Naval Historical Center
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[edit] Address and Contact Info
Address: Washington Navy Yard, 805 Kidder Breese St., SE, Washington, DC 20374-5060
Phone: (202) 433-2210
Fax: (202) 433-3593
Web page: http://www.history.navy.mil
Online Finding Aid:
Archivists (principal contacts for advice on the collection):
[edit] Hours and usage restrictions
[edit] Collection Summary
The Naval Historical Center originated in 1800 when the Navy Department Library was established at the direction of President John Adams. In 1881 the librarians began to collect and edit for publication the naval records of the Civil War. That portion of the library’s staff engaged in this work soon became known as the Naval War Records Office and, collectively with the library, was designated the Office of Naval Records and Library. After a series of organizational changes, including the addition of historical writing, museum, and curatorial functions, the Navy’s central historical organization became known in 1952 as the Naval History Division. In 1971 the organization was redesignated the Naval Historical Center.
The Navy Art Collection Branch manages more than 10,000 works of art and arranges changing displays in the gallery and traveling exhibits. The collection is a unique visual record of America’s involvement in a variety of missions worldwide. The center’s Aviation History Branch, a component of the Naval Warfare Division, maintains aviation command historical records covering 1957 to the present with limited documentation covering the entire history of naval aviation beginning in 1911. The branch also manages the Naval Aviation Insignia Program and the archives for the insignia covering World War II to the present.
The center’s Contemporary History Branch, a component of the Histories and Archives Division, was established in 1987 to prepare comprehensive historical works treating the history of the U.S. Navy in the 20th century. Branch historians research and write major narrative volumes on fleet operations, naval-industrial relations, Navy interaction with other defense organizations, and women in the service. They prepare shorter specialized studies and edit existing manuscripts for publication.
The Curator Branch performs curatorial functions for most Navy-owned historical properties. Its holdings of museum objects, including paintings and prints, number over 115,000. The curator’s Photographic Section holds more than 250,000 still photographs, which span the entire period of U.S. naval history. Its collections are the principal American pictorial resource on naval history through World War I and provide a valuable supplement to the holdings of the National Archives and Department of Defense Still Media Records Center for subsequent years. Limited research services can be provided by the staff, and facilities are maintained for visiting researchers.
The Early History Branch, a component of the Histories and Archives Division, provides a broad historical research, writing, and editing capability, particularly in 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century naval history. It holds an extensive collection of microfilm records, including newspapers, plus photocopies of naval and maritime documents gathered from public archives, libraries, historical societies, and private collections in this country and abroad. A limited number of outside researchers can be accommodated.
The Navy Department Library contains 175,000 volumes with a concentration on naval history, biography and autobiography, exploration, and naval science and technology. The library is very rich in naval periodicals, many of which exist in long series. Special collections include approximately 5,000 rare books dating from the 15th through the 20th centuries. In addition, the library has a collection of graduate theses and dissertations in naval history and a valuable group of approximately 300 unpublished administrative histories of major World War II naval commands. The administrative histories are available in microform for interlibrary loan.
The Navy Museum houses the Navy’s general historical museum. Located in the Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory, the museum contains over 40,000 square feet of display space and more than 5,000 objects. A two-acre outdoor park contains large artifacts such as Civil War ordnance and modern missile batteries. Museum displays depict the history of the Navy from the American Revolution to the Space Age, as well as special topics such as polar exploration, naval electronics, oceanography, customs and traditions in the Navy, and the life of the sailor. Highlights include a submarine room with operating periscopes, a fighting top and replica gun deck from USS Constitution, a World War II Corsair fighter, and the bathyscaphe Trieste. On the Washington waterfront the decommissioned postwar destroyer Barry (DD-933) is open for public tours.
The Operational Archives, a component of the Histories and Archives Division, maintains a select group of manuscripts, records, historical documents, and personal papers related to naval history in the 20th and 21st centuries and undertakes historical research in these collections. The bulk of the branch’s holdings date from 1945 and relate to naval operations, policy and strategy, the history of specific commands, officer biographies, and oral histories.
The Ships’ Histories Branch, a component of the Naval Warfare Division, maintains over 14,000 files, containing historical reports, press clippings, and correspondence, that document, in whole or in part, the careers of most of the ships commissioned in the Navy from the American Revolution to the present time. Special collections include files detailing the naming of naval ships since World War I and the designation of their sponsors. The section has reference files on historic ship memorials and nautical museums, bibliographies of published works on the history and evolution of naval ships, and on other naval and nautical subjects of general interest. The branch also has charge of naval ships’ logs from 1945 to the present. Since most of these must be recalled from storage for use, researchers should make arrangements in advance. The branch also has charge of naval ships logs that are less than 30 years old.
The Underwater Archaeology Branch advises the Navy in matters related to historic preservation of U.S. Navy ship and aircraft wrecks. An underwater archaeologist oversees and coordinates this program that deals not only with archaeology and conservation, but many sensitive issues such as war graves, unexploded ordnance, potential use of recovered weapons systems, and complicated legal issues dealing with title and the illegal removal of property from wrecks.
The senior historian is also chief, Histories and Archives Division. In that capacity he supervises the research, writing, and production of official histories and is the primary contact for scholars wanting to use the center’s facilities for extensive research. The senior historian manages the center’s grant, fellowship, scholarship, and oral history programs. The Naval Historical Foundation has offices with the Naval Historical Center. It is an unofficial, nonprofit organization, chartered in Washington, D.C., in 1926, whose main objectives are to collect and preserve private documents, papers, and artifacts of naval historical significance. Important collections are placed on deposit in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, where they are cataloged and indexed for the use of interested researchers. The foundation collection now contains over 300,000 items in more than 250 separate collections. Those wishing more information may write to the Executive Director, Naval Historical Foundation, Bldg. 57, Washington Navy Yard, 805 Kidder Breese St., SE, Washington, DC 203740571.
[edit] Usage Discussion
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Housing and getting by for less in the area:
