The Papers contain significant manuscript material from Carr's eight popular trade works and from numerous lesser works. Most of the chapters from his earliest trade book, High Jungles and Low (1953), are represented, although there is no manuscript of the complete work. Ulendo (1964), and the three Time-Life books, Reptiles (1963), Land and Wildlife of Africa (1964) and Everglades (1973) are the most extensively documented. In addition to drafts, there are numerous revisions, notes for the works, and correspondence concerning them. Windward Road and So Excellent a Fishe, probably Carr's two most notable works, are represented by complete manuscript versions, but not by additional documentation. The manuscripts of these two works and of Ulendo (denoted by "*" in the inventory) were donated directly by Carr while he was still alive, while the remainder of the Papers were donated by his estate. Manuscripts from his earlier guides and handbooks may not be extant.

In addition to the books, there are manuscripts of numerous lesser works. Many of these were published as articles in popular scientific magazines and a few were given as addresses. Some technical writings are included here. Additional technical writings are contained in his research proposals (Series 3). Included in the manuscripts are a number of writings, not published, or not intended for publication, principally Carr's field observations and notebooks, although some material from these were incorporated into his published writings. Miscellaneous notebooks are grouped together in Box 14. Others, such as the journal on which part of High Jungles and Low is based, are with the manuscripts of the works in which they resulted. A few published writings, primarily reprints of journal articles, are found here.

The manuscript of this book as prepared for publication is not in the Papers. Apparently the work was originally written as a number of separate essays, most of which exist in one or more manuscript form.

Manuscripts, correspondence, notes, chapter drafts, fragments, etc.

Carr had planned to write a book on Florida and apparently had actually written and submitted several chapters to Houghton Mifflin. The project was never completed and the written chapters were published separately as periodical articles. After Carr's death, Marjorie collected these essays and published them along with other of Carr's Florida writings as A Naturalist in Florida, in effect Carr's collected works on Florida. The complete manuscripts and proof for the book are here. Manuscripts of some of the essays in their original form may be found in the Florida writings and Lifelines box (#11) and in the manuscripts of books such as Ulendo.

Carr spent the years 1945-1949, on leave from UF, as an instructor at the Escuela Agricola Panamerica in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. High Jungles and Low was the principal literary result of these years. Carr also observed Honduran amphibians and reptiles, making numerous notes and collecting data. Correspondence indicates that he and Benjamin Shreve planned a joint publication, but abandoned the project. The papers here represent Carr's Honduran notes, data gathered from different institutions on their Honduran specimens, a published monograph on Honduran animal habitats, and some miscellaneous writings.

This group contains manuscripts of several of Carr's essays on Florida natural history. In addition to their original publication form, they were republished as chapters of A Naturalist in Florida. Between 1982 and 1986, Carr wrote a column for Animal Kingdom, a periodical publication of the New York Zoological Society. Many of these columns were also about Florida and reprinted in A Naturalist in Florida.

The manuscript of this book as prepared for publication is not in the Papers. Apparently the work was originally written as a number of separate essays, most of which exist in one or more manuscript form.

The Archie Carr correspondence covers the entire span of his career from his student years until shortly before his death while he was still professionally active. The bulk of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent. A chronological file contains copies of some correspondence for the years 1967-1973. (See "yellow file" note below). There is a large quantity of third-person correspondence of which Carr received copies, or the original was given him. Some of the correspondence includes additional documentation in the form of photographs, manuscripts, notes, or printed material. Some of the more substantive manuscripts have been moved to the "subject" series of the Papers, making them easier to locate.

The correspondence represents all the phases of Carr's career. The earliest examples relate to Carr's career as a Florida herpetologist and naturalist. Early correspondents include Carl Hubbs of the University of Michigan, Leonhard Stejneger, biological supply house proprietor John Bass, popular herpetologist Ross Allen, Charles Bogert of the American Museum of Natural History, and Museum of Comparative Zoology Curator Thomas L. Barbour. The Barbour-Carr correspondence is the most prodigious of the older correspondence and includes a highly interesting series of letters relating to Thomas Farm in Gilchrist County, a fossil site which Barbour apparently purchased for use by Carr and other University of Florida scientists.

The bulk of the correspondence, of course, relates to Carr's career as a turtle specialist. He was probably in contact with every other professional in the world, and the amateurs, most of whose interest had been inspired by Carr's writings, sought him out for advice and to report their observations and activities. Carr achieved considerable popularity as an author, not only for his two turtle books, but for his contributions to the popular Time-Life books. As a result he received many fan letters and inquiries on all sorts of scientific subjects. While some of these, which contained no substantive content, have been excised from the Papers, a fair sample remains.

Carr was chairman of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Survival Services Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) for approximately twenty years. Many of the major correspondents were fellow MTSG members, or IUCN officials. The most prolific of these correspondents was George Balazs of Hawaii, but others include H. Robert Bustard of Australia, Leo D. Brongersma of the Netherlands, Nicholas Mrosovsky, an American professor, and Englishman Tom Harrisson. Peter Scott and Anthony Mence were IUCN officials with whom Carr corresponded. Many people active in turtle work, some also MTSG members, who started as Carr's students are prominent in the correspondence, including Harold Hirth, David Ehrenfield, Peter Pritchard, Ross Witham, Jeanne Mortimer and Wayne King. Student files which were purely evaluative, or administrative have been removed from the Papers, but those which contain research material, or personal insights have been retained.

Carr received much of his support from the private Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC) of which he was technical director. This corporation remains active, carrying out the turtle activities begun by Carr in Costa Rica. His correspondence with CCC officials, including Josh Powers, founder of the Brotherhood of the Green Turtle, benefactor Colin Phipps, and Costa Rican agent Billy Cruz, represent a major part of the archives of that organization.

A conservation question which divided the turtle community and pervades the correspondence, along with scientific topics such as orientation and reproduction, was the advisability of turtle farming as a method of restoring turtle stocks. It is a major topic of most of the correspondence with MTSG members. Major exchanges on this subject are also found in the Mariculture and Cayman Turtle Farm files in the miscellaneous papers series.

A major area of Carr's activity was, of course, that of university professor. While not a major item in bulk, official University of Florida correspondence shows his involvement in many areas, defining the role of undergraduate and graduate education, involvement in the Florida State Museum, and campus environmental concerns, such as a proposed Lake Alice loop road. Most of the major administrators of Carr's period are included in the correspondence, including Presidents J. Wayne Reitz and Stephen O'Connell, vice-president Robert Mautz, Dean Linton Grinter and many faculty, including W. C. Allee, Lewis Berner, Francis Byers, J. C. Dickinson, John Kaufmann, and Frank Nordlie.

Popularly know names in the correspondence, although not in significant quantities, include Indira Gandhi, astronomer Carl Sagan, biologist O. E. Wilson, psychologist B. F. Skinner, actress Polly Bergen, novelist and nature writer Peter Matthiessen, and noted Florida environmentalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. Little purely personal correspondence is included, but, of course, Carr was friendly with many of the correspondents, and this relationship is often apparent. Some family correspondence is included, including information on the Fairly family and poetry by his sister Edith Erskine. Some correspondence of Marjorie Harris Carr is in the series.

Yellow File Correspondence - For the years, 1967-1973, Carr kept a "yellow file," named for the color of the paper, of the carbon, or Xerox copy of his outgoing correspondence. Its exact relationship to the alphabetical correspondence file has not been ascertained. Copies of some correspondence were duplicated and kept in both files, but other copies exist in only one file or the other. The files have not been cross-checked to remove duplication. The correspondence is chronological both by and within years, except for the last year which was refiled alphabetically.

Dr. Carr was chairman, or co-chairman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Survival Service Commission Marine Turtle Specialist Group (IUCN/SS/MTSG) from its formation in 1963 until 1984. Objectives were to help prevent the extinction of species through the collection and dissemination of accurate information. The group was charged with responsibility for the formulation of data regarding threatened and endangered status for the IUCN Red Data Books. Membership, at one time or another, included most scientists engaged in turtle research, including a number of Carr's former students. The papers here are largely records from meetings, or correspondence regarding meetings. As noted there is a large amount of correspondence in that series with various members of the MTSG.

The National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research were major outside financial supporters of Carr's turtle tagging and other research at Tortuguero, C.R., where he founded a permanent research station, and throughout the Caribbean. Additional work was done under National Marine Fisheries Service contract. The papers kept here relating to these grants include the research proposals and reports, some original documentation of the research and some records relating to activities and funding. These grant files are the largest source of technical information in the Papers. NMFS contracts included funding for a survey of turtle observation in the western Atlantic and of symposia, which are included in the documentation.

Papers of Carr's principal support group, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation of which he was technical director, have not been collected as a group, but are, as noted, preserved as part of the correspondence.

The basis of this series is a set of subject files kept by Dr. Carr. As received by the Libraries, these files only went through the letter "O." Some additional documents, principally manuscripts from the correspondence files have been added to the subjects and a few of the files were rearranged, creating the files in the latter part of the alphabet. Numerous items are arranged by an author, or title and not always by subject. A number of student papers have been preserved. These are ecological studies of specific sites in North Florida, mostly from Alachua County. They have been preserved for their local natural history value. Many have maps and photographs of the sites studied. The last two boxes are newspaper clippings and periodicals concerning Dr. Carr, or turtles. The clippings for the last few years are primarily about the debate with the shrimping industry over the use of turtle-excluding devices (TEDS). The file for 1990 contains some articles regarding the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refugee. The principal arrangement is chronological with a few special files, including material from the Costa Rican press.

The following are not from Archie Carr's Papers. They were received from Mrs. Carr in 1996.

The originals of the Carr / Barbour correspondence are the property of the Harvard University Archives, and the copies may not be reproduced without their permission, In addition, any one using these copies must complete a copy of the form found in the first folder and agree to abide by its restrictions.

The Ogren file was given by Larry Ogren to Mrs. Carr, who transferred it to the Smathers Library.