Marston C. and Peter Sargent Papers
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 1996, 2019
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Business Number: 858-534-2533
Fax Number: 858-534-5950
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
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.
Biography
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.
Preferred Citation
Marston C. and Peter Sargent Papers. SMC 25. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1988
OFF-SITE STORAGE
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection. Copyright for all materials created by the Sargents transfers
to UC Regents in 2020.
Processing Information
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
CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) CORRESPONDENCE: Includes letters written and received by the Sargent and Tompkins families, dated from 1888 to 1983.
It includes substantial correspondence exchanged by Florence and Harry Tompkins, Peter's parents, to her; as well as letters
by her sister Jean "Tommy" Tompkins and her aunt Delia. Sargent family correspondence includes letters from Marston's mother,
Nannee May, and his sister Viella. Marston Sargent's professional correspondence with colleagues is limited and is composed
primarily of letters from Sydney Rittenburg (1941-1981), Fred Hulse (1938-1983), and Robert Emerson (1937-1938). Arranged
in approximate chronological order.
Box 1, Folder 10-43
Correspondence
1888-1942 September
Box 2, Folder 1-35
Correspondence
1942 October-1946
Box 3, Folder 1-35
Correspondence
1947-1953 September
Box 4, Folder 1-17
Correspondence
1953 October-1983
MARSTON C. SARGENT
General
Series 2) MARSTEN SARGENT: Includes professional correspondence, employment records, proposals, resumes and published papers.
Includes notes on the Bathythermograph Data Reduction System and its development. There is a range of environmental notes
and clippings on issues such as pollution and energy. The series includes several photographs, including a 1939 print of staff
and faculty at SIO; more photographic portraits of Marsten are found in Series 4. Arranged in approximate chronological order.
Box 4, Folder 18-19
Photograph portraits
1924-1928, and undated
Oversize FB-072, Folder 8
Portrait of SIO faculty and staff
1939
General
Annotation on verso notes Roger Revelle and F. B. Sumner missing from photograph.
Oversize Annex MC-006, Folder 08
Western Junior High School, Somerville, Massachusetts, Class of 1921 - Panorama photograph
Box 4, Folder 25
Biographical information
1929-1964
Box 4, Folder 26
Diplomas and letters
1933-1952
Box 4, Folder 27
University of California employment record
1937-1953
Box 4, Folder 29-32
Naval Reserve records
1942-1954
Box 4, Folder 33
Naval Electronics Laboratory
1951-1955
Box 4, Folder 34
IX and other societies
1951-1967
Box 4, Folder 35
Workman's compensation claim
1963
Box 4, Folder 36
Principles of Adult Education
1955
Box 4, Folder 38
Aeromarine Electronics, Inc., Proposal for Bathythermograph Data Reduction System
Box 4, Folder 39
Bathythermograph Data Reduction System
1964
Box 4, Folder 41
Bermuda Biological Station for Research
1947
Box 4, Folder 43
British Certificate of Registration
1958
Box 4, Folder 44
California Academy of Sciences
1965-1974
Box 4, Folder 45-49
CalCOFI and Marine Research Committee
1950-1974
Box 4, Folder 50
Report on CalCOFI, by Murphy
1960 May 26
Box 5, Folder 3-5
Wilbert M. Chapman
1961-1965
Box 5, Folder 10
Environmental Quality Act
1973
Box 5, Folder 11
London, Office of Naval Research
1960
Box 5, Folder 12
Navy Electronic Laboratory - Personnel file
1960
Box 5, Folder 13
ONR - Personnel file
1958-1960
Box 5, Folder 14-17
Smog and pollution
1952-1970
Box 5, Folder 18
Sewage and pollution
1973-1975
Box 5, Folder 19
Prestidigitator calculations
ca. 1964
Box 5, Folder 24-25
Ecosystem of the California Current
1959-1974
Box 5, Folder 28
Picture by Paul Sample of Vermont
undated
PETER SARGENT
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) PETER SARGENT: Includes many of Peter's writings and manuscripts, school materials, clippings, and subject files
on her areas of interest and activity. There is material relating to the San Diego neighborhood of Clairemont, California's
open space debates from the 1960s and 1970s. Personal correspondence includes letters from Julia Shinn and John Lewis regarding
the early days in the Sierras and the U.S. Forest Service. Arranged in approximate chronological order.
Box 5, Folder 40
Clippings - Sentinel
1955-1956
Box 5, Folder 47-50
High school records
1922-1927
Box 5, Folder 53-54
Class notes and nursing
1924
Box 6, Folder 1-4, 25-27
College courses and papers
1928-1929
Box 6, Folder 7
Marmer's Club party
1941 April 5
Box 6, Folder 8
"India and the War"
undated
Box 6, Folder 10
La Jolla discussion group
1946
Box 6, Folder 18-20
Politics/Personal files
1939-1948
Box 6, Folder 29-32
Lewis letters and Cabin Country outline
1952-1963, 1973
Box 6, Folder 37-43
Sierra source material
1910-1963
Box 6, Folder 45
Sierra North - Plot, correspondence and first 150 pages
1952
Box 6, Folder 46-51
Nature's Child
1932-1972
General note
Includes correspondence and source material.
Box 6, Folder 54-55
Sandy - Outlines and correspondence
1969-1972
Box 6, Folder 56
A Sawmill History of the Sierra National Forest
Box 6, Folder 57
Ritchie Press and UC Press
1973
Box 7, Folder 1-13
Sea Acorn
1974
General note
Includes Fleming letters.
Box 7, Folder 14
Mother - Sierra Years
1971
Box 7, Folder 15
Mother (all except Sierra Years), Dad - Letters
1946-1954
Box 7, Folder 16-21
Florence J. Tompkins paintings
1963-1965, and undated
Box 7, Folder 22
Sargent - Correspondence with Mother
1959-1963
Box 7, Folder 23
Harry James Tompkins - Photographs
ca. 1905-1919
Box 7, Folder 24-26
Harry James Tompkins - Family genealogical records
1845-1965
Box 7, Folder 27-29
Sargent family genealogical records
1861-1960
General note
Includes material from Oscar Groves Sargent memoirs.
Box 7, Folder 30
Letter book - Florence Holbrook Johnson Tompkins letters leaving home in Washington D.C. to go to Northfork, California
1907-1908
Box 7, Folder legal
Jean Ann Tompkins's Pasadena High School album
1923
Box 7, Folder 32-34
Jean and Bill Arnold - Letters to family and photographs
1928-1963
Box 7, Folder 35
Jeannie and Tommy, A True Story of Two Children
1940-1949
Box 7, Folder 36-39
League of Women Voters
1939-1949
Box 8, Folder 1-2
League of Women Voters
1950, 1961
Box 8, Folder 3-5
Loyalty Oath and Regents
1950
Box 8, Folder 6
Loyalty Oath controversy - UC Interim Report of the Committee on Academic Freedom to the Academic Senate, Northern Section
of the University of California
1951 February 1
Box 8, Folder 8
Donald William Pritchard
1951
Box 8, Folder 9-12
Unitarians, Communists and the FBI
1949-1952
Box 8, Folder 13
"Against Thy Neighbor"
1954
Box 8, Folder 15
News from the Bird Banders
1936-1942
Box 8, Folder 17
Volunteer Research Reserve
1943-1952
Box 8, Folder 18
Ideas on articles and sketches from writing class
1956
Box 8, Folder 19
Publishers - Sketches
1952-1954
Box 8, Folder 22-24, and legal
Scrapbook - Europe
1959-1960
Box 8, Folder 33-35, and legal
Box 8, Folder 36
Minutes of the Social Club
1958
Box 8, Folder 39-41
London, England - Clippings and scrapbook
1958-1959
Box 9, Folder 1-3
London, England
1958-1960
Box 9, Folder 4-5
ONR and Embassy wives
1958-1960
Box 9, Folder 7
"San Diegans in Surrey"
1963
Box 9, Folder 10
"Peter, the Organizer"
1978
Box 9, Folder 11
Land Development Review Committee
1968
Box 9, Folder 12
Fliers on open space, Ecology Fair and Clairemont
1970
Box 9, Folder 13, 20, 26
Clairemont Mesa Development Committee (CMDC)
1969-1973
Box 9, Folder 14
CMDC open space
1969-1977
Box 9, Folder 15
Northern Area and Town Council
1961-1966
Box 9, Folder 16, 18-19
Joint Advisory Board for Tecolote Park District
1969-1972
Box 9, Folder 17
Tecolote Canyon dedication
1978 April
Box 9, Folder 23
Jack "Under an Evil Star"
1971
Oversize FB-072, Folder 7
Oversize materials: University of California master of arts diploma in Zoology; Sedgwick, ME playbills (ca. 1886); Madera
County Chamber of Commerce poster about saw mill and lumber industry
SARGENT FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 4) PHOTOGRAPHS: Contains hundreds of informal snapshots, primarily pictures and portraits of the Tompkins and Sargent
families at home and travelling. Settings include La Jolla; Clairemont, their neighborhood in San Diego; and landscapes documented
during their travels throughout California and the American southwest, especially national and state parks and monuments.
The series also includes photographs passed down through the family of various acquaintances and rural scenes, including the
Sierras in the early 1900s. One file box includes color slides of open spaces in San Diego County, such as Tecolote Canyon,
taken during Peter's efforts to preserve undeveloped land. Photographs are individually sleeved but minimally processed, in
terms of description and physical arrangement.
Box 10, Folder 1-4
Family photographs
undated
General
Includes one folder of prints from nitrate negatives (negatives destroyed), ca. 1907-1940.
Box 10, Folder 6
Boulder Dam souvenir snapshots
undated
Box 10, Folder 7
Marston Sargent
General
Includes retirement party photos and early formal portraits.
Box 10, Folder 8-15
Miscellaneous prints - Travel, early family, landscapes
ca. 1880-1980
Box 10, Folder 16
Tom and Anne Sargent - Portraits
Box 10, Folder 17
Marston C. and Grace Sargent wedding portrait
1933 April 8
Box 10, Folder 18
Tecolote Canyon dedication - Slides
1978
Box 10, Folder 19
Indian mission and sawmill, Northfork
1905-1910
General
Photographs possibly by Harry Tompkins. Includes images of American Indians weaving baskets, children swimming and playing,
and mission life.
Box 10, Folder 20
Shoebox of prints and negatives - Assorted snapshots of La Jolla, Sargent family and friends, travel and landscape images
1900-1976
Box 10, Folder 21
File box of family slides documenting open space in San Diego
ca. 1960-1976
General
The majority of slides depict views of undeveloped Tecolote and San Clemente canyons, and bulldozing in both locations. Other
areas include Bay Park Canyon, Mount Acadia Park, Pioneer Canyon, Mission Hills Park, Lake Murray, Tourmaline, Oceanside,
Mount Etna Park, Cadman Park, Olive Grove Park, Palomar Mountain/Observatory, views from Mesa College, Alcott, Clairemont
Drive Canyon, Kate Sessions Park, Stevenson Canyon, Crest, South Clairemont Park, Borrego Springs, and Lindbergh Park. Slides
also document Open Space events, maps and charts of Clairemont Mesa, councilman Don Harman, junction between 52 and the 805,
and the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.