A Guide to the Papers of Richard H. Backus, 1959-2001
Manuscript Collection MC-34
7 boxes (3.25 lin. ft.)
|
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution A Guide to the Papers of Richard H. Backus, 1959-2001 Manuscript Collection MC-34 7 boxes (3.25 lin. ft.) |
Richard H. "Dick" Backus received his A.B. in Botany in 1946 from Dartmouth College. He had entered Dartmouth in 1940, but left after two years to serve in World War II as a First Lieutenant Aerial Navigator, U.S. Army Air Force. In 1948 Dick earned his M.S. in Vertebrate Zoology and his Ph.D. in Ichthyology in 1953, both from Cornell University. Dick joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in September 1952, as a Biology Research Associate in Dr. J. Brackett Hersey’s underwater sound group. He served as Research Associate until 1959 and as Marine Biologist until 1963, when he was appointed Senior Scientist. In 1963, the Institution re-organized its scientific departments by discipline, and Hersey’s underwater sound group became part of the Geophysics department. In 1967, Dick and the rest of his group transferred from Geophysics into Biology. He served as Chair of the Biology department from 1970-1974 and from 1986-1987.
During his tenure at Woods Hole Oceanograpic Institution, Dick was known as the local shark expert. He co-authored the 1970 book The Natural History of Sharks with Thomas H. Lineaweaver III. When the film Jaws was released in the United States in 1975, the Institution was inundated with calls from people curious about sharks. All calls were directed to Dick, who was also featured in People magazine and interviewed for newspapers, radio and TV programs that summer.
Since his retirement in 1988, Dick has retained Scientist Emeritus status at the Institution. He resides in Woods Hole with his wife, Denise Franklin Backus. They have five children.
The papers consist of a portion of the papers kept by Richard H. Backus during his tenure at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The first part of the collection, Series 1 spans 1958-1960 and consists of questionnaires completed by students of a weeklong workshop held at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in December of 1958 and again in December of 1959.
Series 2, spanning 1961-1962, is comprised of correspondence documenting the attempted ouster of WHOI director Paul M. Fye in 1961 by several members of the scientific staff, including Richard Backus.
The bulk of the collection, Series 3 consists of correspondence, manuscriptdrafts, financial information, and all other production information pertaining to the book Georges Bank, of which Richard Backus served as Editor-in-Chief.
Series 4 is a small addition including a memoir Dick wrote about his experiences on the Atlantis II Cruise 59 in 1970 entitled Living and Working at Sea: Madeira to the Cape Verdes to Woods Hole. Also included in this series is a scrapbook of photos of the entire crew from that cruise.
The custodial history of the collection is undocumented.
Papers of Richard H. Backus, 1959-2001. MC-34, "Folder Name." Data Library and Archives, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Deposited on April 5, 2000 by Richard H. Backus. Additional material which became Series 4 was deposited on October 26, 2004 by Richard H. Backus.
The collection was processed by Carrie Tobey under the supervision of Marisa Hudspeth, from March 1 through April 5, 2004. Finding aid was completed by Carrie Tobey on April 26, 2004. Series 4 of the collection was added with the donation of Acc. 2004-70. The finding aid was updated accordingly by Marisa Hudspeth on October 26, 2004.
Staples and paper clips were removed; all multi-page documents were then filed inside a folded sheet of 11x17 paper to preserve the creator’s original intent.
Open: materials are available for research.
Copyright: Permission to publish material from the collection must be authorized by the Institution Archivist.
The collection was reduced from 4.5 linear feet to 3 feet by removing duplicates. Onionskin paper, carbon copies, and newspaper were replaced with photocopies to prevent acid migration.
Arranged in four series:
Researchers wishing to find related materials should search the MBLWHOI Library catalog under these terms.
| Tycoon's College 1958-1960 .25 box (.125 lin. ft.) | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note | |||||||||||
| The series consists of questionnaires completed by students of a weeklong workshop held at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in December of 1958 and again in December of 1959. Dr. Ronald A. Veeder served as course director of the workshop, entitled "Environmental Factors Influencing the Performance of Naval Weapons Systems" in 1958 and Dick Backus served as course director in 1959. The workshop consisted of several lectures by WHOI scientists on such subjects as "Submarine Detection Systems." The workshop students were comprised of employees of research laboratories and companies with divisions devoted to air, surface, and underwater communication, detection and classification (some served as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense). | |||||||||||
| Arrangement | |||||||||||
| The first folder consists of the questionnaires received for the 1958 workshop, and the second folder contains questionnaires received for the 1959 workshop. Contents of each folder are organized in reverse chronological order. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Tycoon’s College 1958: Feedback | December 8, 1958–January 19, 1959, undated | ||||||||
| 2 | Tycoon’s College 1959: Feedback | December 12, 1959-May 7, 1960, undated | |||||||||
| Palace Revolution 1961-1962 .25 box (.125 lin. ft.) | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note | |||||||||||
| The Palace Revolution series consists of correspondence between the WHOI Board of Trustees, the WHOI Executive Committee, and several members of the WHOI scientific staff, including Backus, who expressed their extreme dissatisfaction with the WHOI directorate and administration (the director in question was Paul Fye). The litany of complaints and proposed solutions, presented to the Executive Committee on December 19, 1961 are included in this collection. Also included is the memo from the Executive Committee (dated December 19, 1961) voicing their continued support of Fye and his administration upon the presentation by Fye of a policy they felt adequately addressed the problems presented by the disgruntled staff members. This policy, presented by Fye on December 12, 1961, is only alluded to and is not included in the collection. | |||||||||||
| Arrangement | |||||||||||
| The contents of the series are arranged in original order. | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Palace Revolution | November 6, 1961-January 12, 1962 | ||||||||
| Georges Bank Book 1980-1988 5.5 boxes (2.75 lin. ft.) | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note | |||||||||||
| The series pertains to Georges Bank, a book edited by Backus and published in 1987. The book is a history of Georges Bank, the fishing area located SW of Nova Scotia in the Gulf of Maine. Over 100 writers collaborated on and contributed to sections of the book, with chapters devoted to the science of Georges Bank (including geology, climate, tides, chemistry, microbiology, and zoology), history of the fishing industry in the area, policy administration and management, and the impact of petroleum development on the Georges Bank ecosystem. Drafts of all articles, and reviewer comments, are included in the collection, organized alphabetically by author name. A list of the articles and their authors can be found in Subseries 2, under "Publishing and Printing: MIT Press." Other than the Georges Bank book, no information about Backus' research while at WHOI is included in this collection. | |||||||||||
| Arrangement | |||||||||||
| The series is arranged in two subseries: Subseries 1: Contributors
Subseries 2: Administrative and Miscellaneous Folders in each subseries are arranged alphabetically, and folder contents are arranged in reverse chronological order, with undated material at the back of each folder. |
|||||||||||
| Subseries 1: Contributors | |||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Anderson, R. Wayne | November 5, 1982-July 27, 1983 | ||||||||
| 2 | Appolonio, Spencer | December 11, 1982-December 22, 1982 | |||||||||
| 3 | Azarovitz, Thomas R. | June-November 1983 | |||||||||
| 4 | Backus, Richard H. | December 1982-1985, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | Bacon, Michael P. | September 2, 1981-March 25, 1983 | |||||||||
| 6 | Ball, Mahlon M. | December 9, 1982-February 22, 1983 | |||||||||
| 7 | Ball, Milner S. | May 10-19, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 8 | Beardsley, Robert C. | January 2, 1980-July 8, 1981 | |||||||||
| 9 | Bothner, Michael H. | April 23, 1982-July 26, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 10 | Bourne, Donald | April 23, 1982-April 10, 1985, undated | ||||||||
| 11 | Brink, Kenneth H. | March 25, 1983-January 3, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 12 | Brown, Bradford E. | May 2, 1983-May 16, 1986 | |||||||||
| 13 | Brown, Wendell S. | March 23-December 7, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 14-15 | Butman, Bradford | October 28, 1980-January 12, 1986, undated | |||||||||
| 16 | Casey, John G. | October 10, 1983-May 14, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 17 | Christie, Donna R. | October 30, 1980-November 26, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 18 | Cochran, J. Kirk | May 16-31, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 19 | Cohen, Edward B. | June 23, 1983-January 17, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 20 | Cooper, Richard A. | April 1-4, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 21 | Csanady, Gabriel T. | December 31, 1981-February 13, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 22 | Cura, Jerome J. Jr. | April 25, 1983-February 17, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 23 | Danenberger, Elmer P. | September 29, 1982-December 1, 1982, undated | |||||||||
| 24 | Davis, Cabell S. | September 19, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 25 | Earle, Marshall D. | April 13-July 18, 1983, undated | ||||||||
| 26 | Falkowski, Paul | November 12, 1981-February 20, 1985 | |||||||||
| 27 | Farrington, John W. | May 12, 1982-May 2, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 28 | Emery, Kenneth O. | April 22-July 30, 1982 | |||||||||
| 29 | Flagg, Charles N. | June 11, 1982-November 3, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 30 | Geller, Lawrence D. | October 13-December 9, 1983 | |||||||||
| 31 | German, Andrew | February 25, 1981-April 27, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 32 | Gough, Joseph | January 3, 1982-June 16, 1986, undated | |||||||||
| 33 | Grosslein, Marvin D. | September 8, 1981-December 18, 1984 | |||||||||
| 34 | Hain, James H.W. | August 24, 1983-22 November 22, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 35 | Hennemuth, Richard C. | April 2, 1982-August 31, 1983 | |||||||||
| 36 | Hennessey, Timothy M. | November 8, 1982-August 31, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 4 | 37 | Hobbie, John C. | January 11-31, 1983, undated | ||||||||
| 38 | Hopkins, Thomas Sawyer | July 26, 1983-June 8, 1984 | |||||||||
| 39 | Howarth, Robert | October 29, 1980?-June 27, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 40 | Hughes, Pat | May 15, 1984-October 31, 1984 | |||||||||
| 41 | Klein, Patrice | December 12, 1983-December 15, 1983 | |||||||||
| 42 | Klitgord, Kim D. | August 25, 1982, undated | |||||||||
| 43 | Leschine, Thomas M. | June 10, 1982-March 2, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 44 | Maciolek, Nancy J. | November 16-21, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 45 | McCorkle, Barbara | November 18, 1980-November 16, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 46 | Michael, Allen | October 27, 1982-April 10, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 47 | Mountain, David G. | July 18, 1983-May 15, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 48 | Murphy, Thomas J. Jr. | June 13-24, 1983 | |||||||||
| 49 | Neff, Jerry M. | July 29, 1983-January 19, 1984 | |||||||||
| 50 | O’Reilly, Jay E. | June 21, 1983-November 21, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 51 | Ostergard, James | August 31-November 30, 1982, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 52 | Peterson, Susan | February 10, 1983-July 6, 1984, undated | ||||||||
| 53 | Powers, Kevin D. | October 30, 1980-May 18, 1984 | |||||||||
| 54 | Price, Richard L. | November 10, 1980-October 31, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 55 | Rejected Contributions | May 21, 1981-February 23, 1984 | |||||||||
| 56 | Rockwell, Susan | January 24, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 57 | Schlee, John | April 28, 1982-April 7, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 58 | Scranton, Mary I. | September 15, 1982-May 23, 1983 | |||||||||
| 59 | Sears, James R. | March 7-April 13, 1983 | |||||||||
| 60 | Sherman, Kenneth | April 26, 1983-April 25, 1984 | |||||||||
| 61 | Shoop, C. Robert | October 21-December 23, 1982, undated | |||||||||
| 62 | Sissenwine, Michael P. | February 8, 1982-October 22, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 63 | Smith, Leah J. | March 26, 1982-January 24, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 64 | Smith, P.K. | October 1, 1982, undated | |||||||||
| 65 | Smith, Robert | February 6-November 17, 1981 | |||||||||
| 66 | Steimle, Frank | October 1, 1982-June 1, 1983 | |||||||||
| 67 | Theroux, Roger B. | December 3, 1982-April 14, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 68 | Twichell, David | January 14, 1983-March 5, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 69 | Uchapi, Elazar | July 21-30, 1982 | ||||||||
| 70 | Walsh, John J. | June 8, 1981-March 26, 1984, undated | |||||||||
| 71 | Wright, W. Redwood | October 29, 1982-October 12, 1983 | |||||||||
| 72 | Yentsch, Charles S. | October 28, 1982-September 19, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| Subseries 2: Administrative and Miscellaneous | |||||||||||
| 6 | 1 | Budgets | 1981-1986, undated | ||||||||
| 2 | Editorial Board: Agendas and Minutes | March 19, 1981-April 12, 1982 | |||||||||
| 3 | Editorial Board: Correspondence | October 2, 1980-November 5, 1984 | |||||||||
| 4 | Funding: Bureau of Land Management | January 15, 1981-January 18, 1983 | |||||||||
| 5 | Funding: Minerals Management Service | December 19, 1984-May 6, 1987, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | Funding: Sea Grant | October 9, 1980-May 13, 1983, undated | |||||||||
| 7 | Preliminary Research | May 9, 1980-July 6, 1981, undated | |||||||||
| 8 | Publicity | May 6, 1983-July 20, 1988, undated | |||||||||
| 9 | Publishing and Printing: Miscellaneous | October 11, 1979-September 2, 1981, undated | |||||||||
| 10 | Publishing and Printing: MIT Press | May 11, 1981-October 14, 1986, undated | |||||||||
| Atlantis II Cruise 59 1970-circa 2001 1 box (.25 lin. ft.) | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note | |||||||||||
| This series consists of a memoirs Dick wrote about his experiences on the Atlantis II Cruise 59 in 1970 entitled Living and Working at Sea: Madeira to the Cape Verdes to Woods Hole. Also included in this series is a scrapbook of photos of the entire crew from that cruise. | |||||||||||
| Arrangement | |||||||||||
| 7 | 1 | “Living and Working at Sea” | circa 2001 | ||||||||
| 2 | Scrapbook of crew photos | 1970 | |||||||||