Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Rakestraw (Norris W.) Papers
SMC 0161
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Norris W. Rakestraw Papers
Creator:
Rakestraw, Norris W. (Norris Watson), 1895-1982
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0161
Physical Description:
3 Linear feet
(3 records cartons, 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1917-1983
Abstract: Papers of Norris Watson Rakestraw (1895-1982), marine chemist and professor of chemistry at Brown University, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Rakestraw was known for his research into the chemical composition of
seawater and the role of organic matter in seawater. The collection includes correspondence, laboratory notebooks, writings,
research materials, images and sound recordings.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Norris Watson Rakestraw (1895-1982), marine chemist and professor of chemistry at Brown University, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Rakestraw was known for his research into the chemical composition of
seawater and the role of organic matter in seawater. He was also a principal investigator for the International Geophysical
Year 1957-1958 (IGY) geochemistry and CO₂ programs, and the collection contains a research notebook from the related Downwind
Expedition and early correspondence with and about fellow carbon dioxide researcher Dr. Charles D. Keeling. The collection
includes correspondence, laboratory notebooks, writings, research materials, images and sound recordings.
Arranged in three series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL AND CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS AND RESEARCH, and 3) AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS.
Norris Watson Rakestraw was born January 16, 1895 in Toledo, Ohio. He attended Stanford University where he received his B.A.,
M.A. and Ph.D. in chemistry from 1916 to 1921. He was employed as a chemistry instructor at Stanford from 1919 to 1925, and
served in the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service from 1923 to 1924. He spent a year each teaching at the California State Teacher's
College in San Jose and Oberlin College, and then was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Brown University in 1926.
Rakestraw also worked as a research associate at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during the summers from 1931 to 1946.
During 1933 to 1934, he visited European oceanographic stations and reported on their marine research. Rakestraw held a pilot's
license, and served as a wing commander for the Rhode Island Wing of the Civil Air Patrol during World War II.
Rakestraw continued as an associate and full professor at Brown University until 1946, when he moved to Scripps Institution
of Oceanography as professor of chemistry and head of the chemical oceanography department. He also served as acting director
of SIO from 1952 to 1953, and dean of graduate studies at the University of California, San Diego from 1960 to 1965. After
retiring from SIO as professor emeritus in 1965, he returned to Europe to work for two years as foreign liaison officer and
scientific advisor to the London Branch of the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Research Laboratory.
One of the pioneer marine chemists in the United States, Rakestraw was known for his research into the chemical composition
of seawater and the role of organic matter in seawater, as well as for his teaching of chemistry. Rakestraw served as chair
of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, president of the Pacific Southwest Association of Chemistry Teachers,
and editor of the
Journal of Chemical Education for the American Chemical Society from 1940 to 1955. His awards include the Scientific Apparatus Makers Award and the James
Flack Norris Award, both from the American Chemical Society, and
Skin Diver magazine's Annual Award for Outstanding Service to Youth in the Field of Oceanography. Norris Rakestraw died on December
3, 1982 in Morongo Valley, California.
Norris W. Rakestraw Papers. SMC 161. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1983, 1984, 1994
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Sound recordings in this collection have been digitized, and are available upon request.
Original sound recordings are restricted. Researchers may inquire regarding listening copies in advance of their visit.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958
Rakestraw, Norris W. (Norris Watson), 1895-1982 -- Archives
Keeling, Charles D., 1928-2005 -- Correspondence