Collection Guide
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Munk (Walter) Papers
SMC 0017
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Walter Munk Papers
Creator:
Munk, Walter H. (Walter Heinrich), 1917-2019
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0017
Physical Description:
32.4 Linear feet
(77 archives boxes, 1 flat box, and 2 map case folders)
Date (inclusive): 1908-2007
Abstract: Papers of Walter H. Munk (1917-2019), distinguished physical oceanographer and professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The collection documents Munk's scientific career and some of
the subject areas where he was an influential theorist, including wave forecasting and acoustic tomography.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Walter H. Munk (1917-2019), distinguished physical oceanographer and professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The collection documents Munk's scientific career and some of
the subject areas where he was an influential theorist, including wave forecasting and acoustic tomography. It includes: correspondence;
an incomplete assortment of Munk's writings and lectures; collaborative research with Harald Sverdrup and the U.S. Navy on
wave forecasting during World War II, including drafts of reports and photographic prints of waves and coastlines; Munk's
files from government consulting (JASON and the National Research Council); and Munk's papers on UC San Diego, the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP).
The bulk of the collection was donated to the Library in 1987, a few years after Munk's retirement from the University in
1982. Although he stayed professionally active until his death in 2019, only one additional group of papers were donated
in 1996, along with several small accruals of audiovisual recordings, photographs and slides. There are gaps in subject documentation,
and parts of the collection are not comprehensive. For example, there is relatively little material, particularly correspondence,
research files, or photographic portraits, documenting Munk's first three decades at SIO from 1939 through 1969.
Arranged in thirteen series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WAVE FORECASTING, 4) WRITINGS AND TALKS, 5) EVENTS, CONFERENCES
AND MEETINGS, 6) NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, 7) ACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY, 8) SUBJECT/RESEARCH FILES, 9) UC SAN DIEGO, 10) IGPP,
11) WORKS BY OTHERS, 12) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 13) AUDIOVISUAL RECORDINGS.
Two short, excellent biographies of Walter Munk are available online:
Biographical essay by Deborah Day, former SIO Archivist.
Walter Munk Papers, SMC 17. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 1981-1982, 1987-1994, 2007, 2009, 2022.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Some photographs and Munk's slide collection are only available in digital format; these, and access copies of sound and moving
image recordings are available on the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections website.
Original media formats in Series 13) AUDIOVISUAL RECORDINGS are restricted. Viewing/listening copies may be available for
researchers.
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate Project Records, SAC 32. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Roger Revelle Papers, SMC 6. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
For additional photographs of Dr. Munk, see: SIO Photographs Collection, SMC 59. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Heard Island (Heard and McDonald Islands)
Underwater acoustics
Acoustic surface waves
Ocean tomography
Munk, Walter H. (Walter Heinrich), 1917-2019 -- Archives
Stommel, Henry M., 1920-1992 -- Correspondence
University of California, San Diego -- History
National Research Council (U.S.). AMSOC Committee
University of California, San Diego. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics -- History
JASON Defense Advisory Group
Sverdrup, H. U. (Harald Ulrik), 1888-1857 -- Correspondence
Revelle, Roger, 1909-1991 -- Correspondence
Green, Cecil Howard, 1900-2003 -- Correspondence
Bullard, Edward Crisp, Sir, 1907-1980 -- Correspondence
National Research Council (U.S.). Ocean Studies Board