Correspondence, diary notes (1947-1963), speeches, articles, travel itineraries, subject file, biographical material, and other papers chiefly relating to Waterman's activities as an administrator of scientific research organizations including his years as deputy chief of the U.S. Office of Naval Research (1946-1951) and as director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (1951-1963). Includes material concerning the foundation's role in fostering U.S. participation in the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958, and the first successful launching of an American space satellite. Also documents his teaching career as a professor of physics at Yale University (1919-1942), experience as chief reader for the College Entrance Examination Board, and association with such organizations as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, Calif.), and the Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.).

Individuals represented include Detlev W. Bronk, Vannevar Bush, K.T. Compton, James Bryant Conant, Lee A. Dubridge, George Gamow, Willard Frank Libby, Sir Bernard Lovell, Margaret Mead, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Harlow Shapley, Norbert Wiener, and Jerrold Reinach Zacharias.