NCAR/TN-327+IA NCAR TECHNICAL NOTE January 1989 Guide to Historical Resources in the Atmospheric Sciences: Archives, Manuscripts, and Special Collections in the Washington, D.C. Area James R. Fleming Colby College Climate and Global Dynamics Division National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado © 1988 James Rodger Fleming All Rights Reserved Fleming Guide Publisher's foreword FOREWORD Historical research is based on the explication of various forms of source material. Thus, the depth of an historical study depends on one's ability to locate these sources. This technical note serves as an invaluable tool for such investigations. Dr. Fleming has compiled a guide to atmospheric science resources located in the Washington, D.C. area. This guide will save those interested in the history of the atmospheric sciences innumerable hours of work. It is hoped that the guide finds a wide audience among historians, archivists, and those scientists interested in the beginnings of their particular field of research. NCAR Jeffrey T. Kiehl January 1989 Climate and Global Dynamics Division i TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ii Historical Overview of Meteorology in America iv Table 1: Periodization of the History of Meteorology in the United States v Acknowledgements ix Depositories Surveyed: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 1 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE STILL MEDIA RECORDS CENTER 2 FAIRFAX COUNTY -- ARCHIVES OF THE CIRCUIT COURT 3 GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 4 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, MANUSCRIPT DIVISION 5 MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL CENTER 27 MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL LIBRARY 28 MOUNT VERNON LADIES ASSOCIATION OF THE UNION 29 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ARCHIVES 30 NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION 42 NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE 134 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 135 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 136 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ARCHIVES 136 JOSEPH HENRY PAPERS 145 NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM 146 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY 147 ARCHIVES CENTER 147 DIBNER LIBRARY 150 DIVISION OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES 150 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND 152 U.S. AIR FORCE HISTORY OFFICE 152 U.S. ARMY CENTER FOR MILITARY HISTORY 154 U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS 154 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 155 Index 156 About the Author 167 INTRODUCTION Archival and manuscript materials are the fundamental building blocks of history. Like the interactions of molecules which determine the macroscopic properties of a gas, the interactions of individuals in history are the fundamental units of historical experience. Notebooks, letters, and administrative records document these interactions in their most candid and unadulterated form, before they have been "sanitized" for publication. These materials form the foundation for quality historical reconstructions and interpretation. While the history of science in general has developed rapidly in the past 30 years, the history of the atmospheric sciences remains, as yet, relatively undeveloped. The pioneering works of W.E.K. Middleton on the meteorological instruments, David M. Ludlum on American weather, and Donald R. Whitnah on the U.S. Weather Bureau, all of considerable value, were written in the 1960s.1 Unlike other scientific fields (e.g. astronomy or nuclear physics), however, the historical literature in meteorology is still rather "thin." Nevertheless, hopeful signs of renewed interest and increased activity are now emerging. The American Meteorological Society sponsors a series of "Historical Monographs," and supports the activities of a "Committee on the History of the Atmospheric Sciences" (CHAS).2 The American Geophysical Union is beginning a historical survey project in geophysics which will include important aspects of the recent history of atmospheric science. Moreover, topics in meteorology are receiving increased attention from historians of science who employ archival sources in their writing. 3 Archives and manuscripts should be of interest to scientists as well as historians. Not only are they important cultural resources and "heirlooms" of the present atmospheric science community, they may also have an important role to play in current research efforts. For example, descriptions of instruments and observing techniques used by early scientists are found in the archival records. This information may help climate researchers evaluate and possibly recover portions of the massive historical data sets collected by earlier generations. Consider the historical climatic reconstructions possible from a single collection in the Records of the Weather Bureau in the National Archives: DAILY OBSERVATIONS OF METEOROLOGY AT MILITARY POSTS, 1819-1916: ca. 660 vols. 60 ft.! 4 1E.g. W.E.K. Middleton, The Invention of the MeteorologicalInstruments (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1969); David M. Ludlum, The History of American Weather, 4 vols. (1963-70); and Donald R. Whitnah, A History of the United States Weather Bureau (Urbana, IL: Univ, of Illinois Press, 1961). 2AMS Historical Monographs include H. H. Frisinger, The History of Meteorology to 1800 (1977); and Gisela Kutzbach, The Thermal Theory of Cyclones: A History of MeteorologicalThought in the Nineteenth Century (1979). Additional titles are forthcoming. 3 James R. Fleming, "Summary of Papers Presented on the History of the Atmospheric Sciences at the History of Science Society Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, October, 1987," Bull. Amer. Metl. Soc. 69 (1988): 760-63; Robert M. Friedman, Appropriatingthe Weather: Vilhelm Bjerknes and the Construction of a Modern Meteorology (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1988); and Fleming, Meteorology in America, 1814-1874 (Forthcoming from the Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.) 4See entry 59 on page 61 of this guide. iii At the Conference on Science Manuscripts sponsored by the National Science Foundation and held in Washington, D.C. in 1960, Edward Lurie issued a call for directories of unpublished documents in the history of science: There is an obvious need for topical guides to manuscript materials in the history of American science similar to those available to scholars in other branches of historical study. 5 However, little has been done to date in any of the scientific specialties to respond to this call.6 This volume, a "Guide" to archival and manuscript holdings in the Washington, D.C. area, is a partial response to Lurie's call and a modest first step in a proposed national, multi-volume survey of unpublished records in the atmospheric sciences. Washington D.C., because of its enormous libraries and its role as home to the National Weather Service and its predecessors, was a logical place to begin. To compile this volume, the collections of the largest depositories, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution, were searched by the author and his able assistant, Jon Kutner. Other institutions with relatively fewer archival holdings were surveyed by mail, with follow-up visits and phone calls to those reporting relevant holdings. Included in this volume are the locations and descriptions of significant documents, personal papers, special collections, taped interviews, and historical maps and instruments found during a survey of 19 major depositories. Entries for collections at obvious locations like the NOAA Library appear along with those from surprising ones, such as the Archives of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County. Small collections, occupying less than a page in the guide, are included along with the giant collections of the National Archives which take 90 pages to describe even briefly. References to biographies and bibliographies of prominent atmospheric scientists and administrators are also included in many entries. A machine-readable version of this guide is available in Macintosh SE format from the author and from the Climate and Global Dynamics Division at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado. Thus this survey may be updated and amended as the need arises. 5Edward Lurie, "Some Observations on Research in Nineteenth-Century American Science," in Nathan Reingold, et. al. "The Conference on Science Manuscripts," Isis 53 (March 1962): 21-30. This volume also contains the following relevant articles: Harry Wolf, "Manuscripts and the History of Science," 3-4; Richard H. Shryock, "The Viewpoint of an Historian and a Manuscript Librarian," 9-13; R.G. Hewlett, "A Pilot Study in Contemporary Scientific History," 31-38; A Hunter Dupree, "What Manuscripts the Historian Wants Saved," 63-66; Harry Alpert, "Science Records: Viewpoints of the Sociology of Science," 67-71; Hugh Odishaw, "What Shall We Save in the Geophysical Sciences?," 80-86; Nathan Reingold, "Subject Analysis and Description of Manuscript Collections," 106-12; and H. Bentley Glass, "The Scientist and the Preservation of Science Manuscripts," 136-42. 6A notable exception is Gavin D. R. Bridson, et. al. compls., Natural History Manuscript Resources in the British Isles, (London and New York, Mansell and R.R. Bowker Co., 1980). Historical Overview of Meteorology in America A general overview of the history of meteorology in the United States (see Table 1), reveals four major periods from colonial times to the present: (1) The colonial and early national period of isolated, individual diarists before 1814; (2) the period of expanding observational systems between 1814 and 1874; (3) an era characterized by government service under the U.S. Army Signal Office and the Department of Agriculture, 1870-1920; and (4) the current disciplinary and professional period