Henry W. Menard Papers, 1922-1987 (SMC 18)

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL: Awards, certificates, career information, curricula vitae, photographs, and materials regarding Menard's memorial service. Additional notes and diaries of a personal nature are found within the series UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: The CORRESPONDENCE files reveal Menard's many personal and professional interests such as glaciation and the ice age phenomena, sedimentology, geophysics, the sociology of geology, and the history of science. Correspondents include Menard's graduate advisor, Henry Stetson; colleagues Edward Bullard, Robert Dietz, K.O. Emery, Maurice Ewing, Edwin Hamilton, Xavier Le Pichon, Frank Press, Manik Talwani, and John Worzel; his students, Tanya Atwater, Roger Larson, and Marcia McNutt; and British and Russian researchers. Topics include glaciation and the ice age phenomena, sedimentology, geophysics, the sociology of geology, history of science, his USGS appointment, teaching projects, and computers in university teaching programs.

Additional correspondence specific to plate tectonics is found within the Ocean of Truth folders of the WRITINGS series.

Series 3) ORGANIZATIONS: Correspondence, reports, proposals, data, notes, photographs and ephemera relating to Menard's affiliation with public and private organizations and institutions. The series includes National Science Foundation (NSF) data and proposals for Menard's grant-funded research, and National Academy of Science (NAS) boards and commissions. Other organizations include Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Santa Barbara oil spill committee.

Series 4) WRITINGS: Drafts, correspondence, illustrations, data, notes, and photographs for Menard's published and unpublished writings. Arranged in two series: A) Short works, and B) Books.

A) Short Works: Menard's numbered and unnumbered publications, M.S. thesis, photographs for his Ph.D. thesis, a bibliography, etc.

B) Books: Drafts and correspondence for Menard's published and unpublished books, especially The Anatomy of an Expedition (1969), The Ocean of Truth (1986), and Islands (1986). The Ocean of Truth files include considerable correspondence between Menard and other researchers regarding plate tectonics research.

Book documentation is very detailed. The Anatomy of an Expedition (1969) files are largely comprised of materials relating to the 1967 SIO Nova Expedition. Principles of Marine Geology, written around 1970, consists of working and master drafts for a textbook which Menard never published. The folders on Science, Growth and Change (1971) contain two earlier versions with different working titles. Menard's last two books, Islands (1986) and Ocean of Truth (1986), were published posthumously. It was with the editorial help of Menard's son, Andrew, that the dedication and final galleys of Ocean of Truth were completed. In addition to the CORRESPONDENCE series, much of Menard's correspondence with his colleagues is found within the Ocean of Truth folders. Arranged alphabetically by Menard, these correspondence files contain reminiscences and personal accounts of the history of the plate tectonic revolution. Apparently, Menard reached out to colleagues with a request for a biography, a bibliography, a photo, and a particular recollection. Of these correspondence files, the two Bruce Heezen folders are substantial. They contain chronicles of Bruce Heezen's career, analyses by Menard, and transcripts of Heezen interviews pertaining to VEMA cruises and ocean research funding. These include a transcript of a tape by John (Joe) Worzel, sent to Menard by Marie Tharp. In a letter to Menard, Tharp mentions that the interviews with Heezen were conducted by herself and John Lear; the file also includes copies of Tharp's correspondence with Henry Frankel.

Series 5) UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Files Menard maintained while director of USGS from 1978-1981, including correspondence, reports, drafts of talks, notes, photographs, and ephemera. The series includes biographical information on Menard and his appointment as director, and committee files, particularly the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China. Menard traveled extensively as director of USGS, and gave numerous scientific talks and lectures at meetings and conferences around the world.

Series 6) RESEARCH PROJECTS AND NOTES: Data, correspondence, reports, and notes for Menard's research projects. Includes information on his consulting projects for telephone and telegraph companies, Deep Sea Drilling Project and SIO research expeditions, manganese nodules, marine prospecting, and oil drilling. Class notes in geology and related fields kept by Menard while he was a student at the California Institute of Technology and at Harvard University. The series includes laboratory notebooks from the Harvard University Geology Museum from 1948-1951.

Series 7) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO: Correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and notes from committees and advisory boards Menard served on at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California, San Diego. The series includes Menard's teaching files for SIO courses and information on his sabbatical years, but does not include files generated while he was acting director of the Institute of Marine Resources.