James Snook's writings describe his adult life in great detail. Snook devotes over 250 pages to his wartime experiences alone, while his miscellaneous vignettes, anecdotes and stories about life in northern California (1916-1986) occupy more than 300 pages. Snook began these four binders of writings in about 1989 and worked on them until 1994.

James Snook spent most of his life in Stockton and San Joaquin County (1916-1987). Snook's father, a biologist, taught at Stockton High School. Snook's memoirs describe his boyhood with trenchant wit and in great detail (1916-1930). He also describes family summers spent in La Jolla, where his father carried out marine biological research (1916-1923), and, at Silver Lake, where the father was camp naturalist at Stockton's Municipal Camp (1924-1930). Later, Snook attended the University of California (1930-31) and the College of the Pacific (1931-32) until financial pressures forced him to leave school.

Collection is open for research.