The records consist of correspondence and subject files documenting the operations of the Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory at Yale University. Topics include faculty and personnel, environmental issues, national biological stations and institutions, and naval reports and research.
The records of the Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory in our holdings are not complete. The material in our possession is mainly General Correspondence, Series I, and Subject Files, Series II. Series I, General Correspondence, consists of 41 boxes of correspondence from 1927-1964 regarding preparation of the Bulletin of the Bingham Oceanographic Collection, exhibitions, receipt of fish and water samples, arrangements with boat captains and fisheries for their catches, etc. There is substantial correspondence with prominent oceanographers and ichthyologists such as Charles Marcus Breder and William Charles Schroeder. Series II, Subject Files, consists of one box of office records, personnel records, and miscellaneous from 1931-1965 and includes Peabody Museum reports, President's reports, research grant lists, staff activities, appointments and publications.
A substantial amount of material remains in the hands of the Peabody Museum, including Albert Parr correspondence 1879-[l928-1934]1938, Daniel Merriman correspondence 1965-1966, expedition data and logs, President's reports 1943-1966, films on fishing and expeditions, inventories of Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory equipment, blue-prints and construction records for the Bingham Oceanographic and Ornithological Laboratory, various ephemera (fish tags, vertebrae, water color paintings of fish, framed photographs), treasurer's statements and ledgers, academic appointment files 1959-1966, research grant applications 1960-1964 and Sears Foundation reprints.