William H. Quinn Papers, 1943-1995

Title: William H. Quinn Papers, 1943-1995

Predominant Dates: 1968-1993

ID: MSS Quinn

Primary Creator: Quinn, William H. (William Hewes) (1918-1994)

Extent: 0.3 cubic feet. More info below.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The William H. Quinn Papers document Quinn's research on the El Niño phenomenon. The bulk of the collection is comprised of El Niño Events: Collected Works (1968-1993) of William H. Quinn, compiled by Victor T. Neal and Steve Neshyba in 1995. This 3-volume compilation includes published and selected unpublished papers written by Quinn as a sole or co-author. The volumes also include a dedication and foreword by the compilers, a brief biography of Quinn, lists of his publications, and correspondence regarding the compilation. Archival materials (sample data, analytical methods and relevant notes) referred to in the foreword of these volumes are not part of this collection.

The Quinn Papers also include photographs, newspaper clippings, an article reprint, a certificate, an Oregon State University identification card, and a sample of Quinn's student coursework in meteorology at New York University. The photographs include 24 photographic prints and 9 film negatives depicting Quinn alone or with groups of other scientists. The negatives and most of the prints are b/w; a few color prints are included. The certificate recognizes Quinn's attendance at the 1992 International Symposium on Former ENSO Phenomena in Western South America: Records of El Niño Events, held in Lima, Peru.

William H. Quinn earned his Ph.D. in physical oceanography at Oregon State University (OSU) in 1968 and was a research faculty member at OSU from 1967 until his retirement in 1981. As an Oregon State faculty member, Quinn conducted pioneering research on the El Niño phenomenon; led the field in relating the El Niño events to the Southern Oscillation, a large-scale atmospheric process; and used the historical record to infer the occurrence of past El Niño-Southern Oscillation events. Much of this work was done after his official retirement in 1981. In 1972-1973, Quinn served as Assistant Director for Oceanography of the National Weather Service while on a leave of absence from Oregon State University.

William Hewes Quinn was born in Syracuse, New York, on September 28, 1918. He earned an AB degree from Colgate University in 1940; an A.M. in Geology from the University of Missouri in 1942; a Certificate in Meteorology from New York University in 1943; and an M.S. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in 1950. Quinn was a meteorologist and weather forecaster with the U.S. Air Force before enrolling as a graduate student at Oregon State in the mid-1960s. Quinn died in Corvallis on January 12, 1994.

More Extent Information: 33 photographs; 1 box

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The 3 volumes of collected works of Quinn were donated to the Oregon State University Kerr Library in 1995 by Quinn's colleagues, Victor T. Neal and Steve Neshyba. These volumes were transferred to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014. The volumes were combined with the other materials, which had been transferred from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences in 2013, to form the William H. Quinn Papers.

Related Materials: The College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Records (RG 173), College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Motion Picture Films and Videotapes (FV 203), School of Oceanography Photographs (P 203), and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences Records (RG 167) document research programs in oceanography at Oregon State University. The Special Collections and Archives Research Center's collections also include the Dennis Barstow Photographs (P 280), Charles Osterberg Motion Picture Films (FV 284), and William G. Pearcy Papers (MSS Pearcy).

Preferred Citation: William H. Quinn Papers (MSS Quinn), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Quinn, William H. (William Hewes) (1918-1994)
Neal, Victor T. (Victor Thomas)
Neshyba, Steve
Oregon State University. College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences

El Nino Current.
History of Science
Natural Resources
Oceanography--Research--Oregon.
Quinn, William H. (William Hewes), 1918-1994
Southern oscillation.
University History

Film negatives.
Photographic prints.