University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries

Finding Aid for Eugene Odum Research Files: Eniwetok Atoll, Old-Field Plant Specimens, Southern Nuclear Task Force, etc. 1950-1970 (UGA 06-032)

RG 4-5; Institute of Ecology
3 linear feet: one bankers box, one oversize box

Scope and Contents:

Most of this collection consists of materials related to the important 1954 expedition to Eniwetok Atoll taken by Dr. Eugene Odum and his brother, Dr. Howard Odum. Dr. Odum’s biographer, Dr. Betty Jean Craige, wrote about the expedition in “A Tribute to Eugene P. Odum” in the University of Georgia’s Research Magazine in the summer of 2002:

Because he himself had focused primarily on the biological sciences, Gene appreciated opportunities to collaborate with his younger brother Howard Thomas Odum, who had studied the physical sciences. After spending the summer of 1954 doing research together on the coral reefs of the Eniwetok Atoll, the young ecologists showed in an award-winning paper1 that symbiosis maintained an equilibrium between corals and algae. Gene came to believe that symbiosis worked similarly in social systems: that interdependence leads to cooperation and hence to social stability. … …The paper, “Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll,” published in Ecological Monographs in 1955, won the Mercer Award from the Ecological Society of America in 1956.

Other research-related materials are included in the collection, including a set of plant specimens collected in Clarke County in relation to the class Ecology 353.

Originally these materials were located in UGA 97-047, a collection of books and journals that belonged to Dr. Odum. They have been extracted to make them more accessible to researchers.

The illustration above is taken from a booklet in folder 12, Eniwetok: A Pictorial Study which has been annotated by the brothers. Next to a photograph of the outdoor movie theatre, Gene Odum has written, "Tom's favorite," and Howard Thomas Odum has responded, "Gene sees em too."

Inventory of Files

06-032:1

  1. Eniwetok Atoll Logbook, 1954
  2. Brief report, Eniwetok study, submitted to AEC
  3. Report on research accomplished at the Eniwetok Marine Laboratory during the summer of 1954
  4. Coral reef paper – early drafts
  5. “Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Winward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll” [manuscript]
  6. Coral reef ms. – recopied pages
  7. Eniwetok Atoll – loose manuscript pages
  8. Coral reef data
  9. Coral reef figures
  10. Eniwetok correspondence, 1953-1955
  11. Identified corals by Wells, Eniwetok [John Wells of Cornell]
  12. Eniwetok – miscellaneous items
  13. Aerial photos, Eniwetok, July, 1954
  14. Contour chart of Eniwetok Atoll, 1954
  15. Coral reef papers – Contouras
  16. Reef Technology Index proposal announcement
  17. Southern Interstate Nuclear Board.  Task Force for Nuclear Power Policy, 1970
  18. Southern Nuclear Task Force committee studies, 1970, I
  19. Southern Nuclear Task Force committee studies, 1970, II
  20. Southern Nuclear Task Force committee studies, 1970, III
  21. Wildlife photographs; University of Georgia wildlife conservation truck phonograph, c. 1950 and wildlife trapping chart, 1954-1955
  22. Checklist, Mammals of Georgia
  23. Draft maps relating to ranges of birds.

06-032:2

  1. One-Year Fields, Athens, Ga., September Dominants, Herbarium Specimens, Ecology 353
  2. Ecology Class old-field herbarium [specimens, Ecology 353]