Book Note

Chris Peterson And Cliff Mead, Editors. The Pauling Catalogue: Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers at Oregon State University. Corvallis, OR: Special Collections, Oregon State University Libraries, 2006. xcvii + 1,670 pp. $125.

Reviewed by Patrick Shea

For nearly 20 years the Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections has been cataloging over 500,000 items related to the lives and careers of Ava Helen and Linus Pauling. This ambitious project has now yielded The Pauling Catalogue, a 6-volume set that spans nearly 1,700 pages and includes over 1,200 images. Perhaps one of the largest personal archives in the world, the collection contains Pauling's extensive scientific papers on structural chemistry, molecular biology, and nutrition. The collection also documents the Paulings' long-standing and mutual devotion to world peace, civil liberties, and nuclear nonproliferation-a devotion that led Linus to become the recipient of two unshared Nobel prizes (Chemistry, 1954; Peace, 1962). Much more than an index of items, The Pauling Catalogue also includes extensive introductions to each volume, an illustrated 45-page timeline chronicling the lives of the Paulings, and a reproduction of a diary kept by Linus when he was a college freshman at Oregon State University.