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Warren (Stafford L.) papers
LSC.0987
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Stafford Leak Warren papers
Creator:
Warren, Stafford L. (Stafford Leak), 1896-1981
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0987
Physical Description:
148.0 Linear Feet
(281 boxes, 8 cartons, 26 oversize boxes, and 1 oversize folder)
Date (inclusive): 1917-1980
Date (bulk): 1943-1980
Abstract: Stafford Leak Warren was the director of the Atomic Energy Project at the University of Rochester and worked on the Manhattan
Project. After the war, Warren came to UCLA to serve as Dean of the School of Medicine and as Vice-Chancellor of the Health
Sciences. The collection consists of Warren's professional papers, documenting every major phase of his career. The bulk of
the papers cover 1940 onward, including Warren's participation in the Manhattan Project and Operation Crossroads, and his
subsequent involvement concerning issues and work with atomic bomb development and radiation effects.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Operation Crossroads papers and Manhattan Project papers are available for access on 35 mm positive microfilm (in boxes 303-305)
in Library Special Collections. Originals, stored in boxes 57-83, not available for consultation due to fragile condition.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Copyright to portions of this collection has been assigned to the UCLA Library Special Collections. The library can grant
permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted
in writing to Library Special Collections. Credit shall be given as follows: The Regents of the University of California on
behalf of the UCLA Library Special Collections.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. Audiovisual
materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the
request button located on this page.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9942327183606533
[Identification of item], Stafford Leak Warren papers (Collection 987). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Dr. Stafford L. Warren, date of receipt unknown. Gift of Gertrude Warren, 1982. Addition to the collection gift of
Jane Larson, 1987.
Almost all the papers of Stafford Leak Warren were donated to the UCLA Library on April 19, 1982 by his widow, Mrs. Gertrude
Warren. A small number of items, consisting mostly of government publications and materials relating to Dr. Warren's research
interests at the University of Rochester and his work on mental retardation as Special Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson, were received in the 1960s, when records relating to his foundational service as Dean of the UCLA School
of Medicine, were transferred to the University Archives.
This collection contains materials with challenging and harmful content. Please visit our website for more information on
LSC's
Content Advisory Policy.
This collection was originally processed by Manuscripts Division staff, 2001. The January 2010 additions were processed by
Kelly Besser with assistance from Rebecca Bucher and Kamarin Takahara, 2013.
Prior to donation to the UCLA Library, some parts of the Warren papers, including material relating to Dr. Warren's participation
in the Manhattan Engineering District and Operation Crossroads projects, had been arranged and boxed in several similarly
numbered sequences. In addition, as part of the preliminary processing of the collection, a considerable amount of material
originally housed in filing cabinets, was transferred as filed in the drawers into document boxes or cartons and given a temporary
number to preserve filing cabinet location and internal order until it could be examined more thoroughly as part of the processing
of the collection as a whole.
The existing file order at the time of transfer has been retained with few exceptions. The exceptions are as follows: Related
items from the earlier transfer have been brought together with items donated in 1982. Appendix A lists current and former
box numbers. Some of Dr. Warren's items found among the papers of his first wife, Viola, (also donated in 1982; UCLA Library
Special Collections, collection 1322), have been placed with related material in this collection. Transfers from the Viola
Warren papers are noted in the finding aid.
The arrangement of the papers described in Sections II (Boxes 57-70) and III of the finding aid, concerning the Manhattan
Project and Operation Crossroads, has been left exactly as found at the time of the 1982 transfer from Dr. Warren's campus
office to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Titles and names of authors, addressees and places have been transcribed as
they appear in the papers, except for Stafford Leak Warren, which is abbreviated as SLW throughout the finding aid. Except
for issues of the
Oakridge Journal, glass slides and motion picture film, these two series and part of Box 113 have been microfilmed both for preservation purposes
and to facilitate creating copies of the originals. Appendix B lists film reel and image numbers in relation to original document
reference numbers.
As part of the processing of the collection, all boxes have now been systematically numbered with a unique and final number.
Please see in-house paper finding aid for more information.
On 2022 April 19, Paola Salazar and Kelly Besser confirmed that folder 9 is missing from box 62 as reported by Simon Elliot
in a JIRA collection issues ticket.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they
could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special
Collections.
Stafford Leak Warren was born on June 19, 1896 in Maxwell City, New Mexico. In 1918, Warren earned his Bachelor of Arts degree
from University of California at Berkeley. Then in 1922, Warren received his Master of Arts in Research Medicine and simultaneously
obtained his Doctors of Medicine degree from the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. From 1922-1925, Warren
completed his post-doctoral work at both Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. Then in 1926, Warren became an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Rochester. Subsequently, Warren became an Associate Professor
of Medicine in 1930 and remained at the University of Rochester until 1943. During his residence at the University of Rochester,
Warren performed groundbreaking research on radiology and its ability to track cancer in breasts. Through his research he
developed a stereoscopic technique used to detect breast cancer in women which eventually led to the invention of the mammogram.
Before departing from the University of Rochester in 1943, Warren was briefly the university's Director of the Atomic Energy
Project. Within the same year, Warren was commissioned as a Colonel in the United States Army Medical Corps and became chief
of the medical section and advisor to the director of the Manhattan Project, which dealt with the research and development
of the atomic bomb during World War II. From 1943-1946, Warren worked on the safety aspects surrounding the Manhattan Project,
Trinity Nuclear tests, and Operation Crossroads. During the Trinity Nuclear tests, Warren's primary responsibility was medical
research, but he also supervised the project's health and safety programs. When Operation Crossroads began testing on the
Marshall Islands to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships, Warren planned and implemented procedures to evaluate,
limit, and control the impact of radiation. However after these tests, Warren became aware of the radioactive contamination
in the environment and warned the public about the potential dangers of the atomic bomb. In 1947, Warren was awarded the Distinguished
Service Medal and Legion of Merit for his service on the Manhattan Project.
During 1947, Warren helped establish the University of California at Los Angeles' new School of Medicine. Warren also served
as the school's first Dean until 1963 when he became Vice-Chancellor of Health Services from 1963-1965. During the 1960s,
Warren was a Special Advisor who helped research the effects of mental retardation on behalf of U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
After Warren's first wife, Viola Lockhart's death in 1968, he remarried in 1970 to Gertrude Turner Hubberty. In 1972, Warren
received the Enrico Fermi Award from the Atomic Energy Commission. Warren held the position of Professor Emeritus at UCLA
from 1965 until his death. Stafford Leak Warren died on July 26, 1981 in Pacific Palisades, California.
The collection consists of Warren's professional papers, documenting every major phase of his career. Materials include glass
slides, photographs and materials assembled in connection with Warren's research. His research included fever therapy, arthritis,
and the effects of shock. The bulk of the papers cover 1940 onward, including Warren's participation in the Manhattan Project
and Operation Crossroads, and his subsequent involvement concerning issues and work with atomic bomb development and radiation
effects. Warren's contribution to the Manhattan Project and Operation Crossroads produced a series of photographs of the test
area and effects of the bomb such as clippings of blast waves and radiation, and a motion picture in relation to the project
on microfilm.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital reproductions of these materials are available for viewing in the Library Special Collections Ahmanson-Murphy Reading
Room.
An Exceptional Man for Exceptional Challenges [oral history transcript] / Stafford L. Warren, interviewee. UCLA Oral History
Department interview, 1983.
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.
University of California, Los Angeles. School of Medicine. Administrative files of Stafford L. Warren, 1925-1968. Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.
Viola Lockhart Warren Papers (Collection 1322). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Nuclear energy -- Research.
College administrators -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
Physicians -- United States -- Archives.
Mental retardation -- Research.
Atomic bomb -- Physiological effect -- Research.
Manhattan Project (U.S.).
Operation Crossroads, 1946
Warren, Stafford L. (Stafford Leak), 1896-1981--Archives.