The papers Francis Wilton Reichelderfer (1895-1983) span the years 1918-1983, with the bulk of the papers concentrated from 1939 through 1967. The collection primarily pertains to Reichelderfer's career in meteorology as chief of the United States Weather Bureau. Also included are records concerning his naval career and his speeches and writings. The collection is divided into two series: Speeches and Writings , and Subject File .

In the years prior to his death in 1983, Reichelderfer weeded his papers and destroyed thousands of items of personal and official correspondence, reports, memoranda, desk reminders, and other valuable materials relating to his meteorological work. Although he selected items to serve as "representative samples" of his lifelong work in meteorology, the collection lacks comprehensive documentation of his activities as a naval meteorologist and the programs and policies enacted during his tenure as chief of the Weather Bureau. The information contained in the Subject File is fragmentary at best, but Reichelderfer kept many of his speeches and writings, and materials pertaining to some of his most significant achievements in the field of meteorology can be found scattered throughout the collection. The miscellaneous notes in the Subject File contain information regarding the kinds of materials Reichelderfer discarded.

The Speeches and Writings series is comprised of notes, drafts, final copies, and printed versions of addresses, remarks, lectures, articles, and papers by Reichelderfer primarily concerned with the Weather Bureau and its policies, plans, and programs. Other papers pertain to weather and wartime operations, forecasting methods, and weather control and modification, including artificial rainmaking. Of special note is Reichelderfer's 1932 paper, entitled Norwegian Methods of Weather Analysis , a study based on Norway's innovative air mass method of weather analysis and polar front theory. As early as 1922, Reichelderfer began adapting Norway's methods of weather analysis to the distinctive American weather system, thereby producing a new meteorological standard for the United States.

The Subject File contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, photographs, and other material primarily pertaining to Reichelderfer's work as chief of the United States Weather Bureau. Included are files relating to the first weather satellites, weather forecasting and its effect on wartime operations, and early private meteorological services. The series also includes excellent biographical materials, records documenting his work as American representative of the World Meteorological Organization's mission to typhoon-ravaged Thailand in 1966-1967, and early naval reports regarding European forecasting methods. General and personal correspondence in the Subject File is meager and mostly concerns Reichelderfer's writings, his work at the Weather Bureau, and personal family matters.