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Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

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Washington Navy Yard

A Select Bibliography

Histories

Coletta, Paolo E. ed. United States Navy and Marine Corps Bases, Domestic. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. [See pp. 181-88 for a brief history.]

Hibben, Henry B. Navy-Yard, Washington, History from Organization, 1799 to Present Day. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1890.

Leahy, W.D. "Early History of the Washington Navy Yard." United States Naval Institute Proceedings 54 (Oct. 1928): 869-74.

Morgan, William James and Joye E. Leonhart. A History of the Dudley Knox Center for Naval History. Washington, DC: Dudley Knox Center for Naval History, 1981.

Peck, Taylor. Round Shot to Rockets: A History of the Washington Navy Yard and the Naval Gun Factory. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1949. [The most useful single-volume history of the Washington Navy Yard.]

Reilly, John C. Jr. The Bronze Guns of Leutze Park, Washington Navy Yard. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1980.

_____. The Iron Guns of Willard Park, Washington Navy Yard. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1991.

Schneller, Robert A., Jr. A Quest for Glory: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.

Sharp, John G. History of the Washington Navy Yard Civilian Workforce, 1799-1962. Stockton, CA: Vindolanda Press, 2005.

_____ ed. Washington Navy Yard Pay Roll of Mechanics and Laborers 1819-1820. Concord, CA: The Editor, 2010.

First-Person Accounts

Anthony, Susan B. II. "Working at the Navy Yard," The New Republic, May 1, 1944. Reprinted in Volume 2 of Reporting World War II. New York: Library of America, 1995.

Walker, Robert J. and William K. Mendenhall. "Washington Navy Yard," American Machinist, May 8, 1935.

Government Sources

U.S. Congress. House. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. 54th Cong., 2d sees., H. Doc. 40. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. [See Series 1, vol.4, and look in index under "Navy Department - Navy Yard Washington, Commandant of."]

U.S. Congress. House Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Military Installations and Facilities. Proposed Washington Naval Yard Construction: Hearing Before the Military Installations and Facilities Committee of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, 97th Congress, First Session, October 5, 1981. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1981.

U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Military Construction. Navy's Plan to Move from Leased Space to the Washington Navy Yard: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Military Construction of the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, 97th Congress, First Session, September 30, 1981. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982.

U.S. Navy. Bureau of Ordnance. "U.S. Naval Gun Factory." Washington DC, 1945. [U.S. Naval Administrative History of World War II, Vol. 129.]

Hardcopy available for examination in the Navy Department Library.

U.S. Navy. Bureau of Yards and Docks. Annual Report. Bound with Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy (titles varies). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1842- 1940.

Reports from 1821-1901 are available on microfilm from Scholarly Resources Inc.

Washington Navy Yard. Yard Log. Washington DC: The Yard, 1943-61. Newspaper published by the Navy Yard and the Naval Gun Factory. Copies can be examined at the Navy Department Library.

Unpublished Records at the National Archives

RG 45.6 Records of Naval Shore Establishments, 1812-1919

 

Textual records: Correspondence, orders, logs, and miscellaneous records of the Washington Navy Yard, 1814-1909.

 

RG 71.2.5 Records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks - Miscellaneous Records.

 

Textual Records: Washington Navy Yard, 1836-42.

 

RG 74.6 Records of the Bureau of Ordnance - Cartographic Records.

 

Maps: Eastern branch of the Potomac River, showing channels and a battery at Washington Navy Yard, 1842-60 (2 items)
Architectural and Engineering Plans: Plans of machine tools used in the Naval Gun Factory, Washington, DC, 1910- 1918 (300 items).

 

RG 181.3.14 Records of the Washington Navy Yard

 

Textual Records: Letters sent, 1839-96. Letters received, 1840-99. General correspondence, 1896-1919. Issuances, 18371920. Records relating to personnel, 1817-1919, 1848, 18641924. Fiscal records, 1832-1909. Records relating to naval property, 1811-95. Station logs, 1830-48, 1852, 1862, 18651905. Records of Naval Lodge 641, Knights of Honor, 1879-85. Minutes of meetings of the Naval Temperance Union, 1892-94.

 

RG 181.15.12 Records of the Naval Gun Factory

 

Textual Records: Letters sent by the Inspector of Ordnance, 1854-93, and the Superintendent of the Naval Gun Factory, 1893-1912. Letters received by the Inspector of Ordnance, 1851-54, 1857-58, 1866-87. Construction Correspondence, 195153. Letters sent relating to employees, 1890-95. Memorandums, 1879-1917. Issuances, 1871-73, 1891-1911, 1919, 1922. Fiscal records, 1905-12. Property records, 1862-72, 1888-90, 1905-8. Records relating to employment and wages, 1859-1914, including minutes and reports of the Board of Wages, 1884-85.

 

 

Published: Wed Jun 01 10:49:02 EDT 2022