Culture collections originated in the 19th century, but it was not until 1962 that the first international conference was held at the National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada. Microbes—like epidemics—know no borders. Collectors were concerned with public health as well as science. For the 1962 meeting, 266 scientists came from 25 countries. They recommended a special section for collections within the International Association of Microbiological Societies. By 1970, it became the World Federation of Culture Collections, which still coordinates collections worldwide. Canadian microbiologist Stanley Morris Martin (1920–2007) who had handled local arrangements for the Ottawa meeting became the inaugural president, serving from 1970 to 1976. Originally an expert on enzymes, Martin embraced his role within the international network and championed peaceful uses of microbes and the establishment of collections in developing countries. But after his retirement, he seemed to disappear. Drawing upon scientific contributions, newspapers, and interviews, this article explores the conference, its programme, challenges, and legacy. It also tracks the long-forgotten career of Stanley Martin.
BudR.The uses of life: a history of biotechnology.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,
1993, p.
28.
2.
KocurM. History of the Král collection. In: LISKirsopB (eds). 110 years of culture collections.
Osaka,
Japan:
Institute for Fermentation,
1990, pp.
4–
12.
3.
Gallay-KellerM.
La collection Král, dispositif pionnier. Fournir des microbes de référence, vivants et en images, dès 1889. Gradhiva2023;
36:
138–
146.
4.
UruburuF.
History and services of culture collections. International Microbiology2003;
6:
101–
103.
5.
La PageSP.
World Federation for Culture Collections: Xth International Congress for microbiology: minutes. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology1972;
22:
401–
402.
RogersLA.The American Type-Culture Collection. Science1925;
62:
267.
9.
Clark WAGearyDH. The story of the American Type Culture Collection: its history and development (1899–1973). In: PerlmanD (ed). Advances in applied microbiology.
New York: Academic Press,
1974, pp. 295–230.
10.
Anon. Paul Hauduroy. In: Robert O and Panese F (eds). Dictionnaire des professeurs de l’Université de Lausanne dès 1890.
Lausanne: Université de Lausanne,
2000, pp.
586–
587.
11.
CanguilhemG.Idéologie et rationalité dans l’histoire des sciences de la vie, 2 ed.
Paris:
Vrin,
2000, pp.
55n–
68n.
12.
SappJ.Evolution by association: a history of symbiosis.
New York and Oxford:
Oxford University Press,
1994, p. 232 n69.
13.
BeckerichAHauduroyP.
Le bacteriophage de d'Hérelle: ses applications thérapeutiques.Journal of Bacteriology1923;
8:
163–
171.
14.
Anon.
Collections of microorganisms. Nature1946;
157:
360–
361.
15.
Directory and catalogue of collections of micro-organisms maintained in Canada.
Ottawa:
National Research Council,
1948.
16.
Anon.
Micro-organism culture collections in Canada. Nature1952;
169:
441–
442.
17.
Gallay-KellerM.Conserver et exposer les microbes au tournant du XXe siècle. Le cas de la première collection microbienne de l’Institut Pasteur. Revue d’Anthropologie des Connaissances2021;
15 [online], http://journals.openedition.org/rac/24154
18.
SlyLI.
Historical perspectives and new opportunities for Australian collections of microorganisms in the microbiome era. Microbiology Australia2019;
40:
140–
143.
19.
SiglerL.
Culture collections in Canada: perspectives and problems. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology2004;
1:
39–
47.
20.
SharmaRNominkarYSSharmaA, et al.Chapter 2: concept of microbial preservation: past, present and future: conventional to modern approaches. In: SharmaSKVarmaA (eds). Microbial resource conservation: conventional to modern approaches. Soil biology.
Cham:
Springer International,
2018, pp.
35–
54.
21.
KollmerCA.
International culture collections and the value of microbial life: Johanna Westerdijk’s fungi and Ernst Georg Pringsheim’s algae. Journal of the History of Biology2022;
55:
59–
87.
22.
KirchhelleC.
The forgotten typers: the rise and fall of Weimar bacteriophage-typing (1921–1935). Notes and Records2020;
74:
539–
565.
23.
StarkJ. A library of microbes: the National Collection of Type Cultures, imperialism, and transnational microbial exchange, 1916–1923, paper read at History of Science Society,
November 2023.
24.
HarrisonM.
Disease, diplomacy and international commerce: the origins of international sanitary regulation in the nineteenth century. Journal of Global History2006;
1:
197–
217.
25.
LiveraniMCokerR.Protecting Europe from diseases: from the International Sanitary Conferences to the ECDC. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law2012;
37:
915–
934.
26.
HuberV.
The unification of the globe by disease? The International Sanitary Conferences on cholera, 1851–1894. The Historical Journal2006;
49:
453–
476.
27.
D’AbramoF.The past and present of pandemic management: health diplomacy, international epidemiological surveillance, and COVID-19. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences2021;
43 [online]: article number 64.
28.
SmithD.
Culture collections worldwide. International Microbiology2003;
6:
95–
100.
29.
DuffinJ.Stanley’s dream: the medical expedition to Easter Island.
Montreal;
Kingston:
McGill Queen’s University Press,
2019, pp.
332–
352.
30.
NapoliKLTaylorPJ.
From beach to bedside: history of the development of sirolimus. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring2001;
23:
559–
586.
31.
PowersT.The origin story of Rapamycin: systemic bias in biomedical research and Cold War politics. Molecular Biology of the Cell2022;
33:
pe7. (quotation p. 4).
32.
NógrádyG.Soil specimens [abstract]. Richard Roberts Papers, Library and Archives Canada (LAC), MG 31 G26, Vol. 1, file 21.
33.
Personal communications, S Landert, G Greub, and G Prod’hom, Culture Collection of Switzerland, 21, 22, 23 August 2017.
34.
MartinSM (ed). Culture collections: perspectives and problems.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1963, pp.
215–
221.
35.
SiwekM.An overview of biorepositories: past, present, and future. Military Medicine2015;
180:
57–
66.
36.
BlissM.Banting: a biography.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1993, pp.
232–
234, 262–268, 282–288.
37.
AveryDH. Pathogens for war: Canadian life scientists and North American biodefence.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
2013.
38.
BalmerB.
Biological warfare: the threat in historical perspective. Medicine, Conflict and Survival2002;
18:
120–
137.
39.
BalmerB.Secrecy and science: a historical sociology of biological and chemical warfare.
Farnham:
Ashgate,
2012, pp.
66–
68.
40.
GuilleminJ.Biological weapons: from the invention of state-sponsored programs to contemporary bioterrorism.
New York:
Columbia University Press,
2005, pp.
46–
48.
41.
Personal communication, D Avery, 29 February 2020.
42.
BothwellREnglishJMarsdenP, et al.Canadians deserve transparency about the FLQ crisis. Globe and Mail,
21 November 2020, section O, p.
O9.
43.
LingJ. Canada: good at bureaucracy; bad at transparency. The Walrus, 3October 2019, https://thewalrus.ca/canada-good-at-bureaucracy-bad-at-transparency/
44.
GibbonsNE. Chairman’s remarks. In: MartinSM (ed). Culture collections: perspectives and problems.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1963, pp.
3–
4.
45.
Editorial Board of the Judicial Commission.
Proposals to be discussed at the 8th International Congress for Microbiology relative to revision of the nomenclature of bacteria and viruses. International Bulletin of Bacteriological Nomenclature and Taxonomy1962;
12:
103–
122.
46.
ParkerCT.
International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology2019;
69:
S1–
S111.
47.
SneathPHA.
Samuel Tertius Cowan (1905–1976). Journal of General Microbiology1977;
103:
1–
7.
48.
HowieJ.Samuel Tertius Cowan (1905–1976). British Medical Journal1987;
295:
1114–
1115.
49.
MurrayRGE.Norman Edwin Gibbons, 1904–1977. International Journal of Systemic and Evolutionary Microbiology1978;
28:
338–
339.
50.
BudR.The uses of life: a history of biotechnology.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,
1993, pp.
97–
99.
51.
Gibbons to Hedén, 7 December 1960, LAC Culture Collections Symposium, RG 77, vol 380, File 6100-2, part 1.
52.
Hauduroy to Martin, 22 September 1961; Cowan to Gibbons, 12 October 1961, LAC Culture Collections Symposium, RG 77, vol 394, file 6102-1, part 2.
ColwellRMcGrayneSB.A lab of one’s own: one woman’s personal journey through sexism in science.
New York:
Simon and Schuster,
2020, pp.
31–
33.
62.
Personal communication RR Colwell, 1 and 2 April 2023.
63.
CookWH. Welcome to delegates. In: MartinSM (ed). Culture collections: perspectives and problems.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1963, pp.
1–
3.
64.
MerymanHT.
Historical recollections of freeze-drying. Developments in Biological Standardization1976;
36:
29–
32.
65.
VarshneyDSinghM (eds). Lyophilized biologics and vaccines.
New York:
Springer,
2015, pp.
3–
10.
66.
KangH.Medicine and morality: crises in the history of a profession.
Vancouver:
UBC Press,
2019, pp.
66–
96.
67.
ClarkWA. Future culture collection conferences. In: MartinSM (ed). Culture collections: perspectives and problems.
Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1963, p.
vi.
68.
MartinSM.
Conservation of microorganisms. Annual Review of Microbiology1964;
18:
1–
16.
69.
Correspondence in Canadian Culture Collections of Microorganisms – Associated Committee on Numerical Taxonomy 1964, LAC, RG 77, Vol 394, File 6102-2 part 1.
Cavicchioli R RippleWJTimmisK, et al.Scientists warning to humanity: microbiology and climate change. Nature Reviews Microbiology2019;
17:
569–
586. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-019-0222-5
BudR.The uses of life: a history of biotechnology.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,
1993, pp.
128–
130.
75.
StarrMP (ed). Global impacts of applied microbiology. Proceedings, Stockholm July 29 to August 3, 1963.New York:
Wiley,
1964.
76.
Anon.
Global impacts of applied microbiology. British Medical Journal1970;
1:
44.
77.
HedénCG.Applied microbiology—for life or for death. In: FreitasYMFernandesF (eds). Global impacts of applied microbiology, (third international conference), Bombay, 7-12 December 1969.
Bombay:
University of Bombay,
1971.
78.
HedénCG.The potential of applied microbiology. In: AlbertsonPBarnettM (eds). Managing the planet: international joint conference on environment and society in transition,
New York, 1970. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall,
1972, pp.
61–
72.
79.
MartinSM.Regional culture collections in the developing world. In: Pestana de CastroAFDaSilvaEJSkermanVBD (eds). Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Culture Collections.
Brisbane,
Australia:
World Data Centre MIRCEN,
1976, pp.
96–
99.
80.
RogersKL. The Sternberg fossil hunters: a dinosaur dynasty.
Missoula:
Mountain Press,
1991.
MartinSM.
Studies with C14O2 on the mechanism of citric acid formation by Aspergillus niger. Ph.D. thesis. University of Wisconsin–Madison,
1950.
86.
MartinSM.
Effect of ferrocyanide on growth and acid production of Aspergillus niger. Canadian Journal of Microbiology1955;
1:
644–
652.
87.
World Federation of Culture Collections website, About WFCC, timeline, https://wfcc.info/about_view (accessed 20 March 2024).
88.
MartinSM.World survey of culture collections. In: FreitasYMFernandesF (eds). Global impacts of applied microbiology (third international conference),
Bombay, 7-12 December 1969.Bombay:
University of Bombay,
1971, pp.
205–
208.
89.
MorrisSMSkermanVBD (eds). World directory of collections of microorganisms.
New York:
Wiley,
1972.
MaJSugawaraH.
Activities of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) and the World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM). Microbiology and Culture Collections [Japan]2011;
27:
79–
81. https://www.jsmrs.jp/journal/No27_2/No27_2_79.pdf
92.
MartinSM.
Case for regional culture collections of microorganisms. Nature1974;
247:
431–
433.
93.
FraserDWTsaiTROrensteinW, et al.
Legionnaires’ disease: description of an epidemic of pneumonia. New England Journal of Medicine1977;
297:
1189–
1197.
Sixty years of science at UNESCO, 1945-2015.
Paris:
UNESCO Publishing,
2006, pp.
100, 405, 629.
98.
OvermannJ.Significance and future role of microbial resource centers. Systematic and Applied Microbiology2015;
38:
258–
265.
99.
MiyazakiSSugawaraH.
Networking of biological resource centers: WDCM experiences. Data Science Journal2002;
1:
229–
237.
100.
RoehrM.
A century of citric acid fermentation and research. Food Technology and Biotechnology1998;
36:
163–
171.
101.
CTB, Tribute to Stan Martin, 9 July 1984. typescript, NRC Archives.
102.
CutroniAA.The flow of UNESCO experts toward Latin America: on the asymmetrical impact of the missions, 1947-1984. In: DuedahlP (ed). A history of UNESCO: global actions and impacts.
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York, NY:
Palgrave Macmillan;
2016, pp.
181–
197.
103.
Anon. Margaret E. TATE (1920-1980). Ottawa Citizen, 5 November 1980, p. 44.
104.
Personal communications, H Johnson, 21, 23, 26 July 2023
DuedahlP.
Introduction: out of the house: on the global history of UNESCO, 1945-2015. In: Duedahl P (ed). A history of UNESCO: global actions and impacts.
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York, NY:
Palgrave Macmillan,
2016, pp.
2–
23.
The Convention on Biological Diversity, The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing, https://www.cbd.int/abs/background/ (accessed 20 March 2024).
112.
WuLSunQSugawaraH, et al.Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM): a comprehensive database and information retrieval, analysis, and visualization system for microbial resources. BMC Genomics2013;
14: article no. 933.
113.
LajaunieCMorandS.Nagoya Protocol and infectious diseases: hindrance or opportunity?Frontiers in Public Health2020;
8: article no. 238,
114.
BeckerPBosschaertsMChaerleP, et al.Public microbial resource centers: key hubs for findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) microorganisms and genetic materials. Applied and Environmental Microbiology2019;
85:
e01444–
19.
