Office of the Superintendent/Correspondence: Press Copies of Letters Sent by the Superintendent to Bureaus of the Navy Department, 1865-1908: Finding Aid

History of the Office of the Superintendent

The plan of the Naval School at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Maryland, approved by the Navy Department August 28, 1846, provided that a Superintendent of the school be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy from a list of officers of a rank not higher than commander. The Superintendent was to have responsibility for the general management of the institution, including overseeing the course of study, professors, and other personnel connected with the Academy. He could appoint and remove all persons employed at the Academy except those for whose appointment or discharge special provision was made by the laws or regulations of the Navy or the Academy. He had general charge of the buildings, grounds, and ships belonging to the Academy. The Superintendent also formulated the code of rules and regulations for the internal government of the school to be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy for approval. After 1867, officers were assigned by the Navy Department to the Academy to serve as assistants or aides to the Superintendent.

The Office of the Superintendent as described in the 1846 plan remained relatively unchanged throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officers of ranks higher than commander, however, have served in the position. This entry contains letters sent by Superintendents Rear Admiral David D. Porter (1865-1869), Commodore John L. Worden (1869-1874), Rear Admiral Christopher R. P. Rodgers (letters from 1874 only), Captain Phillip H. Cooper (1894-1898), Rear Admiral Frederick V. McNair (1898-1900), Commander Richard Wainwright (1900-1902), Captain Willard H. Brownson (1902-1905), Rear Admiral James H. Sands (1905-1907), and Captain Charles J. Badger (letters from 1907-1908 only).

The period covered by this series begins with Superintendent David D. Porter's administration, which set the Academy on its postwar course. Porter took an interest in everything, from curriculum design to the optimum temperature aboard ships. Subsequent superintendents did not always share Porter's concern for detail, although their correspondence reflects the continuing development of the institution. Between 1866 and 1902 the site grew from about 16 acres to over 125 acres. The expansion not only renewed and expanded the physical plant but more than tripled the size of the classes graduating after 1904.

In 1862 the Academy was placed under the Bureau of Navigation, but in 1867 the Secretary of the Navy assumed direct control of the school, leaving the Bureau of Navigation with a lesser role, as supervisor of its administrative and financial affairs. This role was eliminated in 1869 but was restored in 1889.

Description of Contents

This series contains press copies of letters sent by the Superintendent to bureaus of the Navy Department. The letters, 1865-1874 were addressed to the Bureaus of Navigation and Detail, Construction and Repair, Equipment and Recruiting, Medicine, Ordnance, Provisions and Clothing, Steam Engineering, and Yards and Docks. Later letters were addressed primarily to the Bureau of Navigation, but also to the Bureaus of Supplies and Accounts, Construction and Repair, and Ordnance and Equipment; and to the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and to the Paymaster General of the Navy. Beginning in 1894 these volumes also contain letters addressed to the Secretary of the Navy.

Major topics include reports of academic, examination, medical, visitors, and other boards; staff and faculty examinations, appointments, and pay; Navy and Marine Corps enlisted personnel transfers, appointments, desertions, discharges, discipline, duties, and pay; inspections of and repairs to yard buildings, and naval vessels assigned to the Academy; Construction of Academy buildings in accordance with the Ernest Flagg plan and earlier projects; Requisitions and delivery of supplies, building materials, and other deliveries; faculty and administrative staff travel; instruments for academic study; amendments to existing academic curricula and departments; investigations into various incidents; and fiscal year estimates of expenses for supplies and labor; some of the letters relate to prisoners of war held at the Academy during the Spanish-American war. There is a limited number of letters relating to midshipmen and some foreign student appointments, absences, conduct, discharges, deaths, examinations, graduation certificates, academic performance, resignations, and practice cruises - mainly as they relate to their future commissioning into service of the various Bureaus. Volumes 173 and 174 contain letters related to the receipt, and internment of the remains of John Paul Jones.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically. There are name and subject indexes in volumes 124, 125, 128, 130-132, 134, 140, and 161-177. There are chronological lists of communications arranged by bureau in volumes 45 and 46.

Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

Generally, materials produced by Federal agencies are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Any non-government publications held herein may still be subject to copyright. For further information, consult the Head, Special Collections & Archives.

Other Finding Aid(s)

National Archives Catalog entry available electronically at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2989989.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Custodial History

RG 405 Records of the United States Naval Academy is the property of the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials are housed at the United States Naval Academy, William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives, an affiliated archive, as per a Memorandum of Agreement between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Naval Academy.

Related Materials

Related Archival Material

Volumes 124, 125, 128, 130-132, 134, 140, 161, 162, and 165-167 are registered in entry 2: "Registers to Parts of Press Copies of Letters Sent and Letters Received by the Superintendent, 1888-1906" (NAID: 2965666). For letters and press copies of letters sent by the Superintendent to the Secretary of the Navy, Navy Department Bureaus, Congress, Academy officers instructors and midshipmen, and public and private individuals see entries 1 through 23. For letters sent by the Superintendent to various Bureaus of the Navy Department for the years 1874-1885 see Entry 13: "Letters Sent by the Superintendent to Bureaus of the Navy Department, 1874-1885" (NAID: 2989993). For other letters sent by the Superintendent specifically to certain Navy Department Bureaus see entries 14 through 19.

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Office of the Superintendent/Correspondence: Press Copies of Letters Sent by the Superintendent to Bureaus of the Navy Department, RG 405.2.1 Entry 12

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during preparation of the historical note:

Perry, Allen. NARA Microfilm Publication M994: Letters Sent by the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy (Main Series) 1865-1907.

Processing Information

This collection was inventoried by Samuel Limneos in March 2019. Finding aid written by Samuel Limneos in March 2019. Historical Sketch and Scope and Content Note adapted in part from Inventory of Records Group 405 by Geraldine N. Phillips and Aloha South, 1975.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Badger, Charles Johnston, 1853-1932
• Brownson, Willard H. (Willard Herbert), 1845-1935
• Cooper, Philip Henry, 1844-1912
• Flagg, Ernest, 1857-1947
• Jones, John Paul, 1747-1792 -- Death and burial
• McNair, Frederick Vallette, 1839-1900
• Naval education -- United States
• Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891
• Rodgers, C. R. P. (Christopher Raymond Perry), 1819-1892
• Sands, James Hoban, 1845-1911
• Spanish-American War, 1898
• United States Naval Academy
• United States Naval Academy -- History -- 19th century
• United States Naval Academy -- History -- 20th century
• United States Naval Academy. Superintendent
• United States. Office of the Secretary of the Navy
• Wainwright, Richard, 1849-1926

Genre Terms

• Correspondence