The collection chiefly consists of the administrative, scientific, and personal correspondence of Walter S. Adams spanning the years 1921 to 1956, including his work during World War II. Adams and the observatory staff worked, in secret, with the U.S. government and helped create prisms and optics for various types of binoculars and gun sights; the staff also assisted with aerial and naval defense and attack strategy. There is also material from Adams' retirement years. The collection also contains manuscripts and photographs (some of which are of the B-29 bomber), also dealing with Adams' astronomical work.
Consists of:
Notes on photographic emulsions. Paul W. Merrill (1 leaf/piece)
Photography. Anonymous (9 leaves/pieces)
Photography at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Anonymous (2 leaves/pieces)
Progress in stellar spectroscopy. Anonymous (14 leaves/pieces)
Spectroheliograms. Anonymous (2 leaves/pieces)
Studies of cosmic rays. Thomas H. Johnson (7 leaves/pieces)
Sunspots associated with magnetic storms. Anonymous (5 leaves/pieces)
Threshold photography. Anonymous (3 leaves/pieces)
Consists of:
Copernicus 1473-1543. Walter S. Adams (2 leaves/pieces)
Copernicus (Speech). Walter S. Adams (5 leaves/pieces)
Hale. Walter S. Adams (4 leaves/pieces)
Interstellar lines in the brighter stars of the Pleiades. Walter S. Adams (3 leaves/pieces)
