Naval History and Heritage Command
The Navy Department Library
Captain George Hammeken Kearny, USN
(1848-1907)
An Inventory of His Collection
Table of Contents
Overview of the Collection
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Detailed Description of the Collection
Related Collections
Restrictions
Index Terms
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Captain George H. Kearny, USN (1848-1907)
George Hammeken Kearny was born in Saugerties, New York, on 31 March 1848. He graduated as a civil engineer from Union College in 1866 and was appointed third assistant engineer in the United States Navy in October of that year. During the next two years he was a member of the first class (1868) of engineers at the United States Naval Academy. He was promoted to second assistant engineer in 1876 and chief engineer in 1893, commander in 1899 and captain in 1903.
Kearny joined Saranac on the Pacific station in 1868 and was attached to the Asiatic station from 1868-1871. He served on the Beniciai from May to July 1871 while that ship participated in Rear Admiral John Rodgers's expedition to Korea. Assistant Engineer Kearny was on duty at the United States Naval Academy in 1872-1873 and went from there to Congress, spending three years on the European station. He was stationed at the New York Navy Yard in 1877 and in 1878 returned to the Naval Academy for three years. Kearny served on the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Blake between 1881-1885 and returned to New York for another tour of duty there between 1885 and 1887. From New York, he was posted to the South Atlantic station for three years serving on Lancaster and Tallapoosa.
Kearny returned to New York in 1890 for duty in connection with new cruisers on which he was engaged until 1893. He made important contributions to the development of steam engineering during this assignment and was the author of several articles on the motive power of the modern steel warship. During 1894-1887 he was attached to Marblehead and Minneapolis on the European station. In 1896 he was a member of the personnel board that combined the line and engineer corps. From 1897 to 1900 he was head of the Department of Steam Engineering at the United States Naval Academy, where he revised the course in engineering. In 1900 he became the head of the Department of Steam Engineering at the Boston Navy Yard and in 1905 was transferred the New York Navy Yard as head of its Department of Steam Engineering. He was serving in this capacity at the time of his death on 17 February 1907.
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Scope and Contents
The bulk of this collection consists of log books and diaries kept by Assisstant Engineer Kearny during the various cruises he made between 1868 and 1876. Additional material includes a notebook containing a comprehensive summary of the payments and allowances received by Kearny over his entire career and two narratives related to the United States Expedition to Korea in 1871 in which Kearny took part.
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Arrangement
The collection consists of nine items housed in individual archival envelopes.
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Detailed Description of the Collection
| Item 1: | George Hammeken Kearny entry from the National Cylopedia of American Biography. |
| Item 2: | Notebook of pay allowances of George H. Kearny from 6 November 1866 to 1 January 1907. |
| Item 3: | Log Book kept by Assistant Engineer Kearny on board various ships and accompanying map of cruises to the Far East from 25 July 1868 to 25 October 1876. |
| Item 4: | Diary kept by Assistant Engineer Kearny from 16 May to 5 July 1871 on board USS Benicia, which served on the Asiatic station protecting American interests in the Far East and operations against the Korean on Kanghoa Island. |
| Item 5: | Diary kept by Assistant Engineer Kearny from 9 April 1874 to 18 June 1875 on board the USS Congress during cruises to North Africa and Mediterranean ports. |
| Item 6: | Log Book kept by Assistant Engineer Kearny on board USS Congress from 1 July 1875 to 31 March 1876. |
| Item 7: | Diary kept by Assistant Engineer Kearny on board USS Congress from 1 July 1875 to 31 March 1876. |
| Item 8: | Narrative of the United States Expedition to Korea in 1871 on the storming of the Ports on Kanghoa Island and and appendix containing the diplomatic correspondence on which the expedition is based. Reprinted from the Shanghai Courier. |
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Related Collections
For a photograph and information on Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Blake, see
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Photo Library
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/theb0097.htm
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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 name:
Kearny, George H.
Subject:
Sailors--History--19th Century
United States Navy --History-- Expedition to Korea, 1871
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Cite as: Historical Manuscripts, Navy Department Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington DC, George H. Kearny Collection.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Thomas Wildenberg in August 2006.
