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Sargent (Marston C. and Peter) Papers
SMC 0025
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Marston C. and Peter Sargent Papers
Creator:
Sargent, Marston C. (Marston Cleaves), 1906-1986
Creator:
Sargent, Peter, 1909-1992
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0025
Physical Description:
10 Linear feet
(10 record cartons, 1 map case folder, and 2 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1845-1985 (bulk 1932-1975)
Abstract: The family papers of Marston C. Sargent and his wife, Grace "Peter" Sargent, including extensive familial correspondence,
photographs, and personal papers documenting their genealogical history, early years living and teaching at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, travels abroad, and Peter's writings.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The family papers of Marston C. Sargent and his wife, Grace "Peter" Sargent, including extensive familial correspondence,
photographs (prints, negatives, and slides), and personal papers documenting family genealogical history, early years living
and teaching at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, travels abroad in Europe and London, and Peter's writings. The collection
contains relatively little documentation of Marston's scientific research with the Navy and at SIO. Additional topics include:
Peter's father, U.S. Forest Service ranger Harry James Tompkins (1867-1949); SIO history, particularly from the perspective
of a faculty spouse; the UC loyalty oath; London's Office of Naval Research; open space initiatives in the Tecolote Canyon
and Clairemont areas of San Diego; manuscripts for Peter's books
The Sea Acorn and
Nature's Child; and Sierra National Forest.
Arranged in four series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) MARSTON C. SARGENT, 3) PETER SARGENT, 4) PHOTOGRAPHS.
Marston C. Sargent (1906-1986) was an oceanographer and inventor affiliated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
at UC San Diego for more than four decades. Sargent was born in Somerville, MA, and graduated from Harvard in 1929 with a
degree in biology. He earned his doctoral degree in plant physiology and biophysics in 1934 at California Institute of Technology
(marrying Grace "Peter" Tompkins on April 8, 1933) and worked for there for three years as an assistant biologist. Sargent
moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as an assistant biochemist and later became an instructor of oceanography
from 1937-1942. He was called to active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946, during which time he was assigned to the
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Navy's Bureau of Ships. He eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant commander
in the Naval Reserve. After the war, Sargent returned to SIO where he held the position of assistant professor until 1951.
From 1951 to 1955, Sargent was an oceanographer and head of training at the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory. In 1955, he
moved to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Pasadena where he worked and remained until 1970 (serving a two-year stint
in London). After leaving ONR, Sargent was the coordinator of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations
until 1974.
Sargent was a co-inventor of an electric device called the Bathythermograph Data Reduction System, which enabled digitization
of records compiled with the mechanical bathythermograph, an instrument for logging underwater temperatures. This device allowed
researchers to quickly record large quantities of data on ocean conditions. He also became an authority on photosynthesis
and the growth requirements of marine plankton algae. Sargent retired in 1974, but he continued as a research associate with
the Marine Life Research Group at SIO until 1980.
Grace "Peter" Tompkins Sargent (1909-1992), daughter of Florence and Harry Tompkins, was born in the Sierras of California.
Her father, Harry, was one of the first rangers in the new U.S. Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot. She was known by her
childhood nickname, Peter, her whole adult life. Peter attended grade school in Pasadena with Roger Revelle. In 1931 she graduated
from Stanford with a degree in English, where she was also a member of the Zoology Club; she went on to earn her masters in
zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1932. She met her husband Marston in Pasadena, where she was working
as a Girl Scout nature counselor and secretary. She accompanied him to Scripps and his other assignments with the Navy in
California. In 1979, Peter wrote and privately published a short, informal history of her recollections of the early years
living and working at Scripps,
The Sea Acorn, and she was the author of other works drawing on her experience in the Sierras and her father's experience in the Forest
Service. She was an active member of the League of Women Voters and participated in the campaign for open space in the city
of San Diego.
Marston C. and Peter Sargent Papers. SMC 25. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1988
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection. Copyright for all materials created by the Sargents transfers
to UC Regents in 2020.
This EAD finding aid for the Sargent Papers utilizes re-purposed description and a container list from an inventory created
in 1996 by archival processor Jeffrey A. Stoffel. The collection was not re-appraised, reorganized or re-labelled when the
format of the finding aid was updated; therefore, it may be considered minimally processed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sargent family -- Correspondence
Tompkins family -- Correspondence
Tompkins, Harry James, 1867-1949
United States. Forest Service -- History
Scripps Institution of Oceanography -- History
Sargent, Marston C. (Marston Cleaves), 1906-1986 -- Archives
Sargent, Peter, 1909-1992 -- Archives