Archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0219
Revised, August 1996
SIO Reference Number 82-16
TABLE OF CONTENTS BIOGRAPHY.......................................................1 PROVENANCE......................................................3 ARRANGEMENT.....................................................4 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE..........................................5 RELATED COLLECTIONS.............................................6 FOLDER LIST.....................................................7 CORRESPONDENT INDEX............................................13 BIOGRAPHY William Emerson Ritter, professor of zoology at the University of California, was born on a Wisconsin farm on November 19, 1856, where he lived and worked for the first twenty years of his life. After graduating from the Oshkosh Normal School, he continued his studies at Harvard in 1890, married Mary Bennett in 1891, and came to the University of California at Berkeley in 1893 as a biology instructor. In 1899 he was elected president of the California Academy of Sciences, and that same year took part in the famed Harriman Expedition to Alaska. By 1904 Ritter had begun working in San Diego on what he hoped would be an exhaustive study of marine life focused on a limited area, using the vessel Albatross for deep water investigation. He was hence for many years to divide his time between Berkeley and La Jolla where he spent his summers. It was on his return from a trip to Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines in 1906 that Ritter actively sought to interst Andrew Carnegie, Edward Harriman and others in the financing of a biological station at La Jolla. Only in 1912, after much negotiation, were final arrangements between benefactor Edward Wyllis Scripps and the University of California completed, and Ritter named first scientific director of the new Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a position he held until 1922. The Institution soon attracted many young men to work under Ritter's supervision, namely Harry B. Torrey, Loye Holmes Miller, Samuel Jackson Holmes, Joseph Grinnell, Charles Atwood Kofoid, and others who would later attain prominence in the world of science. Ritter, vitally concerned at the lack of wide-spread dissemination of accurate but intelligible reports on scientific developments and discoveries, as early as 1915 discussed the possibility of training professional scientists to write on scientific subjects in a popular vein. This idea, by 1920, germinated into a full-fledged proposal for a news service known a Science Service, which was financially backed by E. W. Scripps, and officially commenced in February 1921. A man of varied interests, and a strong believer in the humanity of science, Ritter was fascinated by the relationship of science to religion, and of biology to social question. Numerous published works reflecting his philosophy include War, Science and Civilization; The Higher Usefulness of Science and Other Essays; The Probable Infinity of Nature and Life; The Scientific Method of Reaching Truth; The Natural History of Our Conduct (with Edna W. Bailey); and The Organismal Theory of Conception (with Edna W. Bailey). As a result of his study of the activities of animals under natural conditions, he evolved his concept of "organism as a whole" which was published as The Unity of the Organism, or the Organismal Theory of Consciousness in 1918. A second part to this work was planned, and though written in large part and revised, it was never completed. A detailed study of woodpeckers and their acorn-storing proclivities culminated in the publication of his California Woodpeckers and I by the University of California Press. Ritter, had also partially written a work tentatively entitled "The Ocean and its Life", which he never finished. Over a period of years he collaborated with Edna Watson Bailey on his Charles Darwin and the Golden Rule, a distillation of his many writings on the subject, completed by Mrs. Bailey only after Ritter's death. Ritter also contributed many articles on a variety of subjects to learned journals. A member of the California Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and many other scientific organizations, Ritter took part in the 1923 Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress helf in Australia, and went to England for the International Congress of Science and Technology in 1931. Emeritus in 1924, Ritter was to continue his scientific work and writing for many years. Although childless, he was much intersted in children and in their education, and at times supported the Berkeley Children's Community School where he taught natural science. He also was a strong advocate for the teaching of evolution in the California public schools. PROVENANCE Dr. Ritter appointed his friend and colleague Mrs. Edna Watson Bailey as his literary executor in his will. Mrs. Bailey gathered Dr. Ritter's personal papers together after his death in 1944 and spent several years editing manuscripts for publication. On May 2, 1956, Mrs. Bailey transferred reprints of a number of Dr. Ritter's scientific papers to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. These were bound and cataloged and shelved in the Rare Book Room. Additional papers were received the following month. On April 22, 1963, Mrs. Helen Hill Raitt, when working on her history of Scripps, visited Mrs. Bailey in Berkeley. Mrs. Bailey showed her the Ritter manuscript and Dr. Ritter's personal library. Mrs. Raitt mentioned that the Scripps Library would like to acquire these collections. Mrs. Bailey gave Scripps the library, including some eight hundred books, and some manuscript material. The manuscript material subsequently received at the Scripps Library was not the complete personal papers of William Emerson Ritter. Apparently, only material which Mrs. Bancroft judged directly related to Ritter's activities as advocate and director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography was transferred. In 1970 and 1971, Mrs. Bailey gave the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, the remaining Ritter Papers in her possession. These were arranged and processed by the Bancroft staff after Mrs. Bailey's death in 1973. The provenance of the collection was disturbed when the collection was arranged in 1979. ARRANGEMENT The Ritter Papers at the Archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography were received in poor order. In 1979, Elizabeth Shor, SIO Archivist, examined the Ritter Papers and arranged them. Material concerning the following individuals was removed from the Ritter Papers and interfiled with material in the SIO Biographical Files (81-17): Winfred Emory Allen, Fred Baker, Percy Spencer Barnhart, S. Stillman Berry, Wesley Clarence Crandall, Christine Essenberg, Calvin Olin Esterly, Jacob Chandler Harper, Charles Atwood Kofoid, George Francis McEwen, Ellis Leroy Michael, James Ross, E. W. Scripps, Ellen Browning Scripps, Francis Bertody Sumner, Margaret E. Sumner, Harry Beal Torrey and Julius Wangenheim. No record was kept of the provenance of items in the Biographical Files and so it is not possible to reunite items separated from the Ritter Papers with the main body of the Ritter Papers. A description of Mrs. Shor's work on the Ritter Papers is contained in A Guide to the Papers of William Emerson Ritter in the Archives of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO Reference Series 79-22). The Ritter Papers have been arranged chronologically in four series: Correspondence Series, Papers concerning the Marine Biological Society of San Diego Series, Notes, Scientific Papers, Lectures Series and Papers concerning Professional Activities Series. The work was undertaken by Archivist Deborah Day in 1982. The folder list and correspondent index were prepared under her direction. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The William Emerson Ritter Papers at the Archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography consist of 1.5 linear feet of material. Roughly half of the collection consist of correspondence dated 1893-1941. The collection also includes reports, memoranda, a survey and other descriptions of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Drafts and notes concerning Dr. Ritter's scientific research are included in the Papers. The collection consists almost entirely of material relevant to the establishment of the Marine Biological Association of San Diego and its subsequent history. The Association was renamed the Scripps Institution of Biological Research in 1912 when it became part of the University of California. It became the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1925. The collection includes material describing Dr. Ritter's early interest in marine biology and University of California summer biological research courses offered in San Pedro, Coronado and La Jolla. The collection includes notes and drafts of papers on scientific and philosphical topics. There are notes and papers on Balanoglossus, microplankton, Tornaria and albacore. The collection includes approximately five linear inches of notes and a draft of Enteropneusta of the Pacific Coast of North America. Ritter published an article on Enteropneusta in University of California Publications in Zoology in 1904. In 1944, Ritter was working on a manuscipt entitled "The Philosophy of E. W. Scripps." The draft is included among the Ritter Papers. Edward W. Scripps was a benefactor of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The collection includes only a small amount of material documenting Dr. Ritter's activities as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Committe on Zoological Investigations, the National Research Council and as the founder of Science Service. RELATED COLLECTIONS A large collection (33 cartons) of William Emerson Ritter Papers is available at The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (Collection 71/3). The Library has prepared a comprehensive Report and Key to Arrangement of the Papers. The Ritter Papers at the Bancroft include material documenting his career, publications and personal life as well as material describing his activities at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography hold diaries of Dr. Ritter's Wife, Dr. Mary Bennett Ritter, dated 1919- 1935 (Collection 81-97). Several archival collections at the Archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography include material documenting Ritter's directorship at this Institution. Among these are the Records of the S.I.O. Office of the Business Manager, 1903-1947 (82-11), the Charles Atwood Kofoid Papers (82-17), the SIO Biographical Files (81-17) and the SIO Subject Files (81-16). The S.I.O. Annual Reports of the Director during Ritter's administration are cataloged as part of the S.I.O. Archives reference collection. The S.I.O. Archives holds two reports written by Ritter as a member of the University of California Berkeley Department of Zoology in 1901 and 1903 (81-44 and 81-45). The Records of the Marine Biological Association of San Diego (81-38, 81-40, 81-41, 81-42) include material written by and about Dr. Ritter. The SIO Archives also holds several photographs of Dr. Ritter. The Archives of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University include twenty letters from Dr. Ritter to Alexander Agassiz among the Agassiz Papers. These are dated 1893, 1904 and 1905. WILLIAM EMERSON RITTER (1856-1944) Papers, 1893-1942 MC 4 Box Folder Folder Title I. CORRESPONDENCE SERIES Correspondence 1 1 n.d 2 1893-1899 3 1900-1901 4 1902 5 1903 6 January-May, 1904 7 June-December, 1904 8 January-April, 1905 9 May-December, 1905 10 January-August, 1906 11 September-December, 1906 12 1907 4 1L 1907, c1912, 1914, 1920 1 13 1908 14 1909 15 1910 16 January-June, 1911 17 July-August, 1911 18 September-December, 1911 CORRESPONDENCE (cont.) Correspondence (cont.) 1 19 January-May, 1912 20 June-August, 1912 21 September-October, 1912 22 November-December, 1912 23 January-May, 1913 24 June-December, 1913 25 January-March, 1914 2 1 April-September, 1914 2 October-December, 1914 3 January-February, 1915 4 March-May, 1915 5 June-July, 1915 6 August-December, 1915 7 January-April, 1916 8 May-July, 1916 9 August-December, 1916 10 January-April, 1917 11 May-July, 1917 12 August, 1917 13 September, 1917 14 October, 1917 15 November, 1917 16 December, 1917 CORRESPONDENCE (cont.) Correspondence (cont.) 2 17 January, 1918 18 February-April, 1918 19 May-June, 1918 20 July-September, 1918 21 October-December, 1918 22 January-February, 1919 23 March-April, 1919 24 May-June, 1919 3 1 July-August, 1919 2 September-December, 1919 3 January-March, 1920 4 April-May, 1920 5 June-July, 1920 6 August-October, 1920 7 November-December, 1920 8 January-April, 1921 9 May-August, 1921 10 September-December, 1921 11 January-April, 1922 12 May-September, 1922 13 October-December, 1922 14 January-April, 1923 15 May-December, 1923 CORRESPONDENCE (cont.) Correspondence (cont.) 3 16 1924-1941 II. PAPERS CONCERNING THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF SAN DIEGO AND THE SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY SERIES 17 Report on Hydrographic Work, Done in Connection with the Marine Biological Investigations at San Pedro, 1901 18 Annual Reports, 1902-1905 19 Report of Professor Ritter to the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, c1903 20 Requirements for making the Boat House at Coronado Serviceable as a Marine Biological Laboratory, c1903 21 Descriptions of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1906-1916 22 Course to be Followed, 1907 23 Annual Report, 1910 4 2L Descriptions of the Scripps Institution, 1910, 1914 3 24 Aims of the Proposed Laboratory to the Fulfillment of Which the University agrees to be Bound, c1912 25 Survey of Scripps Institution for Biological Research, c1912 26 Resolutions re an International Fisheries Treaty...adopted by the Staff of the Scripps Institution, January 27, 1923 III. NOTES, SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, LECTURES SERIES 27 Notes, n.d. 28 Directions for Collecting Microplankton, n.d. 29 Notes on Tornaria, n.d. NOTES, SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, LECTURES (cont.) 3 30 Notes on Tornaria, n.d. 4 3L Manuscript on Theoretical Phylogenic Aspects of Enteropneusta, n.d. 4L [Illustrations, Enteropneusta of Pacific Coast of North America, n.d.] 5L [Illustrations, Enteropneusta of Pacific Coast of North America, n.d.] 3 31 Notes on Balanoglossus, c1890 32 Manuscript, Enteropneusta of Pacific Coast of North America, 1900-1904, pp. 1-47 33 Manuscript, Enteropneusta of Pacific Coast of North America, 1900-1904 34 Manuscript, Enteropneusta of Pacific Coast of North America, 1900-1904 35 Notes and Drawings on Tornaria, 1900-1905 4 6L A Popular Lecture to Citizens of La Jolla, July 1907 by W.E. Ritter 7L Warnock's Data Showing Relation Between Water Temperatures and the Albacore Catch, 1917 3 36 Notes, cSeptember 1921 4 8L Natural Versus Supernatural or a Man as a Unified Whole and as Part of Nature as a Unified Whole by W.E. Ritter, Address Before the Layman's League, 1st Unitarian Church, Berkeley, 1933 3 37 "Basic Patients in Nature," by William K. Gregory, New York Academy of Sciences, December 18, 1935 4 9L A. McAuley, Notes on Enteropneusta Manuscript, c1936 10L W.E. Ritter, Lecture, November 19, 1942 11L The Philosophy of E.W. Scripps by William Emerson Ritter, 1944 IV. PAPERS CONCERNING PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES SERIES 4 12L Pacific Division, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1911 13L California Fish and Game Commission Permits, 1915- 1918 14L Minutes of Meetings, Committee on Zoological Investigations, 1917 15L Pacific Division, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1918-1922 16L National Research Council, 1921-1922 17L Science Service, 1921, 1940 CORRESPONDENT INDEX Anderson, C.A. 1/23 Armstrong, J. Simeon 3/15 Bacon, Robert 1/9 Bard, Thomas R. 1/5 Barnhart, John Hendley 2/16, 2/17 Barrows, Albert L. 3/14 Barrows, David Prescott 2/6, 2/22, 3/3, 3/10, 3/11 Bernard, Lewis 1/10 Blackwelder, Eliot 3/15 Bowers, George M. 1/10 Boykin, J.C. 2/9 Brinser, H.L. 3/15 Brooks, Charles Franklin 3/3 Brown, Stanley I. 1/4 Bureau of Fisheries 1/24, 1/25 California. Controller's Department 1/22 California. Fish and Game Commission 1/20, 1/23, 1/25, 2/1, 2/11, 2/16 California. State Board of Control 2/3, 2/4 Campbell, William Wallace 1/7, 3/6, 3/14, 3/15 Carnegie Institute of Washington 1/12, 1/15, 1/18, 1/20, 1/21 Cartwright, Morse A. 2/14, 2/15, 2/16, 2/17, 2/19, 2/20, 2/22, 2/23, 2/24, 3/2, 3/3, 3/4, 3/6, 3/8, 3/12, 3/13, 3/14 Chandler, L.H. 3/8 Child, Charles Manning 1/11 Churchill, E.P. 3/3 Cobb, John N. 3/3 Coleman, R.A. 2/20, 2/21 Comisionado de la Pesca 3/3 Committee on Occupational Selection 2/11 Davis, Benjamin Marshall 1/4, 1/7, 1/12 Davis, Richard G. 3/1 Des Portes 1/9 Douthart, Thomas M. 1/25 Dresser Photo Company 1/15 Drury, Newton B. 2/10 Dunlap, I.H. 2/12, 2/13 Earl, Guy Chaffee 1/18 Edwards, Charles Lincoln 1/18 Elston, J.A. 3/9 Evermann, Barton Warren 2/3, 2/5, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11, 2/12, 2/13, 2/14, 2/15, 2/18, 2/21, 3/4, 3/7, 3/8, 3/9, 3/15 Fisher, Walter Kenrick 2/21 Forster, Rudolph 3/9 Frenzel, A.B. 2/22 Fricke, B.C. 1/14 Galtsoff, Paul S. 3/8 Genter, Tillie 3/16 Gramptus [?], Henry E. 1/14 Graves, J.A. 1/4, 1/5 Greene, Roger Sherman 3/14 Gregory, Herbert E. 3/8 Gregory, Warren 3/5 Griffin, Lawrence E. 1/14 Griffiths, Farnham P. 1/12, 1/20 Grinnell, Joseph 1/24, 2/20, 3/3 Grumyo, Nadine 2/20 H.K. McLann Company 3/2 Hall, Ivan C. 2/18 Hargitt, Charles Wesley 3/11 Hatfield, Henry Rand 2/7 Hearst, Phoebe Apperson 1/4 Heart, Harold 1/2 Heart, L. 3/8 Heath, Harold 1/5 Hecht, Selig 2/11 Henderson, Victor Hendricks 1/3, 1/5, 1/6, 1/14, 1/18, 1/19, 1/20, 1/23, 1/25, 2/1, 2/4, 2/5, 2/6, 2/7, 2/8, 2/10, 2/11, 4/1 Herdman, W.A. 3/13 Holway, R.S. 1/13 Hovey, M. 2/5 Howard, L.O. 3/11 Howerth, Ira Woods 2/15 Howse, Louisa M. 1/22 Hyde, Ida H. 3/1 Jennings, H.S. 1/11 John A. Roebling's Sons Company 1/9 Johnson, Myrtle 3/9 Johnston, Edward C. 2/12 Jones, E. Lester 1/24 Juday, Chancey 1/9 Jusserand 1/9 Kellogg, Martin 1/2 Kelsey, F.W. 1/9, 3/15 Langdon, Seth C. 2/9 Latham, V.A. 2/9 Leupp, Harold Lewis 1/23, 3/16 Lillie, Frank Rattrey 2/24 Loomis, Leverett Mills 1/9 Louderback, George D. 3/5 McAdie, Alexander George 3/5 McCaughey, Vaughan 1/14 McClendon, J.F. 1/1 McClung, C.E. 1/13 MacDougal, Daniel Trembly 2/23 McKinley, J.W. 1/8 McLaughton, Theodore T. 2/20 Mapwell, D.D. 3/3 Mark, Edward Laurens 1/10, 1/11 Marvin, Charles F. 3/4, 3/8, 3/15 Mattill, H.A. 2/12 Maxwell, D.D. [?] 3/3 Merriam, Clinton Hart 1/4 Merriam, John C. 2/21, 2/22, 2/23, 2/24, 3/5, 3/7, 3/12 Merritt, Ralph Palmer 2/24 Metcalf, Jesse Haughton 1/5 Metcalf, Maynard Mayo 1/14 Millikan, Robert Andrews 3/11 Moore, Barrington 3/6, 3/7, 3/14 Moore, H.T. 2/11, 2/16, 2/18, 2/20 Morgulis, S. 3/14 National Electric Light Association 3/8 Needham, James George 3/12 Negretti and Zambra Opticians 1/23, 1/24 Nelson, Edward William 3/4 Neylan, John Francis 1/22 Nutting, Charles Cleveland 1/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/11, 2/3 O'Malley, Henry 2/2 Otis, Frank 1/12 Pan-Pacific Union 3/8 Pardee, George C. 1/6 Parker, George Howard 2/5, 2/6, 2/8, 2/10, 2/11, 2/24, 3/2 Pearce, Richard W. 2/18, 2/20 Perkins, George C. 1/5 Peters, Homer H. 1/5 Peterson, Elvera 3/11 Prescott City Schools, Prescott, Arizona 1/6 Pritchett, J.W. 3/13 Puterbaugh, George 1/12 Rankin [?] 2/11 Raymond, William J. 1/3 Redfield, William C. 1/24 Rhodes, H.W. 3/13 Richard G. Badger, Publisher 2/14 Richards, A. 3/8 Richards, C.B. 1/12 Rogers, Charles G. 3/9 Rohlfsen [?] 1/13 Rowell, Joseph C. 2/20 Rudolph, Walter S. 3/2 San Diego, Pacific Beach and La Jolla Railway Company 1/9 Sargeant, W.W. 2/23, 2/24, 3/1, 3/5 Schmitt, Waldo La Salle 2/18, 2/19 Schoonover, Albert 1/20 Scofield, N.B. 2/11, 2/14, 2/16, 3/14 Seale, Alvin 3/3 Sehon, John L. 1/10, 1/11 Shafer, F.P. 2/13 Shelford, Victor E. 2/7 Shreve, Forrest 2/7 Smiley, F.L. 2/18 Snook, H.J. 2/11 Skilling, W.J. 1/7, 1/8 Smith, Hugh McCormick 1/6, 1/25, 2/1, 2/2, 2/10, 2/11, 2/12, 2/13, 2/16, 2/17, 2/18, 2/20, 2/21, 2/23 [United States National Museum] Smithsonian Institution 1/7, 1/13, 1/14, 1/15 San Diego Sun 2/17 South Coast Land Company 1/10, 4/1 Spreckels Brothers Commercial Company 2/15 Sproul, Robert Gordon 2/21, 2/22, 3/2, 3/3, 3/5, 3/8 Starks, Edwin C. 1/8, 1/9, 1/11, 1/15, 2/22 Steele, A.J. 2/13 Stenhouse, Thomas B. 2/22 Stevens, Frank C. 3/12 Struble, C.J. 3/11, 3/12, 3/16 Suttons, James 1/3, 2/15 Taylor, Charles Vincent 3/5 Taylor, Walter Penn 2/17, 2/22, 3/3, 3/4, 3/9 Test, Louis A. 1/14 Thompson, Will 1/1, 2/14, 2/15, 2/23 Tomkins [?] 2/17 Torrey, Clark M. 1/24, 1/25, 2/1 Torrey, Harry Beal 1/12 Townsend, Charles H. 2/22, 3/2 Turrintene, J.W. 3/3, 3/4 Union Gas Engine Company 1/8 U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries 1/4 Vaughan, Thomas Wayland 3/16 Wallace, William Seaward 1/22, 1/23, 1/24 Washburn, Oliver Miles 3/5, 3/11 Warde, Frank P. 3/2 Watson, John L. 2/11 Westerfeld, Carl 2/11 Wheeler, Benjamin Ide 1/3, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/9, 1/17, 1/22, 1/25, 2/4, 2/6, 2/7, 2/8, 2/9, 2/10, 2/13, 2/21 Whipple, George H. 2/14, 3/4 Wiesner, Johann 4/1 Wilkie, Emily 2/24 Williams, Robert D. 1/8 Wilson, Edmund Beecher 1/11 Wood, H.P. 1/5, 1/8, 1/9 Wood, Will C. 2/23 Yerkes, Robert Mearns 2/2, 2/6, 3/6 Young, Robert Thompson 3/6 Young, W.W. 3/16