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Peter Misch papers, 1928-1988

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Misch, Peter, 1909-1987
Title
Peter Misch papers
Dates
1928-1988 (inclusive)
Quantity
43.01 cubic feet (47 boxes, 19 tubes, 3 oversized folders)
Collection Number
3370
Summary
Scientific and academic papers related to Peter Misch's doctoral research in the central Pyrenees mountains, professional research in the North Cascades, and his career at the University of Washington
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Some papers are stored off site; advance notice required for use.

Request at UW

Additional Reference Guides

Languages
English , German
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Peter Hans Misch was a University of Washington geologist and professor whose research spanned three continents over 50 years. He is especially well known for his research and mapping of the North Cascade mountains of Washington state.

Peter Hans Misch was born in Berlin, Germany in 1909. His father Georg was professor of philosophy at Göttingen University, and his grandfather on his mother's side was the famous German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey. In 1932, at the age of 23, he earned his Ph.D. in Geology from Göttingen University with his investigation of the metamorphic petrology of the central Pyrenees mountains.

In 1934, Misch was asked by Willy Merkl to be the geologist for the German expedition to Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas. Part of his research during the expedition concerned the petrology of the Himalayas. After his return to Germany, Nazi officials ordered that he surrender all of his research material to a scientist appointed by the government. Misch did not comply with the order, and instead began looking for a teaching position abroad. In 1935, he accepted the chair of structural geology at Sun Yat-Sen University in Canton, China, formerly held by Swiss geologist Arnold Heim.

Misch arrived in China in 1936, and began his studies of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces. By the end of 1938 Japanese advances into south eastern China forced the university to move to Kunming, in Yunnan province. Misch and his students studied and mapped areas of Yunnan province until he left for the United States in 1946.

Misch was teaching at Stanford University when he met Professor Goodspeed of the University of Washington and discovered that they were both members of a minority of geologists who supported the theory of granitization. In 1947, Misch accepted an appointment as assistant professor at the University of Washington. While at the University of Washington, Misch became the leading authority on North Cascades geology. He wrote, published, and lectured on North Cascade geology, especially metamorphic petrology, for nearly 40 years. He created many geological maps of the North Cascades, and painted colorful and geologically detailed watercolor landscapes of many of the mountains that he studied. Misch spent nearly every summer in the mountains with his graduate students in support of their thesis research and general geological education. By the end of his time at the University of Washington, Misch had supervised the research of over 125 graduate students. He also engaged in committee work on behalf of the geology department, as well as various university clubs and associations.

Misch was also active outside of the university setting. During the 1950's, he worked with John Hazzard as a research consultant for Union Oil of California. Misch and Hazzard studied and mapped areas in and around the Great Basin that included eastern Nevada, western Utah, and southern Idaho. Misch's work with Union Oil also took him to Oklahoma where he studied and mapped the Potato Hills region of the Ouachita mountain range. Between 1974 and 1980 Misch was an advisor for the Bechtel Corporation in the proposed development of a nuclear power plant in the Skagit Valley of Washington state. Misch also served as Associate Editor for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists' Bulletin.

Peter Misch retired from the University of Washington in 1981, but continued his geological research up to the very last months of his life. He died on the 23rd of July, 1987.

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Content Description

Scientific and academic papers related to Peter Misch's doctoral research in the central Pyrenees mountains; teaching and organizational activities at the University of Washington; research in the North Cascades, the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah, and the Yunnan Province in China; writings; lecture and talks; maps and drawings; correspondence; and personal materials, including diplomas and immigration documents.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Organized into 3 accessions.

  • Accession No. 3370-009, Peter Hans Misch papers, 1930-1988
  • Accession No. 3370-010, Peter Hans Misch papers, approximately 1928-1987
  • Accession No. 3370-011, Peter Hans Misch papers, 1954

Preservation Note

Some papers are stored off site; advance notice required for use.

Separated Materials

Maps:

Four maps of Washington State were relocated to the Pacific Northwest Collection in Special Collections. Two maps of Asia were transferred to the East Asia Library. Sixty-nine maps were transferred to the University of Washington Map Center.

Photographs:

Approximately 11 cubic feet of photographs, slides, negatives and lantern slides were relocated to the Peter Misch Photograph Collection, PH# 2007-022.

Books:

Five books have been removed and are located in Special Collections book stacks:

Arnold Heim and August GansserCentral Himalaya: Geological Observations of the Swiss Expedition 1936. (Zürich: Gebrüder Fretz A. G., 1939)

Josef KönigGeorg Misch als Philosoph. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht in Göttingen, 1967)

Peter MischDer Bau der Mittleren Südpyrenäen: mit 6 tafeln und 51 abbildungen im text. (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1934)

Peter MischDer Bau der mittleren Südpyrenäen zwischen Segre und Esera. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktowürde der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Georg August-Universität zu Göttingen. (Göttingen, 1934)

Die Geodatischen, Gletscherfundlichen und Geographischen Ergebnisse der Deutschen Himalaya-Expedition 1934 zum Nanga Parbat. (Berlin: K. Siegismund in Kommission, 1938)

Rock Specimens:

A collection of Misch's rock specimens from the North Cascades was removed from the University of Washington's Geology Department, and is held by the North Cascades National Park.

Bibliography

Works by others:

Julian D. BarksdaleGeology at the University of Washington 1895-1973. (Seattle, University of Washington, Publications in Geological Sciences Number 4)

Fritz Bechtold Nanga Parbat Adventure; a Himalayan Expedition. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. inc.,1936)

Die Geodatischen, Gletscherfundlichen und Geographischen Ergebnisse der Deutschen Himalaya-Expedition 1934 zum Nanga Parbat. (Berlin: K. Siegismund in Kommission, 1938)

Published editions of Misch's doctoral dissertation:

Der Bau der Mittleren Südpyrenäen: mit 6 tafeln und 51 abbildungen im text. (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1934)

Der Bau der mittleren Südpyrenäen zwischen Segre und Esera. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktowürde der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Georg August-Universität zu Göttingen. (Göttingen, 1934)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

  • College teachers--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Geologists--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Geology, Stratigraphic--Research
  • Geology, Structural--Research
  • Geology--China--Yunnan Sheng
  • Geology--Great Basin
  • Geology--North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)
  • Metamorphism (Geology)--Research
  • Petrology--North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)
  • Rocks, Metamorphic--North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)
  • University Archives/Faculty Papers (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Hazzard, John C. (John Charles), 1903-1973
  • Miller, Gerald Matthew, 1927-1980--Archives
  • Misch, Peter, 1909-1987--Archives

Corporate Names

  • Deutsche Himalaja-Expedition (1934)
  • Union Oil Company of California
  • University of Washington. Department of Geology
  • University of Washington. Geophysics Program
  • University of Washington. University Archives

Geographical Names

  • North Cascades (B.C. and Wash.)

Occupations

  • College teachers
  • Geologists


2008 (Last modified: 2/23/2024)

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