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Easter Ellen Cupp Papers
SMC 0097
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Title: Easter Ellen Cupp Papers
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0097
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Languages:
English
Physical Description:
9.8 Linear feet
(8 archives boxes, 1 card file box, 5 oversize boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1899-1980
Abstract: The collection consists of papers and photographs documenting the life and career of marine biologist Easter Ellen Cupp, including
her graduate studies and research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Creator:
Cupp, Easter Ellen, 1904-1999
Easter Ellen Cupp Papers, SMC 0097. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Selected photographs from this collection have been digitized and can be viewed through links in the container list.
SIO ARCHIVES COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Acquired, 1999 and 2003
Marine biologist Easter Ellen Cupp (1904-1999) was born in Neola, Iowa. Her family moved to Whittier, California in 1910.
Cupp attended Whittier College (A.B. 1926) and earned a master's degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley
in 1928. In 1934, Cupp became the first woman in North America to receive a PhD in oceanography when she was awarded her doctorate
from the University of California for research on plankton completed at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Cupp remained
at Scripps and worked initially as an associate oceanographer, then instructor, from 1934-1939, but departed in 1940 when
a faculty position proved elusive. During this period she completed work on her book,
Marine Plankton Diatoms of the West Coast of North America, published in 1943. Cupp became an assistant biologist for the Naval Biological Laboratory from 1940-1943; when that assignment
ended, she taught English and science at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in San Diego until her retirement in 1967. She
passed away in San Diego at the age of 95.
The collection consists of papers and photographs documenting the life and career of marine biologist Easter Ellen Cupp, including
her graduate studies and research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The papers are arranged in six series:
SERIES 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS: Personal documents from Easter Ellen Cupp and her family, including her parents' marriage
certicate, Cupp's grades, transcripts and diplomas, and curriculum vitae, accomplishment certificates, and materials from
her employment with Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.
SERIES 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Personal and professional correspondence with friends and research collaborators, including letters
regarding Cupp's dissertation and some of her publications. Arranged in chronological order.
SERIES 3) STUDENT NOTES: Course notes and laboratory manuals with notes from junior high school to graduate studies, as well
as teacher certication courses. Arranged alphabetically.
SERIES 4) RESEARCH MATERIALS: Notes, summaries, data collection, and illustrations by Cupp. Subjects include diatoms, fouling
organisms, and plankton hauls; also includes three sets of miscroscope slides and three rock samples.
SERIES 5) WRITINGS: Drafts, typescripts, galley prints, and original drawings and figures for Cupp's dissertation and research
articles. Original negatives of figures used in Cupp's dissertation are located in Series 6) PHOTOGRAPHS, subseries E) Research.
Arranged chronologically.
SERIES 6) PHOTOGRAPHS: Photographs, negatives, and glass slides documenting personal and professional activities, including
some notes. Many of the photographs and all of the negatives were taken by Cupp, though some images of the Scripps campus
and personnel were taken by Harry Erickson (the "Flying Photographer") and Eugene LaFond, and have been credited where appropriate.
A selection of photographs from the collection have been digitized, and can be viewed through links in the container list.
Arranged in five subseries: A) Animal and Objects, B) People, C) Places, D) Ships and E) Research.
Negatives for photographic prints by Harry Erickson in the PHOTOGRAPHS series are located with the Harry Erickson Negatives
collection, which may be found by searching the library catalog.
SIO Biographical Files, SAC 5. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cupp, Easter Ellen, 1904-1999 -- Archives
Erickson, Harry A. -- Photographs
LaFond, Eugene Cecil, 1909 -- Photographs
Scripps Institution of Oceanography. -- Photographs
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.) -- Photographs
Oceanographers -- California -- San Diego -- Archives
Photographs -- California -- San Diego -- 20th century