Memo from Joshua Lederberg
To: Martin Pollock
Nov 20 1972
Thank you for the xerocopies of Maxted, Wilson's correspondence.
I will write Elliot directly.
Was he the source for the assertion that Avery and Griffith had never met or corresponded I have no evidence to the contrary, but it is a rather strong assertion.  However, if Elliot were an intimate of both, he might have had a
sound basis for such a statement. Wouldn't it be remarkable if they never exchanged so much as a letter!
Olby has put me on to Dubos memoir on Avery (Roy. Soc. Biogr Mem 56) which puts a somewhat different perspective on the "stimulating guidance of Oswald Avery" (which I also had taken for granted.) Others have also cautioned me that Dawson had taken a more aggressive role in being sure that Griffith was confirmed, and taken account of, at Rockefeller. And evidently much of this was during Avery's illness that effectively kept him out of the lab for several years.
Again, thanks.
Joshua.