Joe Gillman, June 1977

The Errol C. Friedberg Collection consists of material related to the writing and publication of two biographies: The Writing Life of James D. Watson and Sydney Brenner: A Biography (both published by CSHL Press). The bulk of the collection is composed of research material, much of it photocopies of documents found in the James D. Watson Collection and the Sydney Brenner Collection, both housed at the CSHL Library and Archives. Research material also includes numerous scientific papers and articles, the bulk of which are photocopies.

The files related to the Watson biography include correspondence with publishers, correspondence with Watson, an interview with Andrew Berry, and several drafts.

The Sydney Brenner files include galley proofs, correspondence with publishers, correspondence with scientists (including R. Horowitz, M. Meselson, H. Huxley, S. Benzer, and Watson), and transcripts of interviews with scientists (including D. Baltimore, S. Benzer, W. Bodmer, Brenner, W. Gilbert, F. Jacob, A. Klug, J. Lederberg, R. Olby, L. Orgel, F. Sanger, and Watson). Of note is an original typescript of Brenner’s paper “On The Impossibility of All Overlapping Triplet Codes” (1956).

The collection consists only of material related to these two biographies. It does not include Friedberg’s personal or scientific papers, nor does it include material related to any other works.

The material has been organized into two record groups: