The papers of James M. Snodgrass include calendars, correspondence, lectures, scientific papers, memoranda, notes, subject files, photographs, audio visual materials, slides, three films of Scripps campus, audio tape recordings of interviews with Snodgrass on history of satellite navigation. The accession includes documentation of Snodgrass' work on the Integrated Global Ocean Station System (IGOSS), his international work on radio communications, his work with the U.S. Navy, the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council and other organizations with interest in American oceanography. The collection includes Snodgrass's manuscript autobiography, An American Boffin, and extensive biographical information documenting his life in science. The accession includes files and photographs documenting oceanographic instruments modified for or designed at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography during the period 1948-1974. This includes material describing the bottom temperature recorder used by Sir Edward Crisp Bullard, Roger Revelle and Arthur Maxwell to take the first measurements of heat flow from the sea floor. It also includes extensive files on the XBT, the expendable bathythermograph, an instrument designed by James M. Snodgrass. These files also document relationships between the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and companies such as Magnavox, General Atomic and Hewlett-Packard who designed and manufactured scientific instruments and electronic equipment.