Naval History and Heritage Command
The Navy Department Library
Captain Robin I. Davidson, USN
An Inventory of Original Letters, Documents and Photographs
Overview of the Collection
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Detailed Description of the Collection
Original Letters, Documents, and Prints Relating to the Navy, 1775-1860
Original Letters and Documents from the Civil War, 1861-1865
Images, Autographs, and Misc. Items from the Civil War, 1861-1865
Misc. Letters, Photographs, and Autographs, 1866-1899
Misc. Letters, Ships' Newspapers, and Souvenirs from the US Navy 1900-1985
Ships' Menus, Postal Covers, and Ephemera, 1915-1946
"Porter's First Cruise In the Essex"
Restrictions
Index Terms
Administrative Information
Scope and Contents
The bulk of this collection consists of personal letters and miscellaneous documents from the War of Independence through the American Civil War acquired by Captain Davidson. The collection also includes a number or prints and autographs of famous naval personalities of the Civil War. The post-Civil War material contains an interesting letter from Alfred Thayer Mahan concerning the review of his book The War of 1812, several ships' newspapers published in the early years of the 20th century, and a small collection of ships' menus from the same era. One of the most notable items (No. 103) is the menu from the US Flagship Kearsarge, at Kiel, Germany, for 27 June 1903 signed by Kaiser Wilhelm. The post 1927 material consists of postal covers, ephemera and souvenirs.
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Arrangement
The material is arranged into seven series: Original Letters, Documents, and Prints Relating to the US Navy, 1775-1860; Original Letters and Documents from the Civil War, 1861-1865, Images, Autographs, and Misc. Items from the Civil War, 1861-1865; Misc. Letters, Photographs, and Autographs, 1866-1899; Misc. Letters, Ships' Newspapers, and Souvenirs from the US Navy, 1900-1985; Ships' Menus, Postal Covers and Ephemera, 1915-1945; and the manuscript "Porter's First Cruise in the Essex."
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Detailed Description of the Collection
| "Porters First Cruise In the Essex" | |||||||||||
| Type written manuscript by Robin I. Davidson. | |||||||||||
Restrictions
Restrictions on Use
Manuscripts are unavailable for loan and must be consulted in the library. Photocopying of manuscripts is generally prohibited, though the use of digital cameras by researchers to reproduce non-copyrighted materials is permitted. Permission to photocopy a limited number of pages may be granted by the reference staff, contingent upon the physical state of items. All photocopying of materials shall be done by the reference staff, or under their close supervision. The use of personal scanners by non-library staff personnel must be approved by the reference staff on a document-by-document basis (Reference: Naval History and Heritage Command Instruction [NAVHISTCENTINST] 5070.1C.).
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Index Terms
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Personal Subject:
Robin I. Davidson
Subject Term:
Civil War, 1861-1865
United States Navy--Officers
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Cite as: Historical Manuscripts, Navy Department Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington DC, Robin I. Davidson Collection.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Thomas Wildenberg in April 2004.
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