© University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.
© 2010 University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.
Lea Kanner Bleyman was born into a Jewish family in Halle, Germany, of November 9, 1936. As an infant, she and her family fled Germany to France, where they remained for the duration of the war, even as her older sisters, Eva and Ruth, were evacuated to the United States by the Kindertransport Program of the humanitarian organization OSE (
Reunited in the United States in 1946, the Kanners settled in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Entering the local public schools, Lea found her first brush with science leavened by her first experience with gender bias, but undeterred, she pursued biology as an undergraduate at Brandeis University. After graduation in 1958, and marrying Michael A. Bleyman, a philosophy major, then studying law at New York University, Bleyman relocated to New York for two years, earning a master's degree from Columbia University. During her first forays as a graduate student into the world of protozoans, she encountered the work of her future mentor, Tracy S. Sonneborn, and was drawn ever deeper into ciliate genetic research.
In 1961 the Bleymans moved to Indiana University, where Michael returned to his studies in philosophy, while Lea pursued a doctorate under Sonneborn in the Department of Zoology. At the time, Sonneborn's lab was one the nation's most vibrant centers for study of the biology and evolutionary genetics of ciliates, and Bleyman fell in with a remarkable community of graduate students, including Akio Miyake and Koichi Hiwatashi, with whom she would later collaborate. Her dissertation research centered on selfing in
Moving to the University of Illinois in 1964, Bleyman shifted course to study reproduction in
After a brief stint at the University of North Carolina, and her divorce, Bleyman returned to New York in 1973 to join the Biology faculty at Baruch College. Active in several professional organizations, she was a regular contributor to conferences and symposia on ciliate biology and served on the Executive Committee of the Society of Protozoologists (1981-1986 and 1999-2004), as Secretary (1991-1997), and ultimately President (2001-2002). At Baruch, she took up work on the mating patterns of a different genus of ciliates,
Consisting chiefly of materials relating to Bleyman's participation in professional conferences, laboratory and lecture notes, and published works, the Bleyman Papers offer Lea K. Bleyman's research on a range of ciliate taxa. The collection is organized into four series: Conferences; Laboratory and Lecture Notes; Professional Organizations; and Publications.
The collection is open for research.
Acquired from Lea K. Bleyman, January 2008, through Michael F. Dolan.
Processed by Emily Toder, December 2010.
For other materials related to Bleyman and the history of protistology, see:
Materials deriving from Bleyman's participation in professional conferences, including programs and schedules, press materials, abstracts, participant lists, maps, itineraries, and travel ephemera. Correspondence, notes, and relevant papers from conferences are included in the appropriate folders.
Laboratory and lecture notes encompass bound and loose materials drafted or drawn during formal lectures as well as at various research facilities. Where laboratory records pertain expressly to published writings, they have been collocated therewith.
A small assemblage of materials relating to Bleyman's professional organizational commitments, particularly her service as an officer of the Society of Protozoologists.
Bleyman's articles have been organized into two sub-categories: shorter articles and abstracts versus longer works (e.g., book chapters, theses, and comprehensive studies). In some cases, these are accompanied by substantial supporting research material, correspondence, drafts, copyright agreements, or other records.