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J. Edward Hoffmeister Papers
MSS 0231
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Creator:
Hoffmeister, J. Edward -- (John Edward), 1899-
Title: J. Edward Hoffmeister Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1925 - 1982
Extent:
4.00 linear feet
(8 archives boxes, 4 card file boxes, 3 oversize items)
Abstract: John Edward Hoffmeister (1899-1991) earned his degrees from Johns Hopkins University; an A.B. in chemistry in 1920 and a Ph.D.
in geology in 1923. Field work in Tonga and Fiji in 1926, 1928, and 1934 formed the basis of his antecedent-platform theory
of coral reef development in the 1930s. His primary collaborator was Harry S. Ladd. Hoffmeister was a professor of geology
and an administrator at the University of Rochester from 1923 until 1964, and continued his work on corals during his retirement
in Florida.
The Papers span 1925-1982 with the bulk documenting the years 1926-1935. While there is no documentation of his work at the
University of Rochester or his service during World War II, and little record of his Florida work, documentation of his Pacific
expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s is quite rich. This early documentation includes numerous lantern slides and 16 mm films
taken during his Pacific expeditions, along with personal and professional correspondence, field notebooks, diaries, and records
of the Pacific Science Association's committee on coral reefs, and ephemera. Ephemera include geological specimens, a Fijian
war club and two walking sticks.
Repository:
University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.
La Jolla, California 92093-0175
Collection number: MSS 0231
Language of Material:
Collection materials in English
Collection is open for research.
Not Available
J. Edward Hoffmeister Papers, MSS 0231. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
John Edward Hoffmeister (1899-1991) was a professor of geology and an administrator at the University of Rochester from 1923
until 1964. His research focused on the development of coral reefs, based on field work he conducted in the Tongan and Fijian
islands in the late 1920s and early 1930s and off the coast of Florida during the 1960s and 1970s.
As a graduate student, Hoffmeister worked with T. Wayland Vaughn at the National Museum of Natural History. He was also a
fellow of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, 1921-1929, where he was invited to join the expedition of W.A. Setchell in 1926 to
study geology in Eua, an island in the Tongan Group. Hoffmeister's second Pacific expedition was in 1928 with Harry Ladd,
again in the Tongan Group. In 1934, he and Ladd made another joint expedition, this time to Fiji. During these expeditions,
Hoffmeister made several films of island life and corresponded regularly with his family back home.
His researches on these expeditions resulted in twenty-five articles and included his articulation of the antecedent-platform
theory of coral reef formation. This theory posed an alternative to Darwin's theory of subsidence which suggested that reefs
have sunk with the subsidence of the sea floor. Hoffmeister's theory suggests that no change in sea level is necessary for
understanding reef development.
During World War II, Hoffmeister's knowledge of the Pacific was put to use making bombing maps of the Pacific for the Army
Map Service. He worked as a geologist for the United States Geological Survey in 1942-44 and, in 1946, consulted on the Bikini
atom bomb test.
Following nearly forty years of service as an educator and administrator at the University of Rochester, Hoffmeister returned
to field work on corals off the coast of Florida at the University of Miami's marine laboratory. His post-retirement period
was productive, resulting in several publications, including a summary of his Florida work in a book for popular audiences,
LAND FROM THE SEA (1974).
He was a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Geological Association of Canada, and the Paleontological Society
of America.
Scope and Content of Collection
In the early decades of the 20th century, when J. Edward Hoffmeister undertook his investigations of corals in the South Pacific,
the "coral reef problem" was of great interest to scholars. At issue was a seeming paradox: the food and light conditions
necessary to reef-forming corals are found only in relatively shallow water. Nevertheless, two common coral formations, atolls
and barrier reefs, frequently occur far below the ocean's surface. Most of the proposed solutions to this problem have postulated
a change in sea level relative to the reefs' foundation. Darwin theorized that the land beneath these kinds of corals sank,
and the sea level correspondingly rose, as the reefs grew. Others, following the American geologist Reginald Daly's lead,
proposed a more complicated scenario of glacial warming and coral growth. Since neither theory could, by itself, account
for all observed forms of coral reefs, the debate continued.
On the basis of their field research in Tonga and Fiji, Hoffmeister and his colleague Harry Ladd argued that the growth of
coral reefs required only the antecedent existence of a suitable submerged "platform" and that no change in sea level was
necessary. Although this theory is now considered less persuasive than either Darwin or Daly's explanations, it has not been
wholly discredited. The field notebooks, drawing books, lantern slides, diaries, and some of the correspondence in this collection
provide a unique retrospect on the social, intellectual and physical circumstances that shaped Hoffmeister's thinking on the
origins of coral reefs. The letters to and from Harry Ladd, W. A. Setchell and T. Wayland Vaughn, and the files on the international
committee on the coral reefs of the Pacific, give a sense of some of the interests current among a broad community of geologists
in the first half of this century.
In addition to their contribution to the history of geology, the Hoffmeister papers offer anthropologists rare documentary
evidence of native life in Fiji and Tonga during the 1920s and 1930s. The collection includes hundreds of feet of 16mm black
and white film covering feasts, dancing, rural and urban housing, and village scenes from the two island groups. Hoffmeister's
letters to his wife and the diaries he kept during the second expedition are also useful sources of information about the
islanders' daily lives.
The collection is limited to Hoffmeister's research on corals. His years as a professor of geology and dean at the University
of Rochester are not covered here, nor is there any biographical material. His contributions to the Army-Navy Joint Task
Force on Bikini Island are alluded to in correspondence, but there is no supporting evidence in this collection.
The Hoffmeister papers are arranged in the following nine series: 1) FIRST EXPEDITION, EUA, TONGA, 1926, 2) SECOND EXPEDITION,
TONGA, 1928, 3) THIRD EXPEDITION, FIJI AND LAU, 1934, 4) FILMS AND SLIDES, 5) CORRESPONDENCE, 6) WRITINGS, 7) SUBJECT FILES,
8) PHOTOGRAPHS AND NEGATIVES, and 9) ARTIFACTS AND GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.
SERIES 1: FIRST EXPEDITION, EUA, TONGA, 1926
1925-1926 .2 li. ft.
This series contains the subseries Correspondence and Field Notebooks. Nearly all of the general correspondence is from Professor
W. A. Setchell, of the University of California, Berkeley, who hoped to include Hoffmeister in a research trip to Tonga.
The letters, which address funding issues and travel arrangements, predate the expedition. Correspondence with Ruth Hoffmeister
begins shipboard, with Hoffmeister en route to the Fijian port town of Suva, the Setchell group's first stop after leaving
Hawaii. Hoffmeister's handwritten letters to his wife provide detailed descriptions of people, both Westerners and natives,
and of places, including Suva and the islands of Tongatabu and Eua. Activities such as attending a local church service,
collecting fossils, and pitching camp are fully--and sometimes wryly--recounted. The Field Notebooks contain handwritten,
detailed technical descriptions of the locations and physical conditions of the coral specimens that Hoffmeister collected.
Some entries also include more discursive comments on current or planned field activities. Most are not individually dated,
but each notebook's cover page contains a date.
SERIES 2: SECOND EXPEDITION, TONGA and FIJI, 1928
1928-1933 .6 li. ft.
Correspondence, Drawing Books, Field Notebooks, Photographs, and Publications comprise this series. As with the first expedition,
the letters in this series are mainly from W. A. Setchell and to Ruth Hoffmeister. This time, however, Setchell discusses
substantive empirical issues regarding actual and theoretical reef formation, and Hoffmeister's letters to his wife contain
relatively more intimacies and references to home and relatively fewer detailed descriptions of people, places, and field
work. Neither of the two Drawing Books are dated or labeled, but the sketches of individual features of island topography
correspond with some of the field notes, suggesting that the drawings were done on the second expedition. The Field Notebooks
are similar in style and content to those done during the first expedition, except that they have fewer specimen lists and
more reflections on the possible meanings of observed geological features. For example, in Notebook No. 5, Hoffmeister describes
the course of water down a volcanic slope on Eua, and then notes a "very interesting physiographic feature" resulting from
the action of the water on the underlying limestone. He speculates that what he is observing on Eua may also explain similar
land features found on other islands. The five Photographs of Falcon Island document a trip Hoffmeister and his colleague
Harry Ladd organized to a newly emerged volcanic island in the Tonga group. The last subseries, Publications, includes two
works that arose directly out of the second expedition, a co-authored article on Falcon Island and a monograph on the geology
of Eua. The interest the latter stimulated among Hoffmeister's colleagues is attested to by their letters, also included
in this subseries.
SERIES 3: THIRD EXPEDITION, FIJI ISLANDS, 1934
(1933-1945) .4 li. ft.
This series includes Correspondence, Diaries, and Publications. The general correspondence includes a larger variety of correspondents
than occurred with the previous two expeditions. Possible sources of funding for the research, selection of staff, and related
issues predominate. The letters to Ruth Hoffmeister are more similar in tone to those written during the first expedition.
There are colorful reports of island life and daily social and work-related activities. The contrast between Hoffmeister's
routines in the relatively urban port of Suva and his daily existence in the more remote parts of the Lau island group is
clear. The Diaries provide a vivid sense of the trials and triumphs of field research in a remote setting. Hoffmeister records
his irritations--with the miserable weather, the voracious mosquitoes, the capricious mail delivery; but he notes his pleasures--telling
nursery tales to the natives to ease the boredom of long evenings, talking over the implications of a day's fossil finds with
Harry Ladd, tasting turtle eggs--as well. The diaries also record details of the physical attributes of the islands Hoffmeister
visited and note some of the social and physical characteristics of the islanders. The most significant Publication to emerge
from this expedition was the book Geology of Lau, Fiji, co-authored with Harry Ladd.
SERIES 4: FILMS AND SLIDES
1926(?)-1960s(?) 1.6 li. ft.
Hoffmeister recorded on 16mm film scenes of daily village life and panoramic views of the islands he visited. Although few
reels are dated, it is likely that some footage was taken on each of the three expeditions. The films are arranged in subseries
by type of film and reel size: Black and White Film, 16mm, 7" Reels, Black and White Film, 16mm, 3.5" Reels, and Color Film,
16mm, 3.5" Reel. The series also includes several hundred Lantern Slides and two Mounted Slides. Some of the film footage
is under- or overexposed and therefore difficult to interpret; one reel is broken in three places; and one reel is severely
damaged by mold. Most of the film, however, is in good enough condition to view easily. The reel labeled "Prince of Tonga"
is captioned and provides an excellent overview of the kinds of footage included in many of the other films. It was made
in 1970, using segments from several different reels, to be presented as a gift to the Prince of Tonga. Overall, Hoffmeister
seems to have recorded scenes and events he thought might be of interest to the general public. Examples include native dancing,
some forms of which involve highly stylized movements conducted completely from a seated position; a feast; the preparation
of tapa cloth; different types of housing; a village rugby game; and mail delivery. The Lantern Slides, in contrast, contain
proportionately more images of interest to specialists. There are about 200 slides of corals and limestone formations and
nearly a hundred of graphs, charts, and tables broadly related to the geology of reef formation in various parts of the world.
The Mounted Slides are dated 1972 by the developer; the subjects are not identified.
SERIES 5: CORRESPONDENCE
1927-1982 .3 li. ft.
The two subseries here are General and Collected. The former consists of a single folder with letters from colleagues addressing
issues related to Hoffmeister's and others' research on corals. The Collected Correspondence is dominated by letters to and
from Hoffmeister's friend and frequent collaborator, Harry Ladd. Most of the letters concern the reef-related research the
two men conducted jointly and individually. Although the specific topics they address change over the 50-year span covered
by the correspondence, the warmth and good humor inherent in the exchanges remains constant.
SERIES 6: WRITINGS
1925-1972 .2 li. ft.
This series contains reprints of all of Hoffmeister's published work, except those pieces grouped with the expeditions. There
is also a draft of a speech he gave in 1972, when the Miami University Institute of Marine Sciences dedicated their new Laboratory
for Comparative Sedimentology to T. Wayland Vaughn.
SERIES 7: SUBJECT FILES
1927-1935 .1 li. ft.
This series consists of a single subject, papers related to the Pacific Science Association's committee on coral reefs of
the Pacific. The third Pan Pacific Science Congress (1927) resolved that a "comprehensive plan" for the study of coral reefs
be drawn up by an international committee composed of "biologists, oceanographers, and geologists." That international committee
was originally headed by T. Wayland Vaughn, who asked each participating country to form its own national subcommittee, with
the chair of the new sub-body to act as delegate to the international group. Vaughn passed the chairmanship of the American
subcommittee on to Hoffmeister in 1935. The files in this collection consist exclusively of the materials Vaughn forwarded
to Hoffmeister; papers that may have been generated during Hoffmeister's own tenure are not included.
SERIES 8: PHOTOGRAPHS AND NEGATIVES
1933-1960s .2 li. ft.
The photographs and negatives in this series are of coral and limestone specimens Hoffmeister collected during his career.
There are proportionately more black and white contact sheets of pictures of Florida corals than of any other subjects.
SERIES 9: ARTIFACTS AND GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
A small box of types of foraminifera (in vials and on cross-sectional slides) Hoffmeister collected in Tonga, and three South
Pacific artifacts (a war club and two walking sticks), make up this series.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Hoffmeister, J. Edward -- (John Edward), 1899- -- Archives
Geologists -- Biography
Geology -- Tonga
Geology -- Fiji
Corals -- Tonga
Corals -- Fiji
Coral reef -- Biology
Coral reefs and islands -- Pacific Ocean
Fiji -- Description and travel
Fiji -- Social life and customs
Tonga -- Description and travel
Tonga -- Social life and customs
Diaries -- 20th century.
Photographic prints -- 20th Century.
Ladd, Henry Andrews, 1895-1941, -- correspondent
Setchell, William Albert, 1864-1943, -- correspondent
Vaughan, Thomas Wayland, 1870-1952, -- correspondent
Hoffmeister, Ruth, -- correspondent