Guide to the Raymond B. Cowles Papers
Laurie Hannah and Lindsey Hashimoto
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
University of California, Santa Barbara
Harder South 9615
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9615
Phone: (805) 893-2401
Fax: (805) 893-4222
Email: hannah@lifesci.ucsb.edu
URL: http://ccber.lifesci.ucsb.edu/library
© 2008
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Raymond B. Cowles Papers
Collection number: MS-02
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
- Processed by:
- Laurie Hannah and Lindsey Hashimoto
- Date Completed:
- 2008
- Encoded by:
- Laurie Hannah
© 2008 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Raymond B. Cowles papers
Dates: 1920-1992
Collection number: MS-02
Creator:
Cowles, Raymond B. (Raymond Bridgman), 1896-1975
Collection Size:
6 linear feet
8 boxes
Repository:
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (University of California, Santa Barbara). C. H. Muller Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9615
Abstract: This collection consists of correspondence, published and unpublished manuscripts, photographs, artifacts, and biographical
materials of zoologist and UCLA professor Raymond Cowles.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, UC Santa Barbara. All requests
for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Cheadle Center 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
Raymond B. Cowles papers, MS-02, Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Kay Wolsey, Cowles' daughter.
Processing Information
Arrangement and description of this collection was made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Biography / Administrative History
Ecologist, naturalist, and teacher Raymond Bridgman Cowles was born in 1896 in Natal, South Africa to missionary parents.
He left Africa for the United States where he attended school, worked, served in the military during WWI, and attended Pomona
College, earning a bachelor's degree in 1920. Following field work in Africa from 1925-27, he received his PhD in zoology
from Cornell in 1928 and began working at UCLA in 1929, where he taught zoology until 1963.
Cowles wrote extensively about animals and specifically about reptilian thermoregulation, his pioneering research, from the
1920s through the mid 1970s. Other areas of research were fire ecology, desert ecology, continental drift and climate change,
and overpopulation. Population issues, such as poverty, limited natural resources, famine, and birth control overlaid many
of his arguments and were a concern stemming from his South African upbringing. Cowles published over 100 articles and wrote
two books:
Zulu Journal published in 1959 and
Desert Journal published in 1977.
Cowles was recognized for his teaching and research with many awards and honors, including an honorary doctorate of science
from Pomona College; the Cowles Animal Medical Ward at the Living Desert Reserve; and the UC Cowles Temescal Canyon Reserve
in the Santa Monica Mountains, dedicated in 1978. Cowles died in 1975 at the age of 79.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection of papers deals predominantly with the published and unpublished writings of Raymond Cowles. The Correspondence
series gives an insight into Cowles' struggles to publish his works on overpopulation in a timely fashion, as well as his
views on various issues appearing in his writings. Noted correspondents include colleagues Kenneth Norris, Garrett Hardin,
and Robert Stebbins, as well as Zulu chief Gatsha Buthelizi. The series Published Writings and Unpublished Writings contain
the bulk of the collection. Among the highlights are the two versions of his unpublished book
On the Bondage of Human Numbers, a pessimistic look at the future of unrenewable, limited resources and the effects of overpopulation, which was to be published
by University of Oklahoma press in 1968, as well as a different version co-written with Lucy Birzis. Also included are early
drafts for his last book
Desert Journal, published posthumously in 1977 with Elna Bakker, and a futuristic and optimistic novel that takes place 300 years after
what Cowles predicted would be an
economic-radiation crash. The Photograph series includes many images of desert reptiles and birds both in Africa and California, and photos of Zululand.
Many of the photos have captions. The Artifact series contains the most unusual items--detritus from the first atomic bombs
detonated in New Mexico in 1944, collected by Cowles during a survey he conducted on the effects of radiation on desert animals.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into 7 series: Series 1 Biographical Materials, Series 2 Correspondence, Series 3 Professional
Activities, Series 4 Published Writings, Series 5 Unpublished Writings, Series 6 Photographs, and Series 7 Artifacts.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Desert ecology--California
Overpopulation
Reptiles--Physiology
Zoologists--California
field notes
Cowles, Raymond B. (Raymond Bridgman), 1896-1975
Desert ecology--South Africa--KwaZulu Natal
Separated Material
Cowles' reprint collection and his published books are housed separately in the library.
Box 1, Folder 2
Family and Friends
1985-1992
Box 1, Folder 4
Clippings By and About Cowles (1)
Box 1, Folder 5
Clippings By and About Cowles (2)
Box 1, Folder 7
Alexander, David (Pomona College)
1972-1974
Box 1, Folder 8
Amrein, Yost (Pomona College)
1966-1974
Box 1, Folder 9
Buthelezi, Gatsha
1973-1974
Box 1, Folder 10
Norris, Kenneth
1967-1975
Box 1, Folder 11
Robertson, T.C.
1969-1975
Box 1, Folder 12
Stebbins, Robert
1967-1975
Box 1, Folder 15
Papers and Lectures Given
Box 1, Folder 16
National Science Foundation Film and Television Projects, Proposal
Box 1, Folder 19
Correspondence with Max Knight re:
Zulu Journal
1957-1959
Box 3, Folder 2-16
Desert Journal
- Miscellaneous Drafts
Oversize_box 1-2
Scrapbook of Published Articles
Box 1, Folder 28
Reptiles and Other Animals
Box 1, Folder 32
Bibliographies/Works Cited
Box 3, Folder 19
Publications by Other People [1 of 2]
Box 3, Folder 20
Publications by Other People [2 of 2]
Unpublished Writings
Scope and Contents note
This large series consists of drafts for unpublished books and articles. Some of these papers may be early drafts of articles
that were eventually published under a different title. Folders with actual titles are transcribed from the title page of
the draft. Two large folders of unsorted materials may actually be duplicates of other works.
Box 2, Folder 1
Degrees of Poverty and Density of Populations: Africa (1965 and 1971)
Box 2, Folder 4
Malthus Resurrected: Supply Versus Demand and Inflation
Box 2, Folder 5
Three Major Symptoms, One Disease and One Cure
Box 2, Folder 6
Emanicipation From Our Bondage to Excess Numbers: A Biologist's Dream
Box 2, Folder 7
Reproductive Superfluity, Harvests and Life and Death
Box 2, Folder 8
Reproductive Superfluity: Fodder for Evolution, Change, Survival, and Nourishment for Man
Box 2, Folder 9
The People Crunch Is Here/Biological Compulsions, Education, and Man's Future
Box 2, Folder 10
Biological Basics for Human Welfare
Box 2, Folder 14
Warning of Impending Catastrophe
Box 2, Folder 15
Fantasy? - Science Fiction or a Detour of the Black-White Racial Problem
Box 2, Folder 16
Fantasy? - A Solution to the Black-White Racial Problem? Melting Pot or Segregation with Independence
Box 2, Folder 17
Man's Submission to the Slavery of His Numbers
Box 2, Folder 18
A New Look at the Problem
Box 2, Folder 19
Technology, the Promethean Myth, Future Resources and Man's Hopes
Box 2, Folder 20
Elements of the Population Problem
Box 2, Folder 21
Resources for the Future and Man Contending with Fellow Man
Box 2, Folder 23
What is the Optimum Number of Human Beings?
Box 2, Folder 24
The Optimum Number of Human Beings
Box 2, Folder 25
Resources for the Future and Man Contending with Fellow Man
Box 2, Folder 26
Pernicious Misdiagnosis of Universal Shortages
Box 2, Folder 27
Mistrust, Fear, and the Population Explosion (South Africa's Racial and Political Dilemma)
Box 2, Folder 28
For Our Children's and Our Own Future
Box 2, Folder 29
Human Expectations and Population Densities
Box 2, Folder 30
A Different Kind of Peace Treaty
Box 2, Folder 31
Supply Versus Demand Equals Inflation
Box 2, Folder 32
Childbearing and the Future
Box 2, Folder 33
Midweek Excursion in Search of Sylvan Solitude and a Moment of Quiet for Soul Searching
Box 2, Folder 34
Irresponsible Fun with the Meaning of Words
Box 2, Folder 35
Some Biotic Aspects of Continental Drift
Box 2, Folder 36
Continental Drift and New Thermal Adaptations in the Archosaurs: And for Paleoclimatologists?
Box 2, Folder 37
Continental Drift, Magnetic Reversals, Climatic Change and Biotal Extinction
Box 2, Folder 38
The Evolutionary Significance of Albedo (Color) in the Human Skin
Box 2, Folder 40
The Needs of the Species Versus the Needs of its Individuals: Insoluble Civil Conflict
Box 2, Folder 41
The Importance of Microclimates
Box 2, Folder 42
Terrestrial Vertebrates, Their Bodily Configuration Size, and Metabolic Rates
Box 2, Folder 43
Arches in the Bridge from Fish to Man
Box 2, Folder 45
Conflict Between the Ethic of Living Systems and the Human Ethic
Box 2, Folder 46
Semantics and Progress in Vertebrate Thermoregulation
Box 2, Folder 47
Nothing but Noisy Tree Frogs?
Box 2, Folder 48
The California Condor, Chaparral Fires and Fire Suppression
Box 2, Folder 49
Santa Anas Will Always Flow and Brush Fires Rage
Box 2, Folder 50
Fire Control in Our Montane and Adjacent Vegetational Areas
Box 2, Folder 51
Chaparral Fires, Fire Suppression, Ecological Change and a Possible Indicator Organism
Box 2, Folder 52
Speculation on a Latent Role of Heat in Vertebrate Evolution
Box 2, Folder 53
On the Cryptic Significance of Externality in the Avian Cloacal Protuberance and Heated Conditions and he Sequellae
Box 2, Folder 54
Mesquite Oases on the Deserts
Box 2, Folder 56
Human Ecology - Conservation and the Desert
Box 2, Folder 57
Embryonic Curricular Suggestions
Box 2, Folder 59
The Biokrene, Degrees of Overpopulation and a Reappraisal of Africa
Box 2, Folder 60
Utopia and the Biokrene/To Fit Into the Discussion of the Biokrene
Box 2, Folder 61
Eden Regained (A Series of Romantic Essays on Past, Present, and Future Human Husbandry) [1 of 2]
Box 2, Folder 62
Eden Regained (A Series of Romantic Essays on Past, Present, and Future Human Husbandry) [2 of 2]
Box 2, Folder 65
From the Bondage of Human Numbers [1 of 2]
Box 2, Folder 66
From the Bondage of Human Numbers [2 of 2]
Box 2, Folder 67
From the Bondage of Human Numbers - Photocopy - Draft Edition [1 of 2]
Box 2, Folder 68
From the Bondage of Human Numbers - Photocopy - Draft Edition [2 of 2]
Box 3
From the Bondage of Human Numbers - Edited copy in binder
Box 2, Folder 69
Bondage of Human Numbers - Carbon
Box 2, Folder 70
Miscellaneous - From the Bondage of Human Numbers
Box 3, Folder 1
A Minority Appraisal of the Proposed New
Environment Doctor
Training Program
Box 3, Folder 17
Miscellaneous Unsorted Drafts [1 of 2]
Box 3, Folder 18
Miscellaneous Unsorted Drafts [2 of 2]
Photo_box 1-3
Photographs
Physical Location: Photographs stored separately in Collection Room.
Box 3
Section of electric cable employed in firing the world's first atomic explosion
1944
Physical Description: Cable approximately 2.75 in. long, labeled
Amphenol RG-54A / U - 1944
Scope and Contents note
Cable found by Cowles during experiments he conducted in New Mexico searching for radiation damage to native fauna and flora.
Cowles wrote a report of his findings and a summary in a note, dated 1958, to his grandchildren, explaining the significance
of the cable. His conclusion:
Two years after the detonation there were no animals showing illness--at least we could find none, but I am still convinced
that natural predators collected all those sickened by radiation to a degree that was, and is, far more effective than human
agents.
Box 3
Metal bolt, encased in resin, from atomic explosion Trinity in New Mexico
Scope and Contents note
Item is described thus:
Bolt, atom-blast sheared. Test Tower TRINITY New Mexico USA 1st atomic explosion, radio-activity = normal background. Picked
up by R.B. Cowles during biological radiation survey.
