Although the series contains few letters on purely scientific matters, Inglis's correspondence is a rich and valuable resource for study of the social and political turmoil afflicting the American nuclear physics community from the end of the Second World War to the early 1960s. With a distinctly liberal conscience, Inglis was deeply immersed in professional organizations responding to controversies over loyalty issues and security clearances during the early years of the Cold War, and beginning in the mid-1950s, he took a leading and -- at least for some co-workers at Argonne National Laboratory -- controversial role as an advocate for non-proliferation, disarmament, and a nuclear test ban.

Of particular note, Inglis's correspondence contains an interesting and important series of letters documenting Inglis's work with the Federation of American Scientists from 1946-1960, and less extensive correspondence relating to his activities with the World Association of World Federalists and the World Federation of Scientific Workers. Founded in 1945 by scientists from the Manhattan Project, the FAS regularly addressed key issues in American public policy, especially with regard to the potential dangers of nuclear weaponry and other scientific and technical advances. The series also contains interesting correspondence relating to Inglis's lobbying efforts for nuclear disarmament, including letters to and from public officials from President Dwight Eisenhower to Senators Everett Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, and Paul Douglas, and the editorial boards of several newspapers and magazines.

Also worthy of note are letters and documents pertaining to the establishment of the Midwest Nuclear Theorists's Group and the Nuclear Theorists's Group at Argonne National Laboratory, and some correspondence relating to the possibility of siting nuclear reactors underground, including a fine letter from Edward Teller.

Materials associated with Inglis, primarily during his . Inglis' increasing interest in disarmament is reflected in SIPRI.

The series also includes correspondence from Inglis' publishers regarding his book Nuclear Energy Its Physics and Social Challenge (including some interesting reviewers' comments on the manuscript), from the editors at Encyclopedia Britannica regarding his entry on the atomic nucleus, and drafts and notes on several of his articles on disarmament and related topics. The materials relating to Inglis' involvement in two UMass Amherst initiatives -- the Global Survival Program (1972-1973) and the review committee for the Institute for Man and His Environment (1971-1974) -- offer some insight into faculty efforts during the early 1970s.

Finally, the series includes a useful series of spiral-bound research notes kept by Inglis during his period at the Argonne National Laboratory (1955-1968) and as a visiting scientist at CERN (1957-1959).

Mimeograph and other copies of notes distributed for courses attended by Inglis on topics in nuclear physics. Of particular interest are notes from two courses taken at "Los Alamos University," formed by Hans Bethe and Enrico Fermi during the last days of the Manhattan Project: Teller and Konopinski's "Introduction to Quantum mechanics" and Schiff and Baroody's "Statistical Mechanics."

Reprints of technical and "public affairs" articles by Inglis from throughout his career. The articles, mostly reprints and offprints, are filed alphabetically by title.

In 1989, Inglis agreed to take part in an extensive series of oral history interviews, discussing his perspective on the history of nuclear physics since the 1920s, with particular focus on the development of nuclear weaponry and nuclear power. The videotapes have been transcribed (see Ser. 1: Oral History) and edited.

The series also includes a dvd of Inglis lecturing to Allan R. Hoffman's undergraduate, non-major course at UMass on energy and arms control, where he discusses the Manhattan Project and the atomic bombing of Japan.