Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Walden Rubey (1898-1974) span the years 1915-1974, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1951-1971. The collection primarily documents Rubey's career with the United States Geological Survey, his consultant work on various geological projects, and his activities as a member of professional, scientific and educational organizations. Also included are materials relating to Rubey's technical speeches and writings in the earth sciences field. The collection is divided into the following series: General Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Subject File , and Oversize .
The General Correspondence series, 1921-1974, primarily contains incoming and outgoing correspondence between Rubey and associates involved in the earth science fields. Much of the earlier correspondence relates to his work as a geologist for the United States Geological Survey and includes letters written and received while Rubey was performing geological field work in areas of the Midwest, Southwest, the northern Great Plains, and the northern Rocky Mountains. Later correspondence primarily pertains to his involvement with numerous scientific and educational associations and his interest in the research and writings of colleagues.
The Speeches and Writings series, 1923-1974, is mostly comprised of research notes, drafts, correspondence, final copies, printed versions, and other related materials pertaining to Rubey's articles, book reviews and introductions, speeches, and reports. Research notes in this series are highly technical and often contain complex mathematical and scientific formulations. The series features many of Rubey's ground-breaking articles, along with related correspondence, illustrative materials, and research notes. Included are materials pertaining to such seminal works as “The Geologic History of Sea Water,” “The Development of the Hydrosphere and Atmosphere,” and the controversial “Role of Fluid Pressure in the Mechanics of Overthrust Faulting.” Co-authored with M. King Hubbert, the latter article was the cause of much dissension in the geological field. Letters from colleagues in this file primarily pertain to the validity of Rubey and Hubbert's fluid pressure hypothesis. The authors' replies to published discussions and critiques of their theory are also found in this series.
The Subject File , 1915-1974, is comprised of correspondence, memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, press releases, printed matter, geological maps, research notes, and other materials relating to Rubey's professional activities as a geologist. Although the series contains extensive files pertaining to projects Rubey conducted for the United States Geological Survey, complete documentation of his Survey career as a whole is lacking. Notable files include records documenting his work in standardizing the nomenclature and symbols used for defining carbonaceous and stratigraphic materials, several projects that took place in the western states, and various geological mapping projects. Other significant files relate to Rubey's work with the Survey's Strategic Minerals Program, in which he was charged with supervising surveys for vanadium, an important ore used by steel manufacturers during World War II as a steel hardener.
Also contained in the Subject File are correspondence, memoranda, and reports pertaining to Rubey's work as a member of many professional, educational, and scientific organizations. Included are correspondence, memoranda, and reports documenting his efforts in the Mohole project, a joint effort in the 1960s between the National Science Foundation and the United States government to obtain a complete core record of the layers of the earth's crust and the upper part of the underlying mantle. The project was later discontinued by Congress due to dissension between scientists and government representatives over the administration of the project, congressional charges of political influence and irregularities in the awarding of the engineering contract, and other factors. Correspondence in this file contains Rubey's candid impressions of what he felt were the root causes of the project's failure.
Other significant files pertain to Rubey's role in establishing the Lunar Science Institute, his work as a member of the Geological Society of America's Committee on the War Effort, which made recommendations to the army on the strategic employment of geologists in the battlefield during World War II, and his efforts in conjunction with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to determine the cause of a series of earthquakes plaguing the Denver, Colorado, area.
Frequent correspondents include Henry R. Aldrich, M. King Hubbert, Chester R. Longwell, and Steven S. Oriel.