http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf138n98jf No online items Guide to the William E. Ritter Papers, 1879-1944 Processed by The Bancroft Library staff The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu © 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Note History --History, CaliforniaGeographical (By Place) --CaliforniaHistory --History, University of California --History, UC BerkeleyBiological and Medical Sciences --Biological Sciences --Marine Biology Guide to the William E. Ritter BANC MSS 71/3 c 1 Papers, 1879-1944 Guide to the William E. Ritter Papers, 1879-1944 Collection number: BANC MSS 71/3 c The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Contact Information: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu Processed by: The Bancroft Library staff Date Completed: Unknown Encoded by: Brooke Dykman Dockter © 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: William E. Ritter Papers, Date (inclusive): 1879-1944 Collection Number: BANC MSS 71/3 c Creator: Ritter, William Emerson, 1856-1944 Extent: Number of containers: 25 boxes, 33 cartons and 2 oversize folders. Repository: The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720-6000 Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. Languages Represented: English Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Guide to the William E. Ritter BANC MSS 71/3 c 2 Papers, 1879-1944 Preferred Citation [Identification of item], William E. Ritter Papers, BANC MSS 71/3 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Biographical Sketch William Emerson Ritter, professor of zoology at the University of California, was born on a Wisconsin farm on November 19, 1856, where he lived and worked for the first twenty years of his life. After graduating from the Oshkosh Normal School, he continued his studies at Harvard in 1890, married Mary Bennett in 1891, and came to the University of California at Berkeley in 1893 as a biology instructor. In 1899 he was elected president of the California Academy of Sciences, and that same year took part in the famed Harriman Expedition to Alaska. By 1904 Ritter had begun working in San Diego on what he hoped would be an exhaustive study of marine life focused on a limited area, using the vessel Albatross for deep water investigation. He was hence for many years to divide his time between Berkeley and La Jolla where he spent his summers. It was on his return from a trip to Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines in 1906 that Ritter actively sought to interest Andrew Carnegie, Edward Harriman and others in the financing of a biological station at La Jolla. Only in 1912, after much negotiation, were final arrangements between benefactor Edward Wyllis Scripps and the University of California completed, and Ritter named first scientific director of the new Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a position he held until 1922. The Institution soon attracted many young men to work under Ritter's supervision, namely Harry B. Torrey, Loye Holmes Miller, Samuel Jackson Holmes, Joseph Grinnell, Charles Atwood Kofoid, and others who would later attain prominence in the world of science. Ritter, vitally concerned at the lack of wide-spread dissemination of accurate but intelligible reports on scientific developments and discoveries, as early as 1915 discussed the possibility of training professional scientists to write on scientific subjects in a popular vein. This idea, by 1920, germinated into a full-fledged proposal for a news service known as Science Service, which was financially backed by E. W. Scripps, and officially commenced in February 1921. A man of varied interests, and a strong believer in the humanity of science, Ritter was fascinated by the relationship of science to religion, and of biology to social questions, and his numerous published works reflecting his philosophy include War, Science and Civilization; The Higher Usefulness of Science and Other Essays; The Probable Infinity of Nature and Life; The Scientific Method of Reaching Truth; The Natural History of Our Conduct (with Edna W. Bailey); and The Organismal Conception (with Edna W. Bailey). As a result of his study of the activities of animals under natural conditions, he evolved his concept of "organism as a whole" which was published as The Unity of the Organism, or the Organismal Theory of Consciousness in 1918. A second part to this work was planned, and though written in large part and revised, it was never completed. A detailed study of woodpeckers and their acorn-storing proclivities culminated in the publication of his California Woodpeckers and I by the University of California Press. Ritter had also partially written a work tentatively entitled The Ocean and its Life, which he never finished. Over a period of years he collaborated with Edna Watson Bailey on his Charles Darwin and the Golden Rule, a distillation of his many writings on the subject, completed by Mrs. Bailey only after Ritter's death. Ritter also contributed many articles on a variety of subjects to learned journals. A member of the California Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and many other scientific organizations, Ritter took part in the 1923 Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress held in Australia, and went to England for the International Congress of Science and Technology in 1931. Emeritus in 1924, Ritter was to continue his scientific work and writing for many years. Although childless, he was much interested in children and in their education, and at this time supported the Berkeley Children's Community School where he taught natural science. He also was a strong advocate for the teaching of evolution in the California public schools. In failing health since 1941, Ritter died in Berkeley on January 10, 1944. Scope and Content The papers, given to The Bancroft Library by Mrs. Edna Watson Bailey, his literary executor, in 1970-1971, include correspondence and subject files relating to Ritter's professional career at the University of California, to the development of the field of marine biology, and to the foundation of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In addition there is also much material concerning the establishment of Science Service. Also included are diaries, field notes and drawings, manuscripts and reprints of many of his writings, extensive files of notes and clippings, books heavily annotated by Ritter, and writings by colleagues. Small groups of Papers of his wife, Mary Bennett Ritter, relating to her study of medicine and her teaching career at the University of California, and of Edna Watson Bailey concerning her work as Ritter's literary executor, are also included Photographs and portraits have been removed to the Picture Collection. A key to arrangement describing the collection in greater detail, and a list of the major correspondents follow. Note Guide to the William E. Ritter BANC MSS 71/3 c 3 Papers, 1879-1944 The original finding aid contains the following sentence: “Additional material, located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at La Jolla, is described in the appendix.” However, no appendix could be found at the time this finding aid was encoded. Boxes 1-4 Letters (drafts, holograph and carbon copies) written by Ritter, 1879-1944. Scope and Content Note Arranged chronologically. Relate to his career as professor of zoology at the University of California, to the establishment of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at La Jolla, to the dissemination of scientific news via Science Service, to his interest in woodpeckers, his views on evolution and the teaching of it in public schools, etc. Box 1 1879-1917 Box 2 1918-1923 Box 3 1924-1936 Box 4 1937-1944 Boxes 5-23 Letters written to Ritter. Scope and Content Note Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization, then chronologically within each folder. Included are letters from other scientists and educators, relating to work in zoology and marine biology, to the founding and funding of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and of Science Service. A partial list of major correspondents may be consulted at the end of the report. Unlisted letters have been placed in miscellanies preceding each letter of the alphabet. Box 5 A-B Miscellany Box 6 B Box 7 C-Cg Box 8 Ch-Dav Box 9 Daw-Fis Box 10 Fit-G Box 11 H-Hoo Box 12 Hop-J Box 13 K Box 14 L-Mah Box 15 Mai-Mz Box 16 N-O Box 17 P Box 18 Q-Sch Box 19 Sci-Smh Box 20 Smi-Sz Box 21 T-U Box 22 V-Wilc Box 23 Wild-Z Box 24 Correspondence and papers of Mary (Bennett) Ritter. Scope and Content Note Include two letters written by her, 1902-1939; some letters written to her (listed in the partial list of correspondents); accounts for surgical instruments purchased in Germany in 1895; attendance records for classes in hygiene taught by Mrs. Ritter at the University of California in Berkeley in 1902; two pocket diaries, 1885, containing medical notes and accounts; four notebooks with class notes on evolution, newts, European history and French, 1902-1909; and miscellaneous papers, including a holograph mansucript of her observations of sea life along the California coast.