Notice of Harmful Language
Access Restrictions
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Arrangement
Biography
Additional Collection Guides
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Finding aid revision statement
Related Materials
Scope and Contents
Use Restrictions
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Kenneth S. Norris Papers
Creator:
Norris, Kenneth S. (Kenneth
Stafford)
Identifier/Call Number: UA.066
Physical Description:
68.71 Linear Feet
(43 half cartons; 18 cartons; 2 5x7" photo boxes; 4 4" slide
boxes; 29 flats; 1 roll)
Date (inclusive): 1942-1998
Date (bulk): 1960-1996
Language of Material:
English .
Notice of Harmful Language
This collection guide contains harmful language which was used by either the original
creators or the prior stewards of the materials in this collection. Library staff made the
decision to retain and repurpose this description because it may provide important context
about its creators, custodial history, and/or source. We are committed to describing
materials in a manner that respects those who create, are represented in, and interact with
the collections we steward, as well as preserving the original context of collection
materials. Ethically managing archival description is an ongoing and iterative practice, and
we welcome your feedback and questions at speccoll@library.ucsc.edu.
Access Restrictions
Collection open for research. Audiovisual media is unavailable until reformatted. Contact
Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access to audiovisual media.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts of Phyllis Norris, 2011 and 2016.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eight series:
- Series 1: Research
- Series 2: Education
- Series 3: Teaching files
- Series 4: Professional activities
- Series 5: Publications and writings
- Series 6: Personal
- Series 7: Subject files
- Series 8: Scrapbooks
Materials within each series are arranged in alphabetical order by title, unless
otherwise specified.
Biography
Kenneth S. Norris was a renowned naturalist, conservationist, and professor known for his
ground-breaking research on dolphins and whales. He was a pioneer in the study of dolphin
behavior, particularly in early research on echolocation, and his long career included
research and teaching in desert geology, herpetology, and ichthyology, as well as marine
mammal science, with positions at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCLA, the
Marineland of the Pacific, the Oceanic Institute and Sea Life Park in Hawai'i, and UC Santa
Cruz. While working in Santa Cruz, Norris helped establish the Center for Coastal Marine
Studies (now the Institute of Marine Sciences) and the Long Marine Laboratory, the
University of California Natural Reserve System, the Natural History Field Quarter program,
and was involved in the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. His many
published works include
Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises (1966),
Dolphin Days (1991), and
Mountain Time (2010).
Norris was born in Los Angeles, California on August 11, 1924 and graduated from Van Nuys
High School in 1942. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Zoology from the University of
California, Los Angeles in 1948 and 1951, and subsequently did his doctoral research at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, where he met his wife Phyllis (Phylly)
Norris, with whom he had four children. Norris received his Ph.D. in 1959 and his doctoral
work on the Opaleye Perch, an intertidal fish, received the Mercer Award from the Ecological
Society of America in 1963.
In 1953, Norris was hired as the founding curator at Marineland of the Pacific, where he
began his research on dolphin echolocation. Norris later returned to UCLA to teach biology
and herpetology in 1959 and continued his previous research on desert reptiles. From 1968 to
1971, Norris was the research director at the Oceanic Institute in Hawai'i, and divided his
time between teaching and research at UCLA and marine mammal research in Hawai'i.
Norris joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1972. He served as
the director of UCSC's Center for Coastal Marine Studies (now the Institute of Marine
Sciences) and helped establish the Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory. Norris later joined the
Environmental Studies Department at UCSC as a professor of natural history, and chaired the
department from 1977 to 1979. During his time at UCSC, Norris created the Natural History
Field Quarter, a course on the natural history of California wherein students gain
first-hand experience in different habitats across the state. Norris taught this popular
field course from its first offering in 1973 up until his retirement from UCSC in 1990.
Norris has been credited with founding the field of cetacean research and has produced
numerous publications, such as
Dolphin Days: the Life and Times of the Spinner
Dolphin
, a book which received the John Burroughs Medal in 1992, and
Mountain Time, a book which encapsulates Norris's life work and legacy that
was published posthumously in 2010. Norris also had a direct impact on public policy. He was
a scientific adviser to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission and helped draft the Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972.
One of Norris's most enduring legacies is the UC Natural Reserve System (UCNRS), which he
played a key role in founding. In 1963, he presented a system wide plan for the UCNRS to
former UC President Clark Kerr. He later chaired the original UCNRS Advisory Committee from
1965 to 1968, and in 1966 he travelled around the state surveying potential sites for the
reserves. In 1998, the UCNRS received a $4 million endowment from the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, named the Kenneth S. Norris Endowment Fund for the California
Environment in Norris's honor. A few months later, Norris passed away on August 16, 1998 in
San Francisco, California.
By Danielle Crawford
Chronology
1924 |
Born August 11 in Los Angeles, California |
1942 |
Graduated from Van Nuys High School |
1948 |
Graduated with B.A. in Zoology from UCLA |
1951 |
Graduated with M.A. in Zoology from UCLA |
1953-1960 |
Served as founding curator at Marineland of the Pacific, Palos Verdes,
California
|
1959 |
Graduated with Ph.D. in Zoology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La
Jolla, California
|
|
Returned to UCLA to teach biology and herpetology |
1961 |
Accepted a teaching appointment at UCLA |
|
Published a co-authored journal article confirming dolphin echolocation |
1963 |
Received the Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America |
|
Presented a system wide plan to UC President Clark Kerr for the University of
California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS)
|
1965-1968 |
Chaired the original UCNRS Advisory Committee |
1966 |
Edited and published
Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
|
1968-1971 |
Served as research director of the Oceanic Institute, Hawai'i |
1972 |
Joined the faculty at UC Santa Cruz |
|
Served as director of the Center for Coastal Marine Studies at UCSC |
|
Passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act |
1973-1990 |
Created and taught the Natural History Field Quarter at UCSC |
1977 |
Received the California Academy of Sciences' Fellows Medal |
1977-1979 |
Chaired the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC |
1991 |
Published
Dolphin Days: the Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin
|
1998 |
UCNRS received a $4 million endowment from the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation
|
|
Passed away on August 16 in San Francisco, California |
2010 |
Mountain Time is published posthumously
|
Additional Collection Guides
Transcripts of Norris's field notes are available online:
Preferred Citation
Kenneth S. Norris papers, UA 66, University Archives, University Library, University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Processing Information
Portions of this collection were processed by Danielle Crawford in the Center for Archival
Research and Training (CART) with assistance from Alix Norton, 2016.
Most titles in this collection were derived from the original folder titles as received
from the donor. The spelling of Hawaii is maintained from the donor's usage; Hawai'i is
utilized in front matter description as a preferred spelling and an access point for
searching.
Finding aid revision statement
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project. Previous
versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
Related Materials
Scope and Contents
These papers document the career of Kenneth S. Norris, covering his research in marine
mammal science and desert ecology, his professional activities, and his teaching career at
UC Santa Cruz and UC Los Angeles. The collection includes research grants, proposals, data
notebooks, and recordings; lecture notes, speech outlines, syllabi, and other teaching
materials; field notes from his many research trips; materials from the Natural History
Field Quarter class he helped establish at UC Santa Cruz; documents regarding the UC Natural
Reserve System; personal and professional correspondence; and publication drafts and
unpublished writings. Major topics covered in these papers include the passage of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, the Field Quarter class at UC Santa Cruz, sand dunes and other desert
environment research, conservation of wildlife and the UC Natural Reserve System,
echolocation and other dolphin behavior, his work with the Institute of Marine Sciences, and
his work in solving the tuna-porpoise problem, which involved dolphins and porpoises being
caught with tuna in commercial fishing nets. Forms of materials include correspondence,
reports, notebooks, manuscripts, publications, clippings, scrapbooks, audiovisual
recordings, speeches, awards, photographic prints, and slides.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Norris, Kenneth S. (Kenneth
Stafford)