Photographs and documents relating to Robert B. and William R. Moran. Most of the collection pertains to oil exploration in California, other parts of the U.S., and abroad.

Robert Breck Moran (1879-1961) graduated from Stanford University in 1907, worked as a petroleum geologist for Associated Oil and Standard Oil, and opened his own office in San Francisco as a consulting geologist in 1911, marrying Edna Louise Venable (EVM) of San Luis Obispo, California, that same year. Eventually settling in Pasadena, Robert Moran moved his office to Los Angeles in 1915. Among other achievements, Robert Moran pioneered the use of the airplane in geological reconnaissance work and has been credited with the discovery of the Venice oil field well in Los Angeles while consulting for the Ohio Oil Company from 1927 to 1929. On a trip to Peru in 1929, Moran discovered the Agua Caliente oil dome, upon which he established the Ganso Azul Oil field. Robert Moran has been recognized as an early pioneer in the fields of petroleum geology and petroleum engineering.

58 linear feet (121 document boxes, 8 flat boxes).

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.