Harold Eugene Edgerton, 1903-1990.
Papers, 1889-1990.
Manuscript
Collection - MC 25
Introduction and Biographical Note | Series Descriptions | Scope and Content Note | How to Use the Collection | Related Collections
Series I. Biographical - Return to MC 25 Home Page
The biographical series (box 1, folder 1; box 9, folder 1, and boxes 117-130, 135, 139, 140, 142, 146) brings together in an alphabetical sequence HEE's fragmentary writings about himself, articles about HEE and his accomplishments, material documenting his family relationships and private life, and résumés, lists, and other papers that provide an overview of his life.
As early as 1965, HEE began assembling photographs, articles, and notes for possible inclusion in an autobiography. These early compilations coincided with his impending official retirement from MIT in 1968. Between 1975 and 1988, he wrote a number of autobiographical fragments (box 1, folders 2-9) totalling approximately 200 typewritten pages and filed them in envelopes variously labelled "An Autobiography" and "Book." These fragments do not form a connected narrative, but rather record HEE's recollections of episodes in his personal and professional life, touching upon his ancestry, childhood, and family, and expanding more upon ideas developed, trips taken, and people met. He reminisces in these pieces about his early experiences at MIT; the development of stroboscopes and their application to industrial uses and photographic techniques; World War II aerial surveillance; collaboration with oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and others in underwater explorations; and other matters. The photographs he brought together in these autobiographical folders between 1965 and 1988 include images of HEE's family and colleagues; pictures of equipment, places visited, experiments, and underwater sites; and prints illustrating ways in which high-speed photography reveals previously unseen phenomena. The autobiographical fragments written by HEE, however, do not fully illuminate the importance he attached to the many articles and photographs he gathered for the book.
The materials HEE gathered for inclusion in the projected autobiography have been arranged in an order reflecting the way in which they were assembled by him. Materials from each dated envelope have been kept together. Under each date, however, materials have been separated into folders of autobiographical fragments, folders with copies of photographs (box 2, folders 1-8), and folders with copies of printed materials (box 1, folders 10-11). (Original photographs have been transferred to the MIT Museum, and copies kept in Series I. Original printed materials have been refiled in appropriate parts of the collection, with copies retained in Series I.)
An isolated note on one of the autobiographical envelopes suggests that HEE may have intended to use the title Experiences for his projected life story. "Experience" was a word he often used as a substitute for "experiment" in describing his work in the laboratory.
Additional information about equipment and techniques developed by HEE and the recognition given to his work is found in an extensive chronological arrangement (box 5, folder 4; box 9, folder 1) of writings by and about him, 1930 to 1988 (maintained in his MIT office), as well as in five scrapbooks (maintained by his mother, Mary Edgerton), 1931 to 1975 (boxes 126-130). These materials document HEE's work with high-speed photography and oceanographic exploration, his interest in sports photography, his collaboration with Jacques Cousteau, his participation in events at MIT, and other matters.
HEE's personality and the significance of his work are detailed by several hundred letters from friends and colleagues on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday and official retirement from MIT in 1968 (box 3, folders 5-9).
HEE's ancestry, childhood, schooling, early career, family relationships, and other matters are documented in seven photograph albums, ca. 1889 to 1930 (boxes 119-125), and thirty-two audiotapes made between 1946 and 1979 (boxes 139-142). Handwritten notes identify many of the people and places depicted in the photographs. Names of people speaking or playing musical instruments on the sound recordings are identified by HEE's spoken introductions on most tapes. These materials amply reflect HEE's interpersonal relations, joie de vivre, mannerisms, and wit.
Series II. Subject correspondence files - Return to MC 25 Home Page
The subject correspondence series (box 9, folder 2; box 50, folder 5, and box 142) brings together in a single alphabetical arrangement professional and personal correspondence. While the bulk of material in the series concerns HEE's work, a substantial amount of personal information is also included. The series contains no correspondence between HEE and his family (see Series I), or material pertaining to EG&G, Inc. (see Series V), MIT (see Series IV), or publications (see Series VII). The series does include correspondence about trips taken by HEE and research in which he participated. Researchers interested in HEE's trips should look first at appropriate folders in the trips series to discover names of those he travelled to work with, and then consult his correspondence with that person or institution for additional information. Research activities recorded by HEE in his laboratory notebooks are frequently also discussed in correspondence with individuals identified in the notebook entries. Much of the correspondence documents HEE's interactions with scientists and engineers from around the world seeking his advice or other assistance in carrying out projects. These interactions reflect the high regard in which HEE was held by an international group of colleagues and document the wide range of projects to which his photographic and sonar innovations were successfully applied. The letters reflect HEE's easy availability and enthusiasm for interesting projects and problems.
Of special interest is HEE's extensive correspondence with French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, for whom he developed underwater photographic systems and with whom he made many trips aboard the research vessel Calypso (box 14, folder 4; box 15, folder 1). Their correspondence discusses technical aspects of making and testing equipment, underwater research activities, and travel plans. It also documents the long friendship between HEE and Cousteau following their introduction to one another by the National Geographic Society in 1953. Similar details of underwater exploration are found in HEE's correspondence with several of Cousteau's associates: Georges Houot (box 22, folder 7), Andre Laban (box 25, folder 3), and Jacques Piccard (box 38, folder 2).
HEE's interest in underwater research, as well as nature photography, is documented by a large quantity of National Geographic Society correspondence, which includes material about Calypso voyages (box 31, folder 6; box 34, folder 13).
HEE's participation in oceanographic research involving his photographic and sonar techniques is documented throughout the series. Of particular significance and interest, however, is his correspondence with Willard Bascom, regarding the deep scattering layer (box 10, folder 7); George Bass (box 10, folder 9) and Robert Marx (box 28, folders 12-13), regarding shipwrecks; Lloyd Breslau, regarding underwater seismic profiling (box 12, folder 1); Olivier Leenhardt, regarding general topics in oceanography (box 25, folder 9 ; box 26, folder 1); Elisha Linder, regarding underwater Israeli archaeology (box 26, folders 7-8); Edwin Link, regarding use of mud penetrators (box 26, folder 10; box 27, folder 1); Frank McWhorter, regarding oceanographic macrophotography (box 27, folders 10-11); Robert Rines (box 39, folder 4) and Ian Morrison (box 30, folder 5), regarding exploration of Loch Ness for plane wrecks, stone circles, and unknown creatures; Peter and Joan Throckmorton, regarding general topics in ocean exploration (box 43, folders 1-2); Gleb Udintsev, regarding the Mid-Atlantic Rift Valley and U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation in underwater studies (box 43, folder 10); and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, regarding oceanographic projects and equipment (box 48, folder 13; box 49, folder 3).
HEE's interest in land-based nature photography, including studies of the rapid movements of bats, hummingbirds, and rattlesnakes, is documented by his correspondence with the Bleitz Wildlife Foundation (box 11, folder 8), the Denver Museum of Natural History (box 16, folder 1), and Crawford Greenewalt (box 20, folders 6-7).
Charitable activities as well as maintenance of old ties in Nebraska are documented in folders of correspondence which HEE labelled "Aurora, Nebraska" (box 10, folder 3) and "University of Nebraska" (box 46, folder 1). Correspondence with Life photographer Gjon Mili illustrates the close personal ties between HEE and Mili and reveals something about Mili's opinions regarding high-speed photography as an art form (box 29, folder 11). Exhibits of HEE's photographs are discussed in correspondence with Jean Philippe Charbonnier (box 13, folder 5), Eastman House (box 16, folder 14), and the Smithsonian Institution (box 41, folder 9). HEE's gift of historical equipment to the Smithsonian is also documented in the latter folder.
Information about patents and other legal matters is found in correspondence with Rines & Rines (box 39, folder 5), a law firm which handled HEE's legal affairs for many years.
There is almost no correspondence earlier than 1950.
Series III. Research - Return to MC 25 Home Page
HEE's research activities spanned more than sixty years, and included equipment testing at General Electric Co., laboratory work at MIT, military research and development during World War II, and field work around the world, employing photographic and sonar techniques. This series incorporates the laboratory notebooks HEE maintained at MIT; sonar records and annotated site location maps; blueprints and technical data on equipment development and testing; correspondence, diagrams, reports, and photographs documenting development of aerial surveillance equipment for the Allied war effort; and correspondence and background materials pertaining to other projects and research interests.
The laboratory notebooks (box 50, folder 6; box 57, folder 5) illustrate through notes, diagrams, data, and photographs the step-by-step evolution of HEE's innovative ideas from inspiration to finished plan or product. The notebook entries reveal the excitement generated among HEE's colleagues at MIT by his early demonstrations of stroboscopic phenomena and show how techniques developed by him to discover ways of improving industrial efficiency found useful applications in other areas. HEE's habit of calling in colleagues from neighboring labs to sign notebook pages reveals his awareness of the potential economic value of his research. Of special interest is the fact that HEE recorded personal diary entries regarding births, marriages, visits by friends, and recreation in his laboratory notebooks, sandwiched between entries containing complicated calculations and diagrams. The notebooks are a consistent record of HEE's research activities in his MIT lab from 1930 to 1990, with entries made every day or every few days during the school year and less frequently during summers. The notebooks are supplemented by sonar records (box 58, folder 1; box 59, folder 5, and boxes 131-134) and by notebooks in trips files (see Series VI, box 90, folder 7; box 104, folder 7), which further illuminate specific research efforts.
The notebooks contain references indicating that HEE maintained other notebooks, which are not now with the collection. Summaries by HEE of notebooks earlier than 1930 are found on pages 72-73 of Notebook T-II (box 50, folder 7).
HEE's innovations and improvements to equipment such as flash devices and systems for underwater mapping and photography are described not only in the laboratory notebooks (box 50, folder 6 ; box 57, folder 5), but also in technical specifications and plans (box 59, folder 6; box 73, folder 10). These files contain diagrams, photographs, and technical information about a wide range of research projects, including beacons (box 59, folder 14 ; box 60, folder 2), boomers (for location of underwater objects) (box 60, folders 9-14), cameras (box 60, folder 18; box 61, folder 2), elapsed time movie equipment (box 62, folders 1-4), flash units (box 62, folder 5; box 63, folder 2), pingers (for positioning underwater cameras) (box 66, folder 13), piddlers (for demonstrating stroboscopic effects) (box 66, folder 12), sonar systems (box 68, folders 10-11), stroboscopes (box 69, folder 7; box 70, folder 2, and box 135), and other devices. These files generally contain finished plans for purposes of reference and do not show the evolution of ideas as clearly as the notebook entries.
Annotated site maps (boxes 131-133) and sonar charts (box 58, folder 1; box 59, folder 5, and box 134) in the series document HEE's research using sonar equipment to search for underwater objects, such as shipwrecks and architectural ruins, between 1955 and 1986.
Research projects files (box 73, folder 11; box 83, folder 4, and boxes 136-137) include documentation of HEE's work in designing and testing powerful flash units for use on Allied reconnaissance planes in World War II. The D-5 flash unit and related equipment developed by HEE, used to photograph enemy troop movements after dark, contributed significantly to the success of the Normandy invasion and other Allied victories. Material includes correspondence, blueprints, and reports (box 77, folder 1; box 81, folder 7), as well as two photograph albums (boxes 136- 137).
HEE's interest in and contributions to other projects are also documented in the research projects section. These files contain audiotapes (boxes 139, 142, 143), background material, and correspondence created or compiled by HEE (box 73, folder 11; box 83, folder 4), relating to topics that intrigued him. Much of this material is complementary to information in the trips series.
The research series contains very little information about HEE's research prior to 1930, aside from the summaries referred to above. Information about his earlier research efforts can be found in the writings and speeches series (box 104, folder 8; box 116, folder 17, and boxes 141, 143) and in a related collection in the MIT Archives, MC 132, Harold Eugene Edgerton, Oral History, 1975.
Series IV. MIT-related materials - Return to MC 25 Home Page
This series (box 83, folder 5; box 87, folder 14) brings together in an alphabetical scheme material which documents the performance of HEE's MIT-related administrative and teaching responsibilities; it does not include papers pertaining to his research (see Series III) and writing (see Series VII), or other primarily independent pursuits, even where such activities took place on the MIT campus.
HEE's teaching of or participation in MIT courses, summer workshops, and seminars is documented by course notes, 1961-1989 (box 83, folder 6; box 84, folder 11). Research problems in which he was interested are listed and described in folders containing thesis suggestions and lists of theses supervised by HEE (box 87, folders 10-13). Of special interest are reports written by students in the form of letters to their friends describing in non-technical language what they learned by attending Freshman Seminar, Strobe Lab, 1963-1965 (box 83, folder 14). Also included are chronologically-arranged card files recording all students enrolled in HEE's MIT courses from 1938 to 1941 and 1945 to 1977 (box 117). There are no course notes for subjects taught by HEE between 1927 and 1960.
Correspondence files (box 85, folder 1; box 86, folder 11) document operations and projects of the Stroboscopic Laboratory, courses taught, open houses, and HEE's participation in MIT events. A recurrent theme is HEE's concern about and vigilance for quality, safety, and economy at the Institute. He frequently wrote, for example, to the Department of Physical Plant at MIT regarding wasteful practices and unsafe conditions, and organized an anti-graffiti "Stop the Paint Club" during the war in Vietnam (box 86, folder 23).
HEE's enthusiasm for demonstrating intriguing optical phenomena is recorded by a videotaped visit to his laboratory (box 139) and an audiotaped lecture on strobes (box 141). Similar tapes and motion pictures depicting HEE's activities at the Institute are maintained by the MIT Museum.
The charitable contributions of HEE and Esther Edgerton to MIT are documented by letters located in correspondence files (box 85, folder 1; box 86, folder 11) and by audiotaped ceremonies and speeches at the groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies for the EG&G Education Center (box 143).
Series V. EG&G, Inc. - Return to MC 25 Home Page
This series (box 87, folder 15; box 90, folder 6) contains information about HEE's personal contributions to EG&G, Inc. (formerly Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier, Inc.), the business he started with Kenneth Germeshausen and Herbert Grier as a partnership in 1934. The alphabetically arranged materials document highlights of EG&G history as well as HEE's personal involvement in client relations and product development. Of special interest is correspondence, 1948 to 1989, reflecting HEE's enthusiasm for and expertise in handling details of engineering problems and marketing improvements (box 87, folder 16; box 89, folder 14). Also of interest are an audiotape by the three founding partners relating early events in the company's history (box 143) and a folder of handwritten accounts documenting the informal business arrangements existing from 1931 to 1935 (box 89, folder 17). EG&G's business records are in the possession of the firm.
Series VI. Trips - Return to MC 25 Home Page
The trips series incorporates HEE's travel files from 1952 to 1989, arranged in chronological order (box 90, folder 7; box 104, folder 7). His trips often had the dual purpose of work combined with sightseeing and personal enjoyment, and he was frequently accompanied by his wife, Esther Edgerton, and grandchildren. While the focus of the trips series is work-related, many folders contain personal and family information as well.
The bulk of the material in the series deals with HEE's role in underwater investigations. He was much in demand from the 1950s to the 1980s for underwater exploratory and archaeological expeditions as an expert in underwater photographic techniques and, later, in the use of side-scan sonar devices for discovering man-made objects and geological information on and beneath lake beds and ocean floors.
The series documents HEE's search for submerged ships, ancient cities, lost equipment, and little-known biological phenomena. It also includes information about geological and archaeological surveys. Folders contain sonar charts and annotated maps, photographs of HEE and others at locations, itineraries, reports, background readings, and correspondence. Of special interest are the many trip notebooks kept by HEE and distributed throughout the series. These diaries, kept for some, but not all, trips record a mixture of personal and technical information, including itineraries, personal notes, charts, diagrams, and data.
Other files in the series deal with trips that did not involve underwater exploration. These usually document a trip by HEE to a meeting or conference. Others record his experiences on land- based photographic expeditions.
Series VII. Writings and speeches - Return to MC 25 Home Page
This series comprises, in two separate chronological arrangements, HEE's writings and oral presentations. The writings portion of the series includes published books and articles and other writings (box 104, folder 8; box 114, folder 10), some of which do not appear on the bibliography appended to Stopping Time. Correspondence with publishers regarding published works has been filed with or immediately following each title. Correspondence regarding permissions to reproduce photographs in works published by others has been arranged chronologically (box 114, folder 11; box 115, folder 4) at the end. The speeches portion of the series includes typescripts (box 115, folder 5; box 116, folder 17) and audiotapes of talks and radio broadcasts (boxes 141, 143). HEE's technical innovations in high-speed photography, including multiflash and motion pictures, are described in the writings. His improvements to sonar systems and his extension of their use to allow sub-bottom readings in oceanographic exploration are also covered. Published books such as Flash! Seeing the Unseen (box 105, folder 47), Stopping Time (box 113, folder 8), and Moments of Vision (box 110, folder 14) contain reproductions of many of HEE's famous stop action and multiflash photographs. Other books on the art of photography illustrate the use of HEE's images in an artistic context (box 138). HEE's personality and sense of humor are illustrated by the speeches (box 115, folder 5; box 116, folder 17, and boxes 141, 143), in which anecdotes are interspersed with technical information. Of special interest are presentations in which he discusses his early work and experimental methods, including accidental discoveries.
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