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These research notes on William Maurice Ewing (1906-1974), Professor of Geology at Columbia University, 1944-1974, and Director of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, 1949-1972, were compiled by Sir Edward Crisp Bullard for his "Biographical Notice" for The Royal Society, 1975. The materials are mostly correspondence with Ewing's colleagues and family, corrected drafts of the memoir, photographs, and approximately 250 reprints of scientific papers by Ewing, arranged chronologically, 1930-1977.

The Sykes papers consist of information covering 55 years of professional involvement on questions relating to methods to identify underground nuclear testing, including Sykes' long arguments that a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban could be verified scientifically; the earlier Threshold Nuclear Test Ban for which Sykes was part of the U.S. delegation that negotiated it in Moscow in 1974, and his involvement with nuclear arms control measures in general, including teaching, testifying before Congress and lecturing. Sykes was one of the main proponents of the Comprehensive Treaty, which was finally signed in 1996. Sykes also chaired the U.S. National Earthquake Prediction Council, which advised the U.S. Geological Survey, for four years in the 1980s.