3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Cold Spring Harbor (1943–1952) 245
Mayr described the atmosphere in CSH in his letters to Stresemann:
“Tomorrow I shall be leaving for Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory
where I usually spend part of the summer. Gretel and the children get some swimming,
while I watch what the male of Drosophila species A does to the female of
speciesB.However,evenIgetalltheswimmingIwant.Awholegroupofgeneticists
spend the summer there and it is a most stimulating atmosphere” (12 July 1946).
“During the first week I take a holiday and spend the mornings and afternoons at
the beach. Last night Mrs. Delbrück arrived to be followed by her husband within
two days; they will remain until 11th July. The von Koenigswalds will arrive this
afternoon. Michael White, the British cytologist, who intends to settle in Texas,
is here and I understand that Prof. Willier will appear soon; also Ernst Caspari,
a student of Kühn. As you see, we live in a very stimulating ‘intellectual environment.’
I am learning immensely, in particular in fields where I know nothing.
During the last months new discoveries in the field of bacterial genetics have been
made almost daily. One knows now roughly how many genes a bacteriophage has!”
(30 June 1947; transl.).
Most of the scientists came to CSH with their families and therefore their wives
and children became friends as well. The international atmosphere, in spite of the
war and postwar times, was a great relief for all of them. As “enemy aliens” Mayr
and many others owned no car and, of course, they had no close relatives in the
States. These circumstances and the facilities given at CSH were the reasons for so
many foreign scientists gathering there. But of course numerous North American
colleagues came also to pursue their research and to participate in the workshops
and seminars.
The physical and social environments of the Biological Laboratories in Cold
Spring Harbor were as congenial as the intellectual environment, and it is not
surprising that the Mayr family all loved being there. The campus during the
1940s and 1950s included two lovely old houses built in the 1830s as residences for
families working in the whaling and textile industries owned by the Jones family.
They had been renovated into numerous apartments for summer rental and the
Mayrs lived in several different apartments in Hooper House and Williams House
over the years. The campus clustered around a lawn, which sloped toward the
bay from Long Island Sound. There was a tennis court, and play equipment for
children near the edge of the water stream, which flowed into the bay. It was an
excellent environment for birdwatching and blue herons, green herons and swans
were permanent residents. Families made use of a dock near the head of the bay
for swimming and boating.
The community building, Blackford Hall, was a general gathering place where
people congregated for meals, mail collection and socializing (Fig. 6.1). There was
a large room opposite the dining room which was used for frequent seminars and
other less serious performances. People often hung out at Blackford Hall in the
evening playing music, playing ping-pong, discussing science and testing their
theories with their peers.
Children had an unusual amount of freedom in the safety of the Bio Lab campus.
They would often play in groups of wide ranging ages which offered some