, and other technical literature which can be made available for historical purposes upon request to the Archivist.
Click here for a literature list.
The Archivist also maintains several historical instruments in the setting of a complete, fully functional TEM lab from 1964. This 'museum' may be visited by arrangement with the Archivist.
A collection of historic tutorial videos are available electronically for historical purposes upon request to the MSA Archivist. Please note that the technical quality varies and not all media players will play the clips. In general, this media is not intended for instructional purposes.
Click here for a list of available historical tutorials.
The MSA Archives also presents Professor Joel Sheffield's Lecture-Series on Microscopy History. The lecture series is available on YouTube here.
The MSA Archives houses a group of video interviews as part of the MSA Oral History Project. These interviews are not edited and are of variable technical quality. Many of them are fascinating and historically important, and some are quite entertaining, but ultimately, they are source material and not considered finished products. Also available is a two-hour edited version of selected portions of the 1990 - 1991 interviews, produced by Sterling Newberry as a companion to his book "EMSA and its People". To inquire about obtaining a copy of an interview, contact the MSA Archivist.
At M&M 2017 in St. Louis, there was a triple anniversary:
The slides in the presentation for this historic year, available here, were shown before the Monday Plenary session, and represet snapshots of 80 years of progress in microscopy relating to all three Societies.