#40068 THE RECORDS OF THE INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCES in the University Archives and Records Service Wilson Library University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CB# 3926 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514-8890 October 1992 Rev. September 1993 The Institute of Marine Sciences was established as the Institute of Fisheries Research and Development in September of 1947 by the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina. In July of 1948, its name was shortened to Institute of Fisheries Research. The Institute's inauguration was made possible by a four-year matching grant from the Knapp Foundation, Inc., of New York and by the cooperation of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development. It was this state department that secured a facility (formerly the Morehead City Naval Section Base) to house the Institute and provide laboratory facilities. The origins of the Institute can be traced to the ideas and interests of Professor Robert E. Coker of the University at Chapel Hill's Department of Zoology, who would be named the Institute's first director in 1947. In the fall of 1944, acting on Dr. Coker's informal suggestion, Consolidated University President Frank Porter Graham wrote to Chancellor Robert B. House requesting the submission by Coker of a proposal for a study entitled "Marine Biology as an Economic Resource of Eastern North Carolina." In January 1945 Dr. Coker submitted a draft in which he suggested the establishment of a research institute. Dr. Coker's proposal was discussed by various advisory and administrative groups prior to President Graham's appointment of a Consultative Committee of the Consolidated University to make a final recommendation concerning it. The Consultative Committee endorsed the proposal for an institute but recommended a preliminary survey of fisheries resources. Consequently, in September 1946 the Survey of Marine Fisheries of North Carolina was begun. The Survey of Marine Fisheries, made possible by a gift from UNC alumnus George R. Lurcy and by a grant from the General Education Board, was directed by the University at Chapel Hill's Department of Zoology and Bureau of Business Services and Research. It was intended to be completed in several months and to precede the establishent of the Institute. However, it grew into a much larger project than anyone had foreseen and was not officially over until the publication of its 555-page report in 1951. The records of the Institute contain valuable information on the Survey. The Knapp Foundation's grant for the establishment of the Institute was conditioned on matching funds from the state, which for the first biennium, were provided by the state's giving the Institute direction of appropriations made by the 1947 General Assembly for a survey of off-shore shrimping grounds and for the rehabilitation of the oyster and other shellfish. The 1949 General Assembly matched the Knapp grant with an appropriation made through the Department of Conservation and Development. Since 1951 the General Assembly has made appropriations directly to the University for the operation of the Institute. (For more on the development and history of the Institute, see materials filed as "Establishment and History of the Institute of Marine Sciences: General, 1946-1971.") In 1967, because of the broadening orientation of its program, the Institute of Fisheries Research was renamed the Institute of Marine Sciences. The purpose of the Institute is to conduct and promote research in marine science and to improve conservation and development of marine resources. In fulfilling this purpose, the Institute often works with the state, principally through the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development (formerly the Department of Conservation and Development). The Institute's facilities are available to UNC faculty and students with research interests in marine biology, physical and chemical oceanography and related fields. The staff of the Institute contributes to the educational program of the University through lectures, seminars, and the direction of graduate students. In 1968 a Curriculum in Marine Sciences was established that brought together the faculties and facilities of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh to offer graduate training in oceanography. Ties between the Curriculum and the Institute have been and remain close. Directors of the Institute and their tenures are as follows: Robert E. Coker 1947-1948 William A. Ellison 1948-1953 Donald P. Costello 1953-1955 Alphonse F. Chestnut 1955-1981 Dirk Frankenberg 1981-1993 John T. Wells 1993- This archival group includes the records of the Institute of Fisheries Research and the Institute of Marine Sciences. The records consist of administrative files including Executive Committee minutes, annual reports of the Director, special studies, and general correspondence. An inventory of these files will be found on the following pages. Box 1: Advisory Council, 1949-1954 Annual and Semi-Annual Reports, 1948-1950; 1957 Budget and Financial, 1948-1970 Buildings and Grounds, 1948-1981 Bylaws, Policies and Statements of Purpose, 1947-1956 Committees (both of and pertaining to the Institute): Earth Sciences, Committee on, 1961-1966 Executive Committee: Correspondence, 1948-1969 Minutes, 1948-1963 Marine Sciences, All-University Committee on, 1966-1969 Marine Sciences, Chancellor's Committee on, 1970-1971 Director: Correspondence, 1948-1974 Edward G. Jay/Ocean Harvests, Inc. Freezing Apparatus: Correspondence concerning, 1943-1967 Jay's notes, specifications, etc., 1937-1948 "Relationship of Outer Banks to Fisheries Resources," May 8, 1962 (speech before the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association) Box 2: Establishment and History of the Institute: (see also Buildings and Grounds above) General (including articles, speeches, chronologies), 1946-1971 Correspondence (including letters relating to the Survey of Marine Fisheries of North Carolina), 1944-1947 Marine Sciences, Curriculum in, 1970-1971 (see also Earth Sciences, Committee on, and Marine Sciences, All University Committee on, under Committees above) Outside Organizations: North Carolina Commercial Fisheries Study Commission, 1963-1965 North Carolina Dept. of Conservation and Development: Commercial Fisheries Training School, 1949-1969 Special Committee on Saltwater Sport Fishing Promotion, 1959-1961 Box 2: (cont.) Outside Organizations: (cont.) North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction: Fisheries Vocational Education Committee, 1958-1962 Project Themis, 1967 Research Surveys: General, 1953-1967 The Economics of the Fisheries Industry of North Carolina, 1951-1955 A Report of the Mollusc Studies Conducted by the University of North Carolina's Institute of Fisheries Research, 1948-1954 Shrimp Survey in North Carolina Waters (and later shrimp research, including information on the Florida Keys), 1948-1955 Survey of Marine Fisheries of North Carolina (see also Establishment and History of the Institute): General, 1946-1951 Staff Photos (2 items), 1946 Shell Dredging, 1953-1963 Summary of Activities, 1966-1967 Ten-Year Prospectus, 1966-1976