Robert S. Arthur Papers, 1938-1987 (SMC 70)

OFF-SITE STORAGE: COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.

Extent: .8 Linear feet (2 archives boxes and 2 oversize folders)

View OnlineSlides, one photograph, and the Pacific cloth survival charts from this collection have been digitized.

A small collection of papers and images from Robert S. Arthur (1916-1995), a physical oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Robert Siple Arthur (1916-1995), emeritus professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Redlands in 1938. He began graduate studies in mathematics at UCLA in 1940, but changed to meteorology as the United States entered World War II. He was commissioned as an aerological officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1942 and was assigned to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, in 1944 to carry out research with Harald Sverdrup on ocean waves.

Arthur continued at Scripps after the war as a student and received his doctorate in 1950 in physical oceanography. He was appointed to the faculty in 1951 and retired in 1979. He was a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. He served on many of the Scripps administrative committees.

Arthur published numerous research papers on waves, ocean temperature, currents, and tsunamis during his career, but teaching physical oceanography remained a primary professional interest.

Adapted from "University of California: In Memoriam, 1996."

A small collection of papers and images from Robert S. Arthur (1916-1995), a physical oceanographer and professor emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence and photographs, including prints from the 1951 dedication of the T. Wayland Vaughan Aquarium-Museum, and a snapshot of Harald Sverdrup and Walter Munk from 1946. The bulk of the material consists of teaching outlines and lecture notes from Oceanography 110 (Introduction to Physical Oceanography), administrative papers relating to courses and historic enrollment at the SIO, and an assortment of slides documenting the 1952 Shellback expedition, the coastline of La Jolla, the UC San Diego campus, the ship E.W. Scripps, and Friday Harbor, Washington.

The collection also includes four World War II-era cloth survival charts. To increase the odds of recovery and rescue of airplane crash survivors in the Pacific, in 1942 the Army Air Forces initiated a contract with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to design a series of Pacific area charts illustrating ocean currents and drift patterns. Harold Sverdrup designed an unidentified number of charts, some of which may have been printed on acetate rayon fabric and distributed to pilots and aircraft personnel. Charts in this collection were issued by the Naval Air Combat Intelligence, Hydrographic Office (NACI-HO) and Army Air Forces.

Arranged in two series: 1) PAPERS, PHOTOS AND SLIDES, and 2) CLOTH SURVIVAL CHARTS.

Container List

PAPERS, PHOTOS AND SLIDES

Correspondence

Box 1 Folder 1
Wayne V. Burt re: Burt Hall, 1987
Box 1 Folder 2
IAPSO Working Group on Symbols, Units and Nomenclature in Physical Oceanography, 1975-1979
Box 1 Folder 3
Eric Mills re: George McEwen, 1987
Box 1 Folder 4
Edward Little re: boundary and internal waves, 1955
Box 1 Folder 5
Reprints signed by SIO faculty authors, 1940-1980
Box 1 Folder 6
Oceanography 110 (Intro to Physical Oceanography) - Radiant Energy, 1956
Box 1 Folder 7
Oceanography 110 (Intro to Physical Oceanography) - Teaching notes, 1961-1964
Box 1 Folder 8
Oceanography 110 (Intro to Physical Oceanography) - Enrollment, 1952-1956
Box 1 Folder 9
Oceanography 110 (Intro to Physical Oceanography) - Handouts, 1962

Guide to forms and graphs used in processing and presenting common data collected on oceanographic cruises.

Box 1 Folder 10
Oceanography 210 (Physical Oceanography) - Teaching notes, 1948-1949
Box 1 Folder 11
Oceanography 210B (Into to Mechanics of Fluids on a Rotating Earth) - Teaching notes, undated
Box 1 Folder 12
Appointment and promotion, 1960-1963
Box 2 Folder 1-2
Course 211 (Ocean Waves) - Teaching notes by Walter Munk, 1951

Includes UCLA meteorology notes by Arthur.

Box 2 Folder 3
Lecture outline on Equatorial Undercurrents prepared for W. Nierenberg, 1967
Box 2 Folder 4
Beta Spiral notes on Stommel and Schott, undated
Box 2 Folder 5
Ph.D. examination committee memoranda, 1950-1953
Box 2 Folder 6
Summary and proposal for students majoring in physical oceanography, 1955
Box 2 Folder 7
Student recruitment summary and reports for the SIO, 1938-1970

Includes rosters of registered students and degrees pursued. Data was collected for a 1960 report by the Committee on Education and Recruitment of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography.

Box 2 Folder 8
Caricatures - Walter Munk and Harald Sverdrup, ca. 1940-1946

Color copy of an original drawing of Sverdrup by J. Parrilla, "Ex libris." Artist of Munk sketch unknown.

Box 2 Folder 9
Photographs - Portraits of Arthur and others, 1942-1980

Black and white prints: Harald Sverdrup and Walter Munk in academic robes; Arthur alone and with others: William Van Dorn or Doak Cox on a dock in Hawaii, Clete Burke; and other portraits. One image from this folder has been digitized.

Harald Sverdrup and Walter Munk in academic robes, 1946
Box 2 Folder 10
Photographs - Dedication of the T. Wayland Vaughan Aquarium-Museum, 1951 March 26
Box 2 Folder 11
Color slides - Friday Harbor, Washington, 1950
Box 2 Folder 12
Color slides - UC San Diego campus, 1955, 1967-1969

Includes images of construction of the Ritter addition at SIO.

Box 2 Folder 13
Color slides - Coastal shots of beach and breakers in La Jolla and Southern California, 1945-1950
Box 2 Folder 14
Color slides - R/V E.W. Scripps at sea, 1947
Box 2 Folder 15
Color slides - Shellback Expedition, 1952 July-August
Box 2 Folder 16
Grunion "Certificate of Merit", 1948

CLOTH SURVIVAL CHARTS

Box 2 Folder 17
8"x11" color paper reproductions of cloth survival charts, 1943-1944
Oversize MC-022-10
Cloth survival chart, Philippine Series, 1944

Double-sided fabric chart illustrating currents near Mindanao Island (No. C-43) and North Borneo (No. C-44). Issued by the Army Air Forces.

Oversize MC-022-10
Cloth survival chart for Penang Island and Bintan Island, 1945

Numbered C-859 and C-860. Issued by the Army Air Forces.

Oversize FB-477 Folder 3
Cloth survival chart for Central Caroline Island and Marianas Island, ca. 1943

Numbered S12-2-36 and S12-17. Issued by Naval Air Combat Intelligence, Hydrographic Office (NACI-HO).

Oversize FB-477 Folder 3
Cloth survival chart for Palau Island area and northwest New Guinea, and Western Caroline Island, ca. 1943

Numbered S12-2-40 and S12-2-20. Issued by the Naval Air Combat Intelligence, Hydrographic Office (NACI-HO).