Born in 1892, A. Remington Kellogg entered the University of Kansas in 1911 intending a concentration in entomology. His change to mammalogy was largely a result of the influence of Charles Dean Bunker, curator of birds and mammals in the Museum of Natural History at the University. Kellogg served as a taxonomic assistant under Bunker from 1913 to 1916. During his undergraduate summers Kellogg was employed by the Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, to conduct field surveys of plant and animal life. He received his A.B. in January 1915, and his M.A. in 1916 from the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

In the fall of 1916 Kellogg decided to continue his studies in zoology at the University of California at Berkeley with the aid of a teaching fellowship. By this time Kellogg had become interested in the study of the evolution of marine mammals. At Berkeley he became acquainted with Dr. John Campbell Merriam, who fostered Kellogg's interest in the Pacific Coast Tertiary formations and their marine fossil remains. The association with Merriam was a close and lasting one that had a profound effect on Kellogg's career.

After brief service in World War I (1918-1919), Kellogg resumed his teaching fellowship for one semester. However, in January 1920 he accepted a position in Washington, D.C., as an assistant biologist for the Bureau of Biological Survey; he remained with the Biological Survey until 1928. His projects for the Biological Survey did not include marine mammalogy. Fortunately, Dr. Merriam was appointed president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and arranged for Kellogg to become a research associate of that institution in 1921. Although the Carnegie Institution research had to be carried on after official hours at the Biological Survey, research grants from the Institution allowed Kellogg to continue his study of marine mammals, and he remained in that capacity until 1943. Drawing from his own original studies as well as current literature, he wrote "The History of Whales--Their Adaptation to Life in the Water" in 1928, for which he was awarded his Ph.D. by the University of California.

Kellogg's association with the United States National Museum originated with his after hours research with the extensive collection of marine mammals while still in the employ of the Bureau of Biological Survey. The affiliation proved valuable, and in 1928 he was named assistant curator of mammals under Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr. He served as assistant curator until Miller's retirement, when he became curator of the Division of Mammals, a position he held from 1941 to 1948. In 1948 he was named director, United States National Museum. Kellogg held the directorship until his retirement in 1962. From May 1958 to 1962 he also served as an assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. After retirement he intensified his study of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian and continued publication of his findings until his death in May 1969.

The international regulation of whaling was another subject of great importance to Remington Kellogg. Recognized as an authority in the field of cetology, he was sent to Berlin in 1930 as a delegate to a conference of experts on whaling matters held under the auspices of the League of Nations. In 1937 Kellogg was appointed as the State Department's representative to the International Conference on Whaling at London, and in 1946 he chaired the Washington Conference, which formulated the International Convention providing for the establishment of the International Whaling Commission. He was United States Commissioner on the International Whaling Commission from 1947 to 1967, and chairperson from 1952 to 1954.

The main body of the collection consists of Kellogg's personal incoming and outgoing correspondence with fellow zoologists and geologists regarding research in zoology and marine geologic formations. A significant amount of correspondence with institutions also exists, notably with the Bureau of Biological Survey, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the National Research Council. For other institutional correspondence, material may be found with that of specific individuals in the employ of an institution. The remainder of the collection consists of a personal information file; a collection of photographs documenting exhibit openings, Smithsonian staff retirement functions, and Kellogg's membership in various organizations; and divisional histories of the National Museum of Natural History prepared for the Smithsonian Centennial.

Correspondents include: Clinton G. Abbott, Othenio Abel, Charles Christopher Adams, Theodor G. Ahrens, Glover Morrill Allen, American Society of Mammalogists, Copley Amory, Rudolph Martin Anderson, Harold Elmer Anthony, Arctic Research Laboratory Advisory Board, Merle Fowler Bancroft, Thomas Barbour, F. J. F. Barrington, Seth Bertram Benson, Fritz Berckhemer, Edward Wilber Berry, Edward Willard Berry, Clarence Birdseye, Else Bostelmann, Karl Brandt, James C. Brash, Barnum Brown, William Alanson Bryan, Charles Dean Bunker, Bureau of Biological Survey, William Henry Burt, Angel Cabrera, Charles L. Camp, Leonard Carmichael, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Clifford N. Carver, Ermine Cowles Case, E. Burnham Chamberlain, Bruce Lawrence Clark, Robert Ervin Coker, Charles Wythe Cooke, Harold J. Coolidge, Jr., Ira E. Cornwall, Luther Sheeleigh Cressman, Giorgio Dal Piaz, Pirie Davidson, William B. Davis, Herbert Girton Deignan, A. B. Van Deinse, Donald Ryder Dickey, W. O. Dietrich, Alban T. A. Dobson, Abraham Lincoln Dryden, Emmett Reid Dunn, Lucius R. Eastman, Maxim Kondradovich Elias, Robert Kendall Enders, William Louis Engels, Barton Warren Evermann, Francis Charles Fraser, Eustace L. Furlong, Eugene Maximilian Karl Geiling, Charles W. Gilmore, Raymond Maurice Gilmore, Walter Granger, Madison Grant, William King Gregory, Robert Fiske Griggs, Joseph Grinnell, Melville Bell Grosvenor, Herman Gunter, Eugene Raymond Hall, William John Hamilton, Jr., G. Dallas Hanna, Sidney Frederic Harmer, Francis Harper, Robert Torrens Hatt, Curtis J. Hesse, F. Gilbert Hindsdale, Arthur T. Hopwood, William Temple Hornaday, Edgar Billings Howard, Alfred Brazier Howell, International Whaling Commission, David Starr Jordon, Journal of Mammalogy, Theodor Just, A. Remington Kellogg, Henry Higgins Lane, Frederic Augustus Lucas, Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr., Alfredo Augusto de Oliveira Machado e Costa, William D. Matthew, C. Hart Merriam, Charles Warren Merriam, John Campbell Merriam, Franklin Metcalf, Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr., Roy L. Moodie, Charles Morrice, Robert Cushman Murphy, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Gladwyn Kingsley Noble, Walter Collins O'Kane, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Wilfred Hudson Osgood, A. P. Ousdal, Earl Leroy Packard, Evgenii Nikanorovich Pavlovsky, John Charles Phillips, Edward Alexander Preble, Sydney Prentice, Henry Cushier Raven, Alfred S. Romer, Carlos Rusconi, Wilford Edwin Sanderson, Hurbert G. Schneck, George Gaylord Simpson, Earle Sloan, Hans Winge Sorensen, Herman Augustus Spoehr, Eberhard Stechow, Henryk Bronislaw Stenzel, Ruben Arthur Stirton, Chester Stock, George Linius Streeter, Ernst Stromer Von Reichenbach, J. Magruder Sullivan, Edward H. Taylor, Charles Haskins Townsend, T. Wayland Vaughan, Charles D. Walcott, Lewis Hill Weed, Alexander Wetmore, George Bernays Wislocki, Howard I. Wordell.