Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
UC San Diego. SIO subject files
SAC 0006
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: SIO subject files
Identifier/Call Number: SAC 0006
Physical Description:
35.2 Linear feet
(88 archives boxes and 5 map case folders)
Date (inclusive): 1890-1982 (bulk 1930-1970)
Abstract: The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Subject Files contain materials documenting the history of SIO and, more broadly,
the historical development of oceanography in the twentieth century.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Subject Files contain materials documenting the history of SIO and, more broadly,
organizations with relationships to SIO and the history of the study of oceanography in the twentieth century. The collection
includes correspondence, memoranda, budgets, proposals, reports, and oversize materials such as blueprints and drawings.
The collection was originally conceived and arranged in two major sections: materials related to the history of SIO, and materials
not directly related to SIO, but which document parallel organizations, projects and developments in the history of oceanography.
Arranged in two series: 1) SIO SUBJECT FILES, and 2) NON-SIO SUBJECT FILES.
The SIO Subject Files were started in the late 1970s by Elizabeth Shor, who organized all materials acquired by the SIO Archives
- including personal papers of individuals and records from SIO offices - into separate subject and biographical files. Papers
determined to be pertinent to specific subjects were placed in the Subject Files (SAC 6), while correspondence specific to
individuals was filed by name in the Biographical Files (SAC 5). Shor maintained this system until her departure in 1981,
whereupon no further materials were added.
The Subject Files received major processing attention twice: first in 1981, and next in 2016. In 1981 Deborah Day, the incoming
SIO archivist, closed the collection and gave it the number AC 6 (now SAC 6). Day sorted through the subject files, preserving
the organizational structure created by Elizabeth Shor, and wrote a descriptive finding aid.
To enhance searchability and ease of use, the finding aid was modernized in 2016 and the collection was culled for out-of-scope
materials. Though the physical order of materials was largely retained, subject file groups of substantial size and importance
were restructured as subseries, and oversized and digitized materials previously not included the finding aid were linked
and made easily accessible. The bulk of the papers were left in their alphabetical arrangement, sorted by subjects, with the
folder titles originally conceived by Shor.
Publication rights are held by the creator(s) of items in the collection.
SIO Biographical Files, SAC 5. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
UC San Diego. SIO subject files, SAC 6. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Unknown.
A selection of material from this collection was digitized for the California Explores the Ocean Project in 2002. To find
archival material exclusively from SAC 6, go to the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections website, and do a search on the
following term, in quotes: "SIO Subject Files Records, 1890-1981".
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Oceanography -- History -- 20th century
Scripps Institution of Oceanography -- History