Dietz (Robert S.) Papers

BIOGRAPHICAL

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL: A selection of materials including personnel files, awards, photographs and publicity documenting the life and career of Robert Dietz.

Box 1, Folder 1

Bibliographies

Box 1, Folder 2

Curriculum vitae

Box 1, Folder 3

University of Illinois - Master's degree certificate 1939

Box 1, Folder 4-9

Navy and federal civilian personnel records 1936-1974

Box 1, Folder 10-11

Honors, awards and appointments 1936-1994

Box 1, Folder 12

Certificates 1964-1986

General note

Includes certificates for Dietz's participation in submersible research, including the R/V Ben Franklin, Aluminaut, and a diving saucer to Scripps Canyon in 1964. Additional certificates documenting achievements may also be found in Dietz's Navy and federal civilian personnel records, and the Honors, Awards and Achievements folders.

Box 1, Folder 13-14

Photographs of Robert Dietz 1938-1988

Box 2, Folder 1

Photographs from TransPac Expedition, Japan 1953

Box 2, Folder 2

Geological Diving Consultants clipping undated

Box 2, Folder 3-6

Press releases and publicity 1938-1970

Box 22, Folder 9

Pencil portrait by H. Ishida 1961 November 22

Box 2, Folder 7

Dietz family genealogy 1961, 1985

Box 2, Folder 8

Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Labs (AOML) personnel files 1963-1975

General note

Includes statement of highlights of scientific contributions written by Dietz.

Box 2, Folder 9

Letter to brother Lew Dietz, repaying 1934 tuition assistance 1985

Box 2, Folder 10

Biographical profiles 1985-1994

Box 2, Folder 11

Profile on Dietz and Harry Hess by Robert Stevenson undated

General note

Typescript covers background on Dietz and Hess, and the nearly simultaneous development of their respective ocean basin origin theories in 1960. Original folder states title of Stevenson book was to be Oceanography for Astronauts.

Box 2, Folder 12

Dietz Bluff, Antarctica - Photographs and articles 1987-1988

Box 2, Folder 13

Penrose Medal - Geological Society of America 1988

Box 2, Folder 14

Honorary doctorate, Arizona State University - Acceptance speech and publicity 1988

Oversize FB-549, Folder 15

Honorary doctorate, Arizona State University 1988

Box 2, Folder 15

Memo of conversation with Rex Dietz regarding R. Dietz's photographs of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Prague 1988

General note

Some of Dietz's photographs were published in Life Magazine v. 65, no. 10 in September 1968.

Box 2, Folder 16

Asteroid 4666 Dietz - Photographs and articles 1993

CORRESPONDENCE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Arranged chronologically. Early correspondence discusses research topics, the NEL, SIO personalities, and expeditions such as TransPac. A selection of letters from the 1950s and early 1960s document the effort to bring Jacques Piccard's bathyscaphe Trieste to the United States for deep ocean diving experiments, which supplements materials in the BATHYSCAPH TRIESTE series. Important correspondents include E. L. Hamilton and Gordon Lill.

Box 3, Folder 1-16

1939-1995, and undated

BATHYSCAPH TRIESTE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) BATHYSCAPH TRIESTE: Materials in this series document Dietz's role in important research collaborations between London's Office of Naval Research, Jacques Piccard, and the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory regarding reinforcement and testing of the bathyscaph Trieste. It includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, diving logs, sound recordings and research files on submersibles and deep ocean diving dating primarily from 1956 to 1964. Specifically, it includes original records relating to the development and execution of Project Nekton. The Project Nekton operation was a series of manned shallow test dives and deep dives off the coast of Guam, which culminated in Trieste submerging to a record-setting depth of approximately 35,800 feet in the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. The series includes both paper documentation and sound recordings that were referenced by Dietz and Piccard for the publication of their book Seven Miles Down: The Story of the Bathyscaph Trieste (1961).

Arranged in four subseries: A) Papers and Records, B) Sound Recording Transcripts, C) Audiocassettes, D) Dictaphone Belts.

A) Papers and Records: Dietz's paper documentation relating to Trieste and deep-submersible research. Includes correspondence, technical memoranda (primarily from the US Navy teams associated with Project Nekton), diving logs, and photographs.

B) Sound Recording Transcripts: In 2000, sixty-one Dictabelts from the Dietz collection believed to contain content related to Trieste were reformatted to audiocassette, and the recordings were also transcribed at that time. This subseries contains a transcript for all sixty-one reformatted recordings, in addition to a small selection of additional transcripts generated from other original recordings (not in the collection) made during Trieste dives around 1960. Content on the tapes not related to the unique history of the Trieste (i.e., speakers reading from manuscripts or commenting on manuscript edits, probably related to Seven Miles Down), was not transcribed.

C) Audiocassettes: These audiocassettes are reformatted and remastered recordings of sixty-one Dictaphone belts from the Dietz Papers, a project that was completed in 2000 as a joint preservation effort between the SIO Archives and the U.S. Navy. Most of the recordings contain observations, recollections, and commentary on the Trieste's Project Nekton dives, and in some recordings, the speakers (primarily Dietz, Jacques Piccard, and Andreas Rechnitzer) appear to be referring to notes, memoranda, or manuscripts. The recordings date from between 1958 and 1963. At the time of processing, any notations that were written on the Dictabelt envelopes were copied and transcribed onto the cassette cases; these notations have been recorded in the finding aid. Full transcripts of these recordings are also available in the preceding subseries. The sixty-one Dictabelt recordings were reformatted onto fourteen audiocassette tapes, and there are two copies of each tape. The audiocassettes were digitized in 2008, and digital versions of the recordings are available to researchers upon request.

D) Dictaphone Belts: Dietz's papers originally contained almost 100 Dictaphone belt sound recordings which were created by Dietz, Jacques Piccard, Andreas Rechnitzer, and others. Fifty-four of these belts were in a box Dietz labelled, "Trieste B'Scaph File Letters." Other belts were found throughout the collection. In preparation for reformatting, the belts were gathered and arranged alphabetically by the given title on the original envelopes (so similar titles, like "Big Dive" or "San Diego Dives" could be grouped together) and all notations, including dates, were transcribed and transferred to the finding aid. For organization, the belts were given unique sequential numbers by archives staff. In 2000, sixty-one belts that were appraised and considered likely to contain important content were reformatted to audiocassette and transcribed; in 2008, the audiocassettes were digitized. While the original belts are restricted, the reformatted versions and transcripts are available for research.

Papers and Records

Box 4, Folder 1

Photographs of Trieste and Trieste II ca. 1953-1964

General note

Includes images of the 1961 launch off San Diego, 1964 launch of Trieste II, Jacques and Auguste Piccard, and artistic renderings of submersibles.

Box 4, Folder 2

Photographs of echograms showing illusion of Trieste landing on bottom undated

Box 4, Folder 3

News clippings on Trieste 1957-1962

Box 4, Folder 4

Proposal by A. and J. Piccard for collaboration between the National Science Foundation…with the bathyscaph Trieste 1954

Box 4, Folder 5

Resolution submitted to the Symposium on Aspects of Deep Sea Research 1956 March 1

Box 4, Folder 6

Technical memorandum 2-57 - Translation of French papers concerning diving results of the bathyscaph FRNS-3 1956-1957

Box 4, Folder 7-10

Trieste - Reports and memoranda 1956-1960

Oversize FB-549, Folder 15

Plans, elevation (bow and stern) and longitudinal section of deep-diving submersible 1957 June

General note

Designed and drawn by Lt John B. Stubbs.

Box 4, Folder 11

Press release - Bathyscaph Trieste in the Mediterranean 1957 February 27

Box 4, Folder 12

Preliminary report of the Hudson Laboratories Bathyscaphe program 1957 July-October

Box 4, Folder 13

Preliminary Reports on the 1957 Scientific Investigations with the Bathyscaph Trieste 1957

Box 4, Folder 14

The 1957 Diving Program of the Bathyscaph Trieste, by A. B. Rechnitzer 1959 December 28

General note

NEL Report 941.

Box 4, Folder 15

Reprints signed by J. Piccard (in French) on Trieste dives 1957-1958

Box 4, Folder 16

Accounts and paper "Misadventures at Capri" on 1957 Trieste dives off Capri 1957-1959

General note

Includes typescripts of diving log.

Box 4, Folder 17

Project Nekton - Proposal for official recognition and support ca. 1958

Box 4, Folder 18

Calendar of events and dive reports from San Diego 1959

Box 4, Folder 19

Project Nekton negatives ca. 1959

General note

Black and white images of people socializing and examining papers, including Dietz and Piccard.

Box 4, Folder 20

Project Nekton manuscript ca. 1960

Box 4, Folder 21

Diving notes from 1953-1959 - Commentary on Trieste dives off Italy, San Diego, and Guam undated

Box 4, Folder 22

French Navy bathyscaph B-11,000 ca. 1960

Box 4, Folder 23

History of the bathyscaph - Notes and manuscripts ca. 1960

Box 4, Folder 24

Jacques Piccard - Notes and biographical data by R. Dietz ca. 1960

Box 4, Folder 25

Trieste diving log, Loma Sea Valley 1961 September 14

Box 4, Folder 26

Archimede (French bathyscaph) - Ocean floor negatives, Kuril Trench 1962

Box 22, Folder 12

NEL flier on Trieste II - Includes research program summary, diagram, etc. 1964

Box 4, Folder 27

Francis Shepard - Recollections of Trieste dive in La Jolla Canyon 1964 March 7

Box 4, Folder 28

25th anniversary of the Trieste deep dive - Booklet 1985

Sound Recording Transcripts

Box 5, Folder 1

Dives #61 and #64 1959-1960

General note

Includes transcript of live action report from observers standing by during Dive #61, as well as a version of a transcript adapted from dictabelts 15-18.

Box 5, Folder 2

Dive #63 1959

General note

Transcript of live action report.

Box 5, Folder 3

Dive #69 1960 January 9

General note

Transcript of live action report.

Box 5, Folder 4-5

Transcriptions from reformatted dictabelt recordings, 1958-1963 - Dives of the bathyscaph Trieste

Transcriptions from reformatted dictabelt recordings, 1958-1963 - Dives of the bathyscaph Trieste

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General note

Typed transcript of 61 recordings reformatted to audiocassette from Dietz's collection of plastic Dictaphone belts. Speakers include Robert Dietz, Jacques Piccard, Andreas Rechnitzer, and an unidentified speaker. The content is primarily observations, commentary, and recollections concerning Trieste dives, in particular dives made in the Challenger Deep, and off the coast of Italy and San Diego.

Box 5, Folder 6

Piccard's recollection of Trieste construction in 1952

Box 5, Folder 7

History of Trieste and its coming to the U.S., by R. Dietz undated

Box 5, Folder 8

History of Project Nekton and report of 1954 Trieste dive with Dr. Pollini, Italy undated

Box 5, Folder 9

Project Nekton - "The Big Dive" accounts by Piccard, Walsh and Dietz 1959-1960

Audiocassettes

Box 23, Folder 1

Dictabelts 1-5 - Reformatted undated

General note

"The Big Dive" to 37,800 in the Trieste, Jacques Piccard dictating. Skips/repeats throughout. Time 01:05:31.

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