Collection Guide
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Kofoid (Charles Atwood) Papers
SMC 0024
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Charles Atwood Kofoid Papers
Creator:
Kofoid, Carrie Prudence, 1866-1942
Creator:
Kofoid, Charles A. (Charles Atwood), 1865-1947
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0024
Physical Description:
46.7 Linear feet
(103 archives boxes, 1 card file box, 5 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1832 - 1949
Abstract: Papers documenting the life and career of University of California, Berkeley zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid (1865-1947) and
his wife, Carrie Prudence Winter Kofoid (1966-1942). The collection includes material on the Kofoids' families and education,
in addition to correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, published writings, scientific research and travel.
Languages:
English
.
Charles Atwood Kofoid Papers, SMC 24. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
A portion of the collection was microfilmed in 1993 and 1994. The collection was subsequently reprocessed, and the targets
on the microfilm are no longer accurate. There is a separate Library catalog record for the microfilm.
Additional Kofoid papers are held by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
SIO Biographical Files, SAC 5. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Acquired 1982-2010.
Selected materials from this collection have been digitized.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Charles Atwood Kofoid (1865-1947) was a noted zoologist at University of California, Berkeley and an early advocate for the
development of a marine station in La Jolla that would later become the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Charles was born to Nelson Kofoid and Janette Blake in Granville, Illinois. He had three younger half-siblings, Herbert Clayton
Kofoid, Nellie Kofoid Dillon, and Reuben Nelson Kofoid. He met his wife, Carrie Prudence Winter (1866-1942), while studying
at Oberlin College; both graduated in 1890. Kofoid continued his education at Harvard, receiving an A.M. degree in 1892 and
PhD in 1894, with research focused on plankton and protozoa. After college, Carrie taught at the Kawaiaho Seminary in Honolulu,
Hawaii. From Hawaii, she composed letters reporting on social life and local politics, including the overthrow of the monarchy.
Many of her essays and accounts were published in the
Hartford Courant. Charles and Carrie married on June 30, 1894 and had no children.
Kofoid was superintendent of the Illinois River Biological Station from 1897 to 1903. In 1904 and 1905, he explored the eastern
tropical Pacific with Alexander Agassiz on the Albatross Expedition, serving as planktonologist. A life-long traveler and
collector, Kofoid visited numerous freshwater and marine biological stations in Europe in 1908-1909, photographing and recording
information on the stations which he published in
The Biological Stations of Europe. He later travelled extensively in India and Japan. Kofoid was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1922.
Alongside William Ritter, Kofoid advocated for the establishment of a marine station in La Jolla, the Marine Biological Association
of San Diego (later known as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography). Kofoid was the assistant director at Scripps from 1903-1923.
In 1910, Kofoid succeeded William Ritter as chair of the Department of Zoology at UC Berkeley and remained in that position
until 1936. Charles Kofoid died in Berkeley in 1947.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers documenting the life and career of University of California, Berkeley zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid and his wife,
Carrie Prudence Winter Kofoid. The collection includes material on the Kofoids' families and education, in addition to correspondence,
diaries, manuscripts, published writings, and research papers. The bulk of the collection consists of personal and professional
correspondence covering diverse topics, including letters to and from family members, letters documenting Charles Kofoid's
early involvement in the Marine Biological Association of San Diego and its transfer to the University of California, and
Carrie Kofoid's observations about life in Hawaii dating from 1890-1893. The papers also include notes, letters and memorabilia
from Oberlin College; clippings; writings and photographs from the Kofoids' extensive travels; and records of the Kofoid Library.
Arranged in eleven series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) DIARIES, 4) ADDRESS BOOKS AND CALENDARS, 5) WRITINGS,
6) TRAVEL, 7) KOFOID LIBRARY, 8) FINANCIAL RECORDS, 9) PHOTOGRAPHS, 10) DRAWINGS AND ARTWORK, and 11) OBJECTS.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Oceanography -- History
Biological laboratories -- Europe
Marine biology -- History
Marine Biological Association of San Diego (Calif.)
Kofoid, Carrie Prudence, 1866-1942 -- Correspondence
Albatross Expedition (1904-1905)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Kofoid, Charles A. (Charles Atwood), 1865-1947 -- Archives