BIOGRAPHICAL AND CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL AND CORRESPONDENCE: Biographical information on Norris Rakestraw, including his bibliography, pilot
log books, correspondence regarding his employment at Brown University, and a certificate from the Trans-Pacific Expedition
in 1953. The series includes Rakestraw's essays on London life in the 1960s which were compiled in 1983 by Warren Wooster
for his memorial service. Rakestraw's chronological correspondence from 1926 to 1974 includes correspondence with Henry Stommel,
Wheeler North, Norman Nachtrieb, Sayed El Wardani, and William F. Kieffer.
Box 1, Folder 1-5
Chronological correspondence
1926-1974
General note
For correspondence regarding Rakestraw's participation in the International Geophysical Year, see WRITINGS AND RESEARCH series,
IGY folders.
Box 1, Folder 7
Brown University
1941-1946
Box 1, Folder 8
Ouroboros Club, with photograph
1921-1956
Box 1, Folder 9
Pilot log books
1939-1947
Box 1, Folder 10
Trans-Pacific Expedition certificate
1953
Box 1, Folder 11
A tribute to Norris Watson Rakestraw
1983
General note
Short essays on British life written by Rakestraw while he was a scientific advisor for the London Branch of the Office of
Naval Research, 1965-1966. Originally published in
European Scientific Notes, volumes 19-20, they were compiled by Warren S. Wooster, with an introduction, in 1983 for Rakestraw's memorial service.
WRITINGS AND RESEARCH
Scope and Content of Series
Series 2) WRITINGS AND RESEARCH. Arranged in two series: A) Laboratory Notebooks and B) Writings and Research.
A) Laboratory Notebooks: Notebooks kept by Rakestraw and a few members of his laboratory at Mount Desert Island Biological
Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Many of the notebooks contain seawater
measurements such as pH, phosphate, nitrate, and nitrite from locations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean. Arranged
chronologically.
B) Writings and Research: Manuscripts, drafts, notes and correspondence for Rakestraw's published and unpublished writings,
including Rakestraw's M.A. and Ph.D. dissertations from Stanford University; a travel journal from the 1930s; articles on
marine chemistry and the design of plankton nets; skits and monologues for a chemistry exposition; and a translation of a
1937 paper by H. Wattenberg.
Chemistry Earns a Navy Award is the manuscript of a book written by Rakestraw for the Naval Research Laboratory on the use of chemistry by the U.S. Navy.
The series also includes correspondence, data, notes, reports and photographs for the International Geophysical Year (IGY)
and its research into atmospheric carbon dioxide from 1957-1958. Arranged chronologically.
Box 1, Folder 12-13
Salisbury Cove, Gulf of Maine Survey
1929-1930
Box 1, Folder 15-16
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, notebooks 1-2
1931-1932
Box 1, Folder 17
Standardization of new nitrate standards
1933-1940
Box 1, Folder 18
Cruise 15 - NO3 calibrations
1933 February-May
Box 1, Folder 19
Cruise 21 - Analyses for pH, nitrite, and buffer capacity. Stations 1741-1799, Nova Scotia to Cape Cod, colorimeter table
1933-1941
Box 1, Folder 20
Cruises 23-24 and 26-29, G.M. Nova Scotia to Cape Cod
1933-1934
Box 1, Folder 21
Miami to Hatteras
1933-1934
Box 1, Folder 22
1646-1720, G.M. 1725-1739, to South. Standing experiments on light, etc.
1933 July-August
Box 2, Folder 1
Cruise 31, Stations 2219-2231. Cruise 37, Stations 2268-2300
1934-1940
Box 2, Folder 2
Oxygen consumption experiments
1934-1946
Box 2, Folder 3
Victor Emmel - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1935-1940
Box 2, Folder 4
Clifford E. Herrick III - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
1937 March-November
Box 2, Folder 5
Water samples for sh v. branch
1937-1938
Box 2, Folder 6
Physical chemistry - Notes on Eucken, Jette, and La Mer
1938 May-September
Box 2, Folder 7
Dissolved N samples
1938-1941
Box 2, Folder 8
Calibration of microburet
1952-1953
Box 2, Folder 9-11
Ammonia notebooks
1953-1957
General note
Collaborators include Frank Leinhaupel, James W. Wheeler, Jr. and Frank L. Margolis.
Box 2, Folder 12
Records from Downwind cruise
1957 September 24-December 23
General note
Rakestraw participated on the Downwind Expedition as part of the IGY.
Box 2, Folder 13
Theoret 1, parts 1-2 - Notebooks on the conservation of matter and energy
undated
Box 3, Folder 1
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and sea surface
undated
Box 3, Folder 2
Chemistry 2 - Notes
undated
Box 3, Folder 3
Chemistry Exposition - Monologues and skits
undated
General note
Includes "The Chemistry of a Kiss" by Carl M. Cohen, "The Chemistry of Love" by C.U. Pittman, "Scenic Reactions," and "All
Wet - A Scientific (?) Treatise on Water."
Box 3, Folder 4
"Determination of the Alkalinity of Sea Water" and "The Partition of Alkalinity and Carbon Dioxide"
undated
Box 3, Folder 5
Notes - Miscellaneous
undated
Box 3, Folder 6
Spectrographic Determination of the Arsenic Content of Some Marine Organisms
undated
Box 3, Folder 7
Metabolic Effects of Excessive Quantities of Sugar. M.A. thesis, Stanford University
1917
Box 3, Folder 8
Chemical Factors in Fatigue. I. The Effect of Muscular Exercise Upon Certain Common Blood Constituents. Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University
1921
Box 3, Folder 9
Impressions - Travel journals regarding visits to research institutions in North America and Europe
1933-1934, and undated
Box 3, Folder 10
Critical Review of the Methods Used for Determining Nutrient Salts and Related Constituents in Salt Water. 1. Methoden zur
Bestimmung von Phosphat, Silikat, Nitrat und Ammoniak im See Wasser (H. Wattenberg, 1937). Translation by Norris Rakestraw
1937
Oversize FB-126, Folder 13
Outline of the History of Chemistry - Poster by Rakestraw
1937
Box 3, Folder 11-15
International Geophysical Year (IGY) - Geochemistry and CO₂ Program
1956-1959
General note
Six folders of chronologically arranged correspondence, memoranda and reports regarding the IGY program for continuous monitoring
of atmospheric carbon dioxide, including concentration in sea water and its exchange with the atmosphere. Letters describe
Rakestraw's early research collaboration with Charles D. Keeling, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and data-gathering on the Downwind
Expedition and sites like Mauna Loa, Hawaii.
Oversize FB-126, Folder 13
The effect of temperature to pCO₂ of sea water. Takahashi - Data
1960 July
Box 3, Folder 16
An apparatus and arrangement for opening and closing plankton nets
1963
Box 3, Folder 17-20
Chemistry Earns a Navy Award
1968
AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Images and sound recordings created by or of Norris Rakestraw. Includes images of Rakestraw,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, European research institutions, and R/V
Atlantis. Sound recordings include Rakestraw narrating the history of marine chemistry in the United States and his memorial service
at SIO in 1983.
Box 3, Folder 21-24
Photographs - Contact prints and negatives
ca. 1933
General note
Images from the 1930s of Rakestraw, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and European research institutions. Prints were made
from original nitrate negatives.
Box 3, Folder 25
Photographs - Images from the deck of R/V
Atlantis
1963
Box 3, Folder 26
Historical Intro - Rakestraw describes the history of marine chemistry as a discipline in the United States
ca. 1965
General note
Open reel tape, time: 0:16:47.
Conditions Governing Access note
Original restricted (digital version available).
Box 3, Folder 26
On marine chemistry - Rakestraw reads paper, "Variation of carbon 14 in atmospheric CO₂," by two scientists from Norway (Ryder
and Nigel?)
1960
General note
Open reel tape, time: 1:28:32.
Conditions Governing Access note
Original restricted (digital version available).
Box 3, Folder 27
Rakestraw records his memories of papers delivered at Gordon Conference on Marine Chemistry
ca. 1965
General note
Open reel tape, time: 1:23:00.
Conditions Governing Access note
Original restricted (digital version available).
Box 3, Folder 27
Memorial service at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
1983 January 26
General note
Speakers include William A. Nierenberg, Roger Revelle, Edward D. Goldberg, Charles D. Keeling, Marston Sargent, and Warren
S. Wooster. Audiocassette, time: 0:56:34.
Conditions Governing Access note
Original restricted (digital version available).
