The collection consists of papers of neurobiologist Walter Friedrich Heiligenberg. The collections includes correspondence, research reports, audio tape recordings of experiments, photographs, slides, figures for papers, teaching records including lecture notes, reading lists and syllabi, appointment calendars, manuscripts of publications, a field notebook and other material documenting the scientific career of Walter Heiligenberg. While the collection includes material dated 1960-1994, the papers largely document Heiligenberg's career at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego from 1972-1994.
