Guide to the Oliver Reynolds Wulf Papers, ca. 1917-1987

Processed by Charlotte E. Erwin; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou

Guide to the Oliver Reynolds Wulf Papers, ca. 1917-1987

Archives

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California

Contact Information:

Archives
California Institute of Technology
1200 East California Blvd.
Mail Code 015A-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone: (626) 395-2704
Fax: (626) 793-8756
Email: archives@caltech.edu
URL: http://archives.caltech.edu

Processed by:: Charlotte E. Erwin
Date Completed:: November 1994
Date Revised:: July 1998
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Descriptive Summary

Title: Oliver Reynolds Wulf Papers,

Date (inclusive): ca. 1917-1987

Creator: Wulf, Oliver Reynolds

Extent: Number of containers: 3 boxes

Repository: California Institute of Technology. Archives.

Pasadena, California 91125

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item, Box and file number], Oliver Reynolds Wulf Papers, Archives, California Institute of Technology.

Biography

Oliver Reynolds Wulf received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech in 1926 and returned to the Institute in 1945 as a research associate in chemistry. Prior to this he had worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the Weather Bureau and for the University of Chicago's Institute of Meteorology during the war years. At Caltech Wulf conducted research in solar-terrestrial magnetism, geomagnetism, and large-scale circulation of the atmosphere. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1949, and retired from Caltech in 1967. Wulf died on January 11, 1987 at the age of 89.

In April 1989, a storage room in the Chemistry Division was being cleared of unwanted items. Among the discards were various files and notebooks, which have been compiled together by the Caltech Archives to form the contents of the first box in the collection.

In October 1994 the Caltech Archives received papers and memorabilia of Oliver R. and Beatrice Wulf. These have been added to the material given to the Archives by the Chemistry Division in 1989 under the heading "Supplement 1994."

The 1994 material was given by the Caltech Treasurer's Office, which was managing the Wulf estate. Beatrice Wulf, at this time, had gone into a nursing home. This material had been sorted and marked for the Caltech Archives, probably by Mrs. Wulf herself. An inventory had been made by the Treasurer's Office.

The recent material has been processed and is described in the following pages. The records date from 1917 (possibly earlier) to 1987 and are largely biographical in nature.

Miscellaneous Files

Box Box 1

"On the Mechanisms of the Production of Geomagnetic Activity. The Activity of the Years 1941 and 1942," manuscript drafts by O. Wulf and Seth B. Nicholson

Thomson Effect

Joule Thermo

Plasma

Computer related

Unlabelled file containing an article, various notes, and an undated group photo

Notebooks

Box Box 1

"Engineers' Field Book," leather bound, with added surveying notes 1919 Oct - 1920 Jan [includes misc. later additions]

2 small hand made black covered notebooks with quadrille paper

1 hand made black covered notebook containing handwritten lists of journal article citations

1 hard cover notebook, notes only on one page 1950 Jan -Feb

Course Notebooks

Box Box 1

Quantum Theory. Book 1, Dr. Epstein (includes table of contents)

Quantum Theory. Book 2, Dr. Epstein

Kinetic Theory, Dr. Millikan

Chemical Principles, paginated, contains problems and solutions

Section I: Correspondence

Box Box 2, Folder 1

Correspondence, general 1926-1962

American Physical Society 1931

California Institute of Technology 1967, 1977, 1987

Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 1925-1935

National Research Council 1926-1931

Ohio State University 1928-1929

Smithsonian Institution 1932

United States Department of Agriculture 1928-1932

University of California 1926-1927

University of Chicago 1943

Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1962

Folder 2

Correspondence, personal 1927-1946, n.d.

Eberhardt, W. H. 1946

McGlynn, John n.d. [early 1930s]

Moe, Henry Allen 1940

See also: Smithsonian Institution

Noyes, Arthur Amos 1922, 1930

Tolman, Richard Chace 1927, n.d.

Folder 3

Hillebrand Prize 1936

Folder 4

McMinn, George 1961-1972, n.d.

Folder 5

National Academy of Sciences 1949

Folder 6

Wulf, Beatrice, correspondence and documents (including Caltech and Linus Pauling)

Biographical Material

Trip Notes

Box Box 2, Folder 7

Beatrice Wulf

Coast to Coast 1928

Europe 1938

Mexico 1941

Folder 8

Oliver Wulf

Caribbean [undated]

Folder 9

Fiftieth anniversary and misc.

Folder 10

Biographical material, misc.

Folder 11

Memoir of Norwich, Connecticut, by Helene Knup (O. R. Wulf's sister)

Photos

Folder 12

Oliver Wulf

Family and youth

Folder 13

Adult

Folder 14

Wedding gift register

Folder 15

Beatrice Wulf, oral history interview for Caltech Archives 1982

Box Box 3

[oversize]

Awards, diplomas, memorabilia

Diploma, Norwich Free Academy 1915

Certificate (humorous), Follower of Boyle, Society of Sceptical Chemists 1917

Certificate of initiation, Sigma Alpha Epsilon 1917

Certificate of election, Tau Beta Pi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1918

Certificate of membership, The Skull, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1919

Diploma, Naval Officer School 1919

Certificate of election, Sigma Xi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1920

Thesis, "The Action of High Frequency Silent Discharge on Gases," Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1920

Honorable discharge, Navy 1922

Master's degree, American University 1922

Certificate of election, Fellow of National Research Council 1926

Certificate of election, Washington Academy of Sciences 1932

Certificate of award, Hillebrand Prize 1936

Certificate of election, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences 1949

Certificate of award, Robert H. Goddard Award, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1962

Award, bronze, shape of building, Robert H. Goddard Award, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1962

Certificate of election, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union 1962

Certificate of service, U. S. Department of Commerce 1967

Certificate of esteem, Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1970

Caltech degrees and memorabilia

Ph.D. degree, 1926

Fifty Year Certificate, Caltech Alumni Association 1976

Certificate of membership, Torchbearers 1985

A. A. Noyes, "A Laboratory Procedure" (cocoa recipe) 1968 [2 copies]