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David M. Owen papers

 Record Group
Identifier: MC-17

Scope and Content Note

This collection includes Owen’s articles, instructions, notes, correspondence, lectures, cruise files, manuals and catalogs dealing with his interests and activities in underwater photography, camera equipment, and diving.

Dates

  • 1942-1991

Language of Materials

The records are in

English.

Access

Open: materials are available for research.

Use

Copyright: Permission to publish material from the collection must be authorized by the Institution Archivist.

Biographical Information

Dave Owen was born and brought up in Saco, Maine. He became interested in oceanography through a family friend who was a member of the scientific staff of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He joined the organization in 1946 after attending Bates College and serving as a radar operator with the U.S. Navy. Although he had no previous scientific training, he became a scientific observer on board the Atlantis . In the winter of 1947-48, Owen took part in a six month expedition on board the Atlantis to the Mediterranean Sea. Always interested in photography, he was the logical choice to operate the newly developed deep sea camera designed by Dr. Maurice Ewing. During subsequent years, Owen made many improvements in deep sea underwater photographic equipment, including the development of stereoscopic equipment. His photographs are among the most widely published underwater photographs in the world. It was only logical that Owen would become interested in shallow water diving techniques with self-contained equipment. Having taken courses required by the U.S. Navy, Owen became the chief underwater diver at WHOI and trained many other members of the staff. In 1955, David published A Manual for Free-Divers Using Compressed Air, one of the nations first scuba diving manuals and considered to be a classic today.

[Biographical information taken from the advertisement for Owen’s A Manual for Free-Divers written by Jan Hahn.]

Extent

11 boxes plus photographs (7.5 lin. ft.)

Overview

The David M. Owen papers span the years 1942-1991, and include materials dealing with Owen's interests and activities in underwater photography, camera equipment, and diving.

Arrangement

Arranged in two series:

List of Series:

Custodial History

Dave Owen's papers were originally housed in several file cabinet drawers. In the summer of 2000 the papers were boxed and put with other manuscript collections. Material from accessions 2009-38 and 2010-07 were stored in the Dive Office or Dive Locker until their transfer to the Archives.

Acquisitions Information

The David M. Owen papers were received in several accessions, the first on March 22, 1978, and the remainder as accessions 1991-2, 2009-38, and 2010-07. Terry Rioux transferred the material in acc. 2009-38 and 2010-07 from the Dive Locker and Dive Office.

Related Material

See also AC-68, WHOI Diving Program records, for more information on the history of the WHOI Diving Program.

Separated Material

A large number of Owen's photographs can be found in Ibase, WHOI’s image management system. Lantern slides were added to the lantern slide collection as item numbers MC17-1 through MC17-39.

Processing Information

Boxes 1 through 8 processed in 2003. First level processing of the material in accessions 2009-38 and 2010-07 was completed by David Sherman in March 2010.

Title
A Guide to the the David M. Owen papers, 1942-1991
Author
Unknown
Date
October 13, 2003
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written inEnglish

Repository Details

Part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Data Library and Archives Repository

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