The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Photographs Collection contains photographic prints, slides, and negatives acquired by the former SIO Archives over many years through small accessions and donations from a wide variety of sources. It also includes reference prints of frequently requested images. Subjects document the history of SIO, including the development of the La Jolla campus, people, research vessels, and expeditions.

The SIO Photographs Collection was created and maintained by SIO Archives staff from the 1970s until 2013, and was managed during that time as several separate, artificial, generically named image collections. Photographs from early collections of records or personal papers were often duplicated (by creating copy negatives and prints) and removed to the SIO Photograph Collections; or, if a copy of an image was requested by a researcher, multiple duplicates would be made at the time of the request and extras filed in the SIO Photographs Collections. Small accessions and donations of photographs, such as donor's slides, single images, or prints from an expedition, were also added to these generic "Photograph" collections. When the SIO Archives were transferred to stewardship of the UC San Diego Library's Special Collections & Archives Program, a full survey of all image-based accessions was completed and the SIO Photograph Collections were consolidated and reorganized into one cohesive body of images organized by category and chronology. The collection today includes description for nearly 100 unique accessions, in addition to images with unknown provenance, that document the history of SIO, and its people and environs.

14 Linear feet (32 archives boxes, 2 flat boxes, and 1 map case folder)

Publication rights are held by the creator(s) of the image.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.