Harvey Fletcher’s association with Brigham Young University began in the early years of the twentieth century as a high school student. Fletcher graduated from Brigham Young High School in 1904 and promptly enrolled as a student at Brigham Young University. In 1906 Fletcher helped lay out the block Y that has come to symbolize Brigham Young University across the world. Fletcher graduated in 1907 and pursued graduate work at the University of Chicago under the tutelage of Robert Millikan. He became the first student to graduate summa cum laude in physics at the University of Chicago. Shortly before his graduation, Fletcher was approached by President George H. Brimhall about returning to teach at Brigham Young University. Fletcher readily agreed to return to his alma mater as the chairman of the Department of Physics. He taught at Brigham Young University until 1916 when he was offered a research position at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York.

Fletcher took the position with Bell Telephone Laboratories and worked there for the next thirty-three years. It was while with the Bell Laboratories that he gained his reputation as the father of stereophonic sound and did pioneering work on hearing aids. Following his retirement from the Bell Laboratories, Fletcher was appointed professor of physics at Columbia University in New York City (a position that he held for two years).

Harvey Fletcher is second from the left, ca. 1950

In 1952, at the urging of President Ernest L. Wilkinson, Fletcher returned to Brigham Young University as the director of research (1952-1955) of the Engineering Sciences Department. He became the founding dean of the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences in 1954 and served the university well for the next three years.

Individuals interested in studying the life of Harvey Fletcher should also consult the following sources held in the University Archives:

• MSS 1233 Harvey Fletcher papers. This collection includes correspondence, reports, publications, and other materials documenting Fletcher’s life. Access the finding aid for this collection by clicking here.
• UA 909 Faculty Biographical File. This collection contains information on Fletcher’s career at Brigham Young University.
• UA OH 6 Oral history interview with Harvey Fletcher, Sept. 19, 1968. Interview by Hollis Scott with Harvey Fletcher, scientist and teacher, concerning his experiences in Provo, Utah, as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, as a teacher at BYU, and as a bishop and stake president in the New York Stake.
• UA 129 Addresses in honor of Harvey Fletcher. This collection includes typewritten, edited and final drafts of speeches about Fletcher written and given by William L. Woolf and George H. Hansen, a memorandum concerning a speech from Ernest L. Wilkinson to George H. Hansen, a record of Fletcher’s professional experience, and biographical information submitted to Who’s Who in America.
• D 1.023 .P477 2006 Good and Great: A Biography of Harvey Fletcher by Michael Fletcher Perry.
• BX 8670.1 .F634a 1967 Autobiography of Harvey Fletcher by Harvey Fletcher.
• PN 1619.021. F62 1996 The Caroling of Atoms: The Life’s Work of Dr. Harvey Fletcher by Maureen Meyer Fletcher.
• BX 8647 .B76m 1960 Science and religion by Harvey Fletcher.

If you have questions about these collections, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu

Wilmer W. Tanner examines one of the Bean Museum specimens

The University Archives recently acquired the personal papers of Wilmer W. Tanner. Tanner was an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University from 1932 until 1936. After obtaining a graduate degree in zoology, he returned to the university as a faculty member in 1950. He successfully implemented a research program during a time in which the university was focused almost exclusively on undergraduate education. From 1960 to 1967, he edited Herpetologica and succeeded in saving its host organization, the Herpetologists’ League, from financial collapse. Tanner was heavily involved in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, appointed in 1961 (and reappointed in 1966) as secretary-treasurer of the Utah Academy and elected president of the same in 1969 (serving through 1971).

Wilmer Tanner was appointed as the curator of the BYU Life Science Museum in 1972 and quickly began working towards a building for the university’s collections. He worked closely with Monte L. Bean and convinced him to fund the construction of a Life Science Museum building. Bean also decided to donate his extensive trophy collection to the university to augment its life science collection. Tanner oversaw the construction of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum and was quite pleased with the results. Tanner also worked diligently to create an endowment for the museum. The Bean Museum opened its doors in 1978.

This collection contains extensive correspondence; records documenting the Herpetology League; records of the Herpetologica journal; records highlighting Tanner’s involvement in the American Association for the Advancement of Science; materials documenting various Brigham Young University organizations; records associated with an Atomic Energy Commission project; extensive records and correspondence associated with the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum and its endowment; research notes, charts, and computer printouts; zoology department documents; and various materials of personal interest to Wilmer W. Tanner. The materials date from 1940 to 2009.

The collection is cataloged under the call number MSS 7361 and is titled the Wilmer W. Tanner papers. It is available through the L. Tom Perry Special Collections reference desk (1130 HBLL) in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. If you would like to know more about this collection, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.