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The formation and behavior of snow and ice crystals were a lifelong interest of Schaefer's, and in his time at General Electric he was able to focus on the subject during the World War II years as ice related to the safety of U.S. Air Force planes. Schaefer and Irving Langmuir's interest in that topic grew as a result of their World War II-era contract work with the military, and the experiments they conducted after the war's end led directly to their Project Cirrus contract in 1947—an undertaking so extensive that their work in that area merited its own series in this collection. Much of their foundational work in snow and ice composition and behavior was grounded in observations and experiments conducted on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Schaefer discovered during this time that ice crystals and snowflakes could be captured and observed using Formvar plastic. Using this method, he documented very specific data about ice and snow before creating some of the first replicas of specific snowflake shapes. The work of Schaefer and his colleagues regarding ice research includes handwritten notes, drawings, charts, photographs, reports, and correspondence specific to ice, snow, and Mount Washington.

The inspiration for Schaefer's work with cloud seeding began during his experiments with Irving Langmuir during World War II. At that time they were under contract with the military for other weather-related reasons, but their research led them to wonder about the possibilities of controlling weather beyond military needs. Schaefer accomplished some of his most important foundational work with cloud seeding in 1946, before General Electric joined in another contract with the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Army Signal Corps. These records document some of Schaefer's initial work with cloud seeding, before the official birth of Project Cirrus. Researchers will also find about a dozen files on Project Blowdown, a cloud seeding operation conducted in Honduras to aid the United Fruit Company.

This subseries is comprised of various research data retained by Schaefer that were not filed specifically with cloud seeding or ice and snow research. These are the notes, graphs, drawings, and photographs of experiments that supported later discoveries in his larger projects. Notes and photos in this subseries include subjects such as surface tension, monomolecular layers, smoke generation, fog, uses of calgon, and electron microscopy. Also of note are his observations on precipitation and precipitation static, which he worked on with Irving Langmuir during World War II. While the bulk of the notes are Schaefer's own, there are also papers that belonged to Langmuir and various other scientists who shared observations with Schaefer.

Comprising the years 1934 to 1954, Vincent Schaefer's research notebooks are bound volumes containing handwritten observations, formulas, and drawings from his scientific endeavors. They comprise their own subseries partly due to the fragile nature of the bindings, covers, and paper itself, but also because the nature of the bound books prevents their being divided among the categories of snow and ice research, cloud seeding, general research, etc. Researchers are encouraged to consult these notebooks for information on Schaefer's World War II projects, cloud seeding, surface chemistry, and more. Please note that Schaefer kept two sets of notebooks from 1940 to 1943—in addition to the larger hardback notebooks, he also kept a set of small softcover books that dealt with very specific topics such as smoke filters and artificial fog. He also used some of the smaller-size notebooks for scientific observations from his own home.

Schaefer's correspondence files are arranged alphabetically by subject. They include letters sent and received by Schaefer as well as some to and from Irving Langmuir. Schaefer also retained letters that were to and from others at General Electric but carbon copied to him. While most of Schaefer's letters came to the archives grouped in large, general batches, some were retained separate from the larger groups. The archivist kept that arrangement, which is why certain letters are foldered individually or in very small groups while the majority of this subseries is simply categorized as "general".

The Schaefer subject files are a collection of brochures, notes, and other ephemera that have enduring value but do not belong in other categories such as cloud seeding or snow and ice research. These files include research notes from sources other than General Electric; scientists and entrepreneurs frequently exchanged results of their work with one another, but to avoid confusion, the work of Schaefer and other G.E. scientists can be found in the next subseries while informal research notes and observations by others are located here.

These are reports and articles written by Vincent Schaefer that did not directly cover work done through Project Cirrus. Many are from his early days at General Electric when he was still a research assistant, covering topics such as surface chemistry. Any articles co-written by Schaefer and his colleagues are included in this subseries. Some articles and reports do discuss early cloud seeding issues but do not appear to be directly related to Project Cirrus. When in doubt, the archivist looked for credits or acknowledgements to the U.S. military to help determine how a certain article or report should be categorized. Please note that many of the articles are reprints, which are reflected in the folder dates. Some folders also include manuscripts of the published articles or reports, which is indicated in the folder title.

Vincent Schaefer welcomed his colleagues' professional input and used their published works for reference as he refined his own studies. The articles and reports in this subseries are a sampling of findings by scientists like Irving Langmuir, Katharine Blodgett, Bernard Vonnegut, and more. This subseries also includes magazine and brochure types of publications such as G.E.'s Adventures Ahead, booklets about Association Island, and occasional G.E. newsletters. Please note that many of the articles are reprints, which are reflected in the folder dates.

As with the work of his own General Electric co-workers, Schaefer collected articles and reports by colleagues outside of his own institution as well. These are an assortment of publications relating directly to Schaefer's own work in areas like surface chemistry, ice/snow studies and cloud seeding as well as peripheral interests in the science world that happened to catch his attention. Please note that many of the articles are reprints, which are reflected in the folder dates.

This subseries contains materials on specific flights, though the availability of data ranges from a single page for some flights to multiple pages with photos for other flights. Each one is labeled by flight number, where it took place, what operation was performed, and on what date. There are also files on research efforts that took place on the ground and in the lab, including charts, diagrams, weather observations, and research notebooks. Photographs include particular flights, most of which feature aerial cloud views, but there are also general photos that were not labeled by Schaefer or his colleagues.