Norman Hurd Ricker Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS 0398

Staff Only

Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

The Norman Hurd Ricker Papers, composed of 24 document boxes and one Hollinger box, include the notes and papers related to Ricker's work in industrial research and his academic career. The boxes contain Ricker's autobiography, published papers, photographs depicting his experience at Rice and many of his field expeditions, as well as notes, calculations, and graphs in various media, used in his research and writing. The materials have maintained the structure in which they were received from Ricker's files.

Dates

Creation: 1916-1978

Creator

Ricker, Norman Hurd, 1896-1980 (Person)

Access Restrictions

There are no accessrestrictions; this material is open for research. Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Norman Hurd Ricker Papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Biographical Note

Norman Hurd Ricker (1896-1980) was raised in Galveston and Albany, Texas, and was a member of Rice's first freshman and first graduating class. After receiving his doctorate in 1920 (the first given in Physics by Rice), Ricker remained at the Institute for a year before leaving to pursue his career in industrial research, first at Western Electric (1920-1923), and later at Humble Oil Refining Company (1923-1927), Hughes Tool Company (1927-1938), and Carter Oil Company (1938-1959). He ended his career of seismic and geophysical exploration in 1959 to return to academic life, taking a professorship of physics at the University of Oklahoma at Norman (1959-1980). Listed among his inventions are the paper cone loudspeaker and equipment for Texas's first deep oil wells, including the plunger lift pump for drilling. He is the author of numerous articles and a book, Transient Waves in Visco-Elastic Media. See Sallyport, April 1978.

Extent

12 Linear Feet ( (23 boxes))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract:

The Ricker Papers include the notes and papers related to physicist Norman Hurd Ricker's work in industrial research and in his academic career. The 25 boxes contain Ricker's autobiography, published papers, photographs depicting his experience at Rice University and many of his field expeditions, as well as notes, calculations, and graphs in various media, used in his research and writing.

Arrangement

The Norman Hurd Ricker Papers are arranged in four series replicating Ricker's own filing system.

Note that one item in box 24 and all items in box 25 were deaccessioned in August 2009. The remaining items in box 24 were incorporated into box 23.

Missing Title

Series I. Bound and looseleaf notebooks.
Series II. Calculations.
Series III. Wavelet Theory of Seismography.
Series IV. Artifacts and Ephemera.

Acquisition Information

The Norman Hurd Ricker Papers were received by Rice from three sources: from Ricker, who gave his Autobiography to the Woodson in May, 1978; from his son, Norman H. Ricker, Jr., who sent a group of photographs in November, 1985; and from his daughter, Florence Ricker Cloudt, who donated six boxes containing notes and papers, many related to Ricker's Wavelet Theory of Seismography, in April, 1986, and two boxes containing glass slides, in December, 1986.

Processing Information

Processed by Todd Samuelson July, 2001.

Notes in Ricker's hand concerning the contents of envelopes and files have been transcribed in the inventory, or photocopied and placed within the new enclosures.

Note that one item in box 24 and all items in box 25 were deaccessioned by archivist/special collection librarian Philip Montgomery in August 2009. The remaining items in box 24 were incorporated into box 23. The deaccessioned items were destroyed by mildew, breakage and improper storage. Box 24 contained a box of glass slides marked as mildewed. The box was deaccessioned, because the slides were damaged beyond repair. Box 25 contained a box of glass slides and a wooden plaque that were mildewed, broken and damaged beyond repair.