The Correspondence Series includes letters written and received by the Sargent Family dated from 1888 to 1983. This series is composed primarily of correspondence within the Sargent and Tompkins families. The series includes substantial correspondence exchanged by the Tompkins family, Florence and Harry Tompkins of Pasadena, to their daughter, Grace Tompkins Sargent. There is also substantial correspondence from Grace's sister, Jean "Tommy" Tompkins Arnold and her aunt Delia Tompkins. Correspondence from the Sargent family is composed of letters from Marston Sargent's mother, Nannee May Sargent, and his sister Viella Sargent. Correspondence during the years 1942-1943 contain letters between Marston and Grace Sargent, while Marston was in the Navy. Most of the correspondence gives information on the family and their private lives. Marston Sargent's correspondence with colleagues is limited and is composed primarily of letters from Sydney Rittenburg, dated 1941 to 1981, Fred Hulse, dated 1938-1983, and Robert Emerson dated 1937-1938.

Marston Cleaves Sargent was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on April 2, 1906. The son of Oscar Groves and Nannee May Sargent, he received an A.B. from Harvard in 1929 before attending the California Institute of Technology and receiving a Ph.D. in plant physiology and biophysics in 1934. He married Grace "Peter" Charlotte Tompkins April 8, 1933, and they adopted two children, Jean Anne and Harry "Tom" Tompkins. Marston Sargent served as an assistant biologist at the California Institute of Technology from 1934 to 1937 before moving to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He began work there as an assistant biochemist and later became an instructor in oceanography between the years 1937 and 1942. He was called to active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946, during which time he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Navy's Bureau of Ships. He rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve. After the war, Sargent returned to S.I.O. where he held the position of assistant professor until 1951. He then went on to the U.S. Naval Electronics Laboratory where he was an oceanographer and Head of Training. In 1955 Sargent moved to the Office of Naval Research in Pasadena where he worked until 1958. He returned to Pasadena in 1960 after two years in the Office of Naval Research, London and remained until 1970. After leaving the Office of Naval Research, Sargent was coordinator of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations until 1974. He conducted research with the Marine Life Research Group until 1980 when he retired. He died at the age of 80 on August 28, 1986 in San Diego following a stroke.Grace Charlotte Tompkins Sargent, daughter of Florence and Harry Tompkins, was born July 2, 1909 in the Sierras of California. Grace spent her youth growing up in the Sierras, gaining a respect for nature that later influenced her to take an active role in environmental issues. Her father, Harry Tompkins was one of the first rangers in the new U.S. Forest Service under Gifford Pinchot. During her youth, a group of friends gave her the nickname "Peter" which she used the rest of her life.Harry James Tompkins was born June 1, 1867 in Troy, New York. He worked in the family knitting mill in Troy until age 19 when the damp indoor conditions caused him to become ill and forced him to go to Colorado to recover. Upon his return to Troy he became ill once again and sought a career outdoors. After a brief stint with a timber company in North Carolina he returned to New York and enrolled in the new State College of Forestry at Cornell University. From Cornell he joined the Bureau of Forestry as a student assistant. His first fieldwork was in Arkansas after which he went to Washington D.C. to work under Gifford Pinchot. He was involved in the effort to create new national forests and is credited with simplifying this process, providing easier land preservation.

16.25 li. ft.

Student and personnel records are restricted in accordance with law and university policy.

Collection is open for research.