Special Collections: Primary Resources in Politics, Policy and Government Research Guide

Physicist, inventor, university professor, and solar energy pioneer Karl Wolfgang Böer was born March 23, 1926, in Berlin, Germany. He became a naturalized American citizen in August 1972. The Karl Wolfgang Böer papers, 1945-2003, document the life work and professional career of this German-American physicist, inventor, university professor, and solar energy pioneer. Böer's work in solid state technology, understanding the photoconductivity and structure of cadmium sulfide, and photovoltaics are seminal to twentieth-century advances in solar energy conversion and the modern energy conservation movements. Dr. Böer's papers are integrally related to his career at the University of Delaware, where he has been since 1961. The collection reflects a relationship with the institution that allowed Böer to fulfill his academic role and conduct scientific research, while also allowing him every opportunity to build research laboratories and pursue entrepreneurial initiatives applying advances in technologies resulting from his research.

The papers of Edward L. Cairns reflect the interest of this longtime resident of the greater Elkton, Maryland, and Newark, Delaware, area and citizen activist in regional highway planning, local environmental issues, traffic patterns, and growth concerns for the region, since the early 1970s.

June D. MacArtor (1930-2013) was one of the first twenty-five women admitted to the Delaware bar, later on serving the Attorney General of Delaware's Department of Natural Resources. MacArtor's primary role was to establish a body of environmental case law used for the state of Delaware. The collection, which spans 1934-2015 reflects MacArtor's many positions within the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Delaware Division of Air and Waste Management, and the New Castle County Planning Board.

Delaware environmental activist Dorothy Miller (1931-2016) led a coaltion of citizens, conservation-minded organizations, the DuPont Company, and the state governments of Delaware and Pennsylvania to acquire and preserve open space to protect the entire White Clay Creek Watershed. Spanning the dates 1965-2010, this collection documents community efforts led by Miller to preserve the White Clay Creek Watershed and her further work on water resources, residential/commercial and transportation projects throughout Newark, Delaware.

The William J. Cohen Papers, spanning the dates 1967-2001, comprises 37 linear feet of materials that document William J. Cohen's (b. 1941) entire career as an urban and environmental planner in Delaware.

Material related to the Delaware State Beekeepers Association including reports of its annual meetings, a complete run of the organization's newsletter "The Newsy Bee" (1974-2007), plus related photocopied books, articles, correspondence, programs, and pamphlets.

Greenwatch Institute was created in 1992 as the result of a legal settlement with Keystone Cogenerations Systems Inc., in which a trust fund was established to be used for projects benefitting the environment. Greenwatch Institute administers those funds. Delaware author and environmentalist Jerry Shields was chairman of Greenwatch Institute from its founding until his death in 1998. This collection largely represents his work for the Institute. The papers of Greenwatch Institute comprise legal, administrative, and research materials produced during the institute's founding and early operations.