Incoming and outgoing manuscript and typescript letters, carbons, telegrams, and postcards generated during Ulam's professional career. Series I is the largest series of the collection and is rather evenly distributed through the years. Space permitting, short papers, reprints, and (occasionally) photographs have been retained in the correspondent's file, if the papers is referred to in the correspondence.

Series I is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's name and chronologically within each file, with unidentified correspondence filed as "Unknown," arranged chronologically. The correspondence is primarily in English, though there is a significant portion in Polish, French, German and Russian; non-English language references are noted in the container listing. Most letters in foreign languages are addressed to Ulam; his replies are generally in English.

Among Ulam's correspondents are mathematicians, scientists, current and former students, officials of various organizations and institutions, historians, publishers, and admirers. The range of subjects is equally diverse, ranging from professional, technical discussuions in mathematics and physics to chess, computers, publications, invitations to lecture, Ulam's early years in the U.S., Harvard University, University of Wisconsin, and University of Colorado, WWII, Poland and world events, work at Los Alamos, fan mail, and letters of recommendation by Ulam for students and colleagues.

The most significant portion of this series is comprised of Ulam's correspondence with mathematicians and scientists, including some very valuable correspondence with and about John von Neumann. Von Neumann's contributions to mathematics and computing figure prominently in Ulam's correspondence and writings (Series VIII and IX). As Ulam was in contact with a few generations of mathematicians in both the U.S. and Poland, his correspondence provides an interesting record of the evolution of mathematics in both countries. Ulam also corresponded with a number of American politicians throughout his career, including senators Clinton P. Anderson, Howard H. Baker, Jr., and Edmund S. Muskie. Researchers may find that some professional correspondence unexpectedly lacks scientific substance. This is most apparent in the correspondence between Ulam and certain famous colleagues, whose letters are valuable primarily for their signatures.

The correspondence relating to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is scattered throughout the series and is largely composed of administrative memoranda. Ulam's work at LASL constitutes another area of surprising weakness: in some cases, the name of a correspondent associated with the laboratory suggests that valuable technical information on the development of nuclear weapons is available in their file. Unfortunately, much of this kind of professional correspondence was classified at LASL and never left the site. What remains, however, does reflect the management of LASL, and is therefore of some interest.

Letters, postcards, and telegrams to Ulam from various family members and friends from Poland and the United States. Manuscripts are arranged alphabetically by correspondent's name and chronologically within each file. The bulk of the material dates from 1936 to the beginning of World War II, while Ulam was teaching at Harvard University. A significant portion of this series is in Polish, and the subjects have not been determined.

The collective family correspondence (2 folders) is potentially of some biographical interest. While in many cases the writers have not been identified, it appears that Ulam's father, Jozef, is a regular participant in these group letters as they most often appear on his Lwów law office letterhead. Perhaps the most poignant English-language letter from Series II is one written by a cousin, Juliusz (Julek) Ulam, in March 16, 1945, informing Ulam that his immediate family, including father, sister, brother-in-law, and uncle "all fell from the hands of the Nazis." One of the most vivid features of the personal correspondence is surely the depiction of life in Poland before the outbreak of World War II.

Untranslated correspondence, early mathematical notes, and miscellaneous Polish newspaper articles dating from Ulam's first months at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton through the end of his life. Series III houses a significant portion of the Polish correspondence found throughout the collection, except for Polish letters with identified correspondents. These can be found in the alphabetical arrangement of Series I and II. Mathematical notes in this series include some of Ulam's early studies in mathematics, before he began working primarily in English. These original research documents are the most noteworthy aspects of this series. There are also a few notes in the hand of unidentified Polish colleagues. All notes of Series III remain undated, as do most of the Polish newspaper clippings.

Diverse materials dating from Ulam's initial involvements at LASL through his final years of life, arranged alphabetically by topic. While many of the files hold correspondence relating to specific subjects of interest to Ulam, there are various other materials, such as information booklets, scientific symposium agendas, proposals, and miscellaneous documents. Many of the files reflect Ulam's participation in learned and professional societies and events in the scientific community. Some of the larger subject files contain Ulam's invitations to lecture at universities and societies, National Science Foundation proposals submitted to Ulam for review, and letters of recommendation for graduate students. Among the files of particular interest are several containing information on LASL. This is noted on the container listing.

Ulam's original, unclassified research papers divided into two formats: notebooks and note pads (1934-1983) and unbound loose notes (1937-1983). Both groups are arranged chronologically, reflecting the major movements of Ulam's career from research notes made in Poland, through his positions at American universities and LASL. The notes relate to Ulam's personal research interests, rather than notes prepared for class lectures (which are housed separately in Series X). Forty notebooks and note pads as well as twenty-three folders of loose notes, graphs, and computer printouts on paper provide an overview of the research and mathematical problems that were the focus of Ulam's work throughout his lifetime. Much of the scientific and mathematical notation is unlabeled or undated.

Volumes that were maintained by Ulam, spanning a significant portion of his lifetime. Calendars are most valuable as detailed records of Ulam's daily appointments, correspondence, and may include short mathematical notes. They appear in a variety of formats, including pocket, desk, and wall calendars, with pocket calendars often divided into four volumes per year. Some calendars are incomplete, due to the fact that Ulam removed pages to write notes and reminders, and in many cases, entire volumes from a year of pocket calendars are missing. Twelve address books are filed at the end of the series and mainly contain entries for fellow mathematicians and scientists. All volumes are arranged chronologically when the date has been ascertained, the remainder are grouped at the end of the series.

Outlines, notes, diagrams, abstracts, announcements, autograph manuscript and typescript drafts, and final transcripts of Ulam's extensive talks and interviews given during his life. Most of the talks represented in this series date from the middle to the end of Ulam's career (1950s-1980s), with the bulk falling during the 1960s and 1970s, with outlines of talks, discussions, and seminars predominating. Giving these "talks," as Ulam referred to them, came to be one of the most time-consuming activities in the scientific community during the latter part of his career. The talks and interviews of this series are arranged alphabetically by the title provided by Ulam. In many cases, the materials are identified only with a city as title; consequently, a number of the talks are filed alphabetically by the city in which they were given. Unidentified talks are located in four folders labeled "miscellaneous notes/outlines."

Transcripts of audio-taped interviews with Ulam and colleagues are also housed in Series VII. Transcripts are interfiled alphabetically by title with other materials in the series, except when the name of the interviewer (usually an author preparing an article) has been identified. Such transcripts are located under the interviewer's name. Among the most noteworthy "interviews" is a transcript of a conversation between Ulam and long-time friend and collaborator, Gian-Carlo Rota. This transcript, in two parts, documents fifteen anecdotal conversations covering a wide range of topics, including thoughts on mathematics, philosophy, and John von Neumann.

Notes, graphs, data charts, outlines, abstracts, and autograph and typescript texts generated by Ulam during his many years of mathematical research. Writings are arranged alphabetically by title. This series represents the bulk of Ulam's research which was not published in its present form, but retained as a record of his works in progress. The earliest material of the series is Ulam's 1932 master's thesis for the Lwów Polytechnic Institute in Poland. The original manuscript of this work in Polish, entitled "O operacje produkto," was translated into English in 1973 as "On the operation of product." Both versions of the thesis are filed here.

Box 2 consists entirely of notes, miscellaneous research material, and drafts for Ulam's second volume to the 1960 edition of A Collection of Mathematical Problems. Because Ulam passed away while this companion piece was in progress, the drafts were never published in the form intended. An index card file from Series VIII holding "problems for Problem Book II" is stored at the end of the collection.

Autograph and typescript drafts, notes, outlines and printers' proofs. Relevant correspondence having to do with some items has been kept in this series when appropriate. Some drafts have marginalia and some have been edited by others; these notes appear in the container listing. The earliest item in this series is from 1944[?] on the theory of multiplicative processes. Of note in the series is an autograph outline on the possibility of initiating a thermonuclear reaction in deuterium. Also of interest are the notes on colleagues from Adventures of a Mathematician, some of which remained unpublished, drafts of the Scottish Book, and John von Neumann's obituary. The most recent item is a draft of Science, Computers and People which was edited by Gian-Carlo Rota in 1984.

Notes prepared and given by Ulam as a university professor at Harvard, the University of Wisconsin, and elsewhere. Class notes take the form of lecture notebooks and unbound loose notes, course and seminar outlines, problem sets, and exams. The series is arranged chronologically, with the physical description (i.e. "notebook") and subject (if known) of the materials as folder headings. Most class notebooks were created in the early part of Ulam's teaching career (1936-1946). This series is of interest mainly as a record of the areas in mathematics Ulam taught as a young professor.

Notebooks and papers generated by students in Ulam's university classes. Files are arranged alphabetically by student's name. Most students of this series appear to have attended Ulam's classes in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin.

A variety of materials collected by Ulam which pertain to a wide range of his lifelong interests. This very diverse series is arranged alphabetically by folder heading and contains such personal memorabilia as Ulam's collection of business and calling cards, his Polish passport, and his petition for naturalization in the U.S. Many files reflect the major concerns of Ulam's career, including those relating to LASL, the atomic bomb, the H-bomb controversy (between Teller and Oppenheimer), and his visiting lectures. Newspapers documenting important events in Ulam's life are included in this series. The file (labeled "newspapers") is arranged chronologically and contains substantial contemporary information of interest to Ulam. Other newspapers are housed in other "memorabilia" files, which Ulam arranged by topic during his lifetime. For example, the August 6, 1945 issue of the Santa Fe New Mexican reporting the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima is filed with miscellaneous memorabilia dating 1945-1948.

Life at Los Alamos during and after World War II is documented by Series XII. Community newsletters, family tour guide booklets, an early map of Project "Y," and war ration booklets used on the site are some of the interesting materials from the series which reflect everyday life at Los Alamos. The earliest item from the entire Ulam collection is found within this series; a 1916 street scene of Ulam's hometown, Lwów, Poland, has been preserved within his collection of postcards.

Photographs and negatives, a scrapbook, and three films. The photographs of Ulam, family members, colleagues, places, and events are arranged alphabetically by subject (by last name if the subjects are people) and within each file chronologically. Most of these items are in black and white, and are evenly divided in sizes from 3x5" to 8x10", with a few very small (1x1") or larger (10x12") items. The earliest photograph is of the Lwów Mathematical Conference held in 1930; the latest is of Ulam's 75th birthday party in 1984. A number of scientists are depicted in this series, including Banach, Bethe, Borsuk, Erdös, Fermi, Gamow, Kac, von Karman, and von Neumann. Most of the photographs of Ulam are portraits, some formal, other informal. There is one picture of a very young Ulam (1932) in what appears to be swimming attire. The photographs in the scrapbook are arranged as received, and are in neither chronological nor alphabetical order. The dates covered range from a 1947 photograph of a collage involving a portrait of Ulam created for George Gamow (photographed by Jim Lilienthal) to a number of photographs from 1964 which depict the Dahlgren lecture, the Weizmann dinner, and a Parade Magazine article. The scrapbook includes several interesting images, including an aerial shot of Los Alamos, "The Lodge" at Los Alamos, Laura [Fermi?], von Karman and Bradbury, and Claire and Françoise Ulam.

There are three 16mm motion picture films, the first of which is titled "Measure and set theory," with a running time of fifty minutes. In this lecture, filmed in conjunction with the Mathematical Association of America in 1966, Ulam outlines the basic principles of measure and set theory including additive or aggregate measures. The other films are "32 stars with r=0.4" (4-inch reel, dated May 25, 1967, and an unidentified film (3-inch reel) which may be a continuation of the "32 stars" film. "Measure and set theory" is stored at the end of the collection.

Audiotapes have been removed from the main collection for storage, and have been assigned call no. Rec. 151. Recordings are primarily of lectures and interviews. See the container listing for further information.

This audio collection is comprised of an eclectic group of audio formats. There are four (4) 7" reel-to-reel tapes, four (4) 5" reel-to-reel tapes, three (3) 4" reel-to-reel tapes, one (1) 3" reel-to-reel tape (lacks box), and six (6) cassettes. In addition, there are three (3) unboxed 3 3/8" diameter reels. This last group is unidentified, but may be computer data stored on magnetic tape. As none of the tapes were played at the time the collection was processed, and as box/reel labels were often incomplete or lacking, no arrangement has been imposed on the tapes at this time. All reel-to-reel tape is 1/4". One 5" reel (designated "e") is stored in a 7" box.

Arranged alphabetically by author. Several folders are filed by journal title when the entire issue is of interest or by title of article when the author is unknown. Most of the materials of this series are reprints, photocopies, typescripts, or autograph manuscripts of scientific papers and reviews prepared by Ulam's colleagues. Notes, data, and abstracts of these papers are filed here as well. It should be noted that Ulam's reprints of journal articles are located in this series, not with the manuscripts of his other published works in Series IX. Some journals containing an article of scientific interest to Ulam, usually dealing with nuclear bombs or LASL, have been saved intact. Rather than removing the specific article, these journals remain as a complete issue and are filed under the author's name. In cases where the entire journal issue appears to have been of interest to Ulam, the journal has been filed by title.