Guide to the Alfred Thayer Mahan papers, 1884-1914


Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection
686 Cushing Road
Newport, RI 02841-1207
Tel: 401-841-2435
email: nhc@usnwc.edu
Website: https://usnwcarchives.org/

Published in 2022

Collection Overview

Title: Alfred Thayer Mahan papers
Date range: 1884-1914
Creator: Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer), 1840-1914
Extent: 2.85 linear feet (3 archival boxes, 2 half archival boxes, 1 oversize box)
Abstract: This collection consists of lectures, letters, and other documents kept by Alfred T. Mahan, naval officer, renowned maritime historian, and past president of the Naval War College.
Language of materials: English
Repository: Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection
Collection number: MSC 017

Scope & content

This collection consists of letters Mahan sent primarily to his daughter, Helen E. Mahan, copies of Mahan family photographs, and research notes and materials compiled by Mahan from 1897-1914 on a variety of subjects including the Spanish American War and the War of 1812. Also of note are two sets of lectures written by Mahan that he delivered at the Naval War College as well as a journal and some writings he kept while serving on the U.S.S. Iroquois in Japan.

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Topics Subject Topics Document Types

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in alphabetical order by folder title.

Biographical note

Alfred Thayer Mahan was born at West Point, New York, the son of Professor Denis Hart Mahan, who taught at the United States Military Academy. The atmosphere of his family home undoubtedly played a role in his future work, and helped to mold his later interests. Although his father hoped that Alfred would pursue a civilian career, the boy joined the Navy after only a year at Columbia University.

As a line officer in the U.S. Navy, Mahan had a rather uneventful career, but saw active service in the Civil War and went on to command three ships. In 1885, Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce selected him as an instructor in naval history and tactics at the Naval War College. Having served nearly 25 years in the Navy at this point, Mahan found a new direction and new purpose in his life at the age of 45. Building on the vision that Luce had laid out for him, Mahan went on to a remarkable career as a naval historian and propagandist, writing more than 20 books, 160 journal articles and 100 newspaper articles. His work was translated into a variety of languages, including Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Dutch. Throughout the world his work had immense influence in the development of navies and in laying the ground work for the development of naval theory and strategy. His works continue to be read and republished today. His first sea power book,The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783, has appeared in at least 50 editions and has been translated into 6 languages.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: Access is open to all researchers, unless otherwise specified.
Use of the materials: Material in this collection is in the public domain, unless otherwise noted.
Preferred citation: Author, "Title," Page or Date. Alfred Thayer Mahan papers, MSC-017, Box number, Folder number. Naval Historical Collection, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
Contact information: Naval War College (U.S.). Naval Historical Collection
686 Cushing Road
Newport, RI 02841-1207
Tel: 401-841-2435
email: nhc@usnwc.edu
Website: https://usnwcarchives.org/

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: The grandson of Alfred Thayer Mahan, Alfred T. Mahan, II, donated these materials to the Naval War College Foundation in 1971. Since then, this collection has been on indefinite loan to the Naval Historical Collection by the NWCF.
Custodial history: These materials were retained by the Mahan family after Mahan's daughters donated the bulk of his papers to the Naval Historical Foundation Collection in the Library of Congress.
Processing information: This collection was originally processed and described by Dr. John Hattendorf and Evelyn M. Cherpak in 1990. In the time following, portions of the collection were sent to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) for preservation and conservation treatment. While at NEDCC the collection was microfilmed and parts were cleaned, repaired, and housed into acid free folders and additional archival boxes. Following this work, the 1990 register was not updated.In 2019, Elizabeth Delmage reprocessed this collection to address the disparities between the 1990 register and the contents of the 8 boxes that comprised the collection. In most cases, the old box and folder numbers from the 1990 register can be found on the reserve side of the folders and in a note in the updated finding aid to assist researchers using superseded citations.This finding aid supersedes the "Register of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Papers, Compiled by John B. Hattendorf, D. Phil. Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History, Manuscript Register Series, No. 15," 1990.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Delmage.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Elizabeth Delmage, 2022 Nov 16.
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS).

Additional Information

Related material: A.T. Mahan papers, MSS31062, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Please search the NHC online catalog for additional materials relating to Alfred T. Mahan.

Inventory

Box 1, Folder 1-3 Lectures: Fleet Battle Tactics
 1886 Apr-May
Box 1, Folder 4-6 Lectures: Military Strategy of the Campaign of 1796 in Italy
 circa 1887
Box 1, Folder 7 Letters to Alfred T. Mahan
 1905 Jan 13-Oct 7
Box 1, Folder 8 Letters to Frederick A. Mahan
 1895 Dec 15
Box 1, Folder 9 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1884
Box 1, Folder 10 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1889-1890
Box 1, Folder 11 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1893
Box 1, Folder 12 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1894
Box 1, Folder 13 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1895 Jan
Box 1, Folder 14 Letters to Helen E. Mahan
 1896 Jun 14
Box 1, Folder 15 Mahan property in New Jersey - blueprints and maps
 circa 1905
Box 1, Folder 16 Mahan property in New Jersey - portion of deed
 circa 1905
Box 1, Folder 17 Negatives
 undated
Box 1, Folder 18 Newspaper clipping
 1914
Box 1, Folder 19 Pamphlet: "A statement of the means by which the Nelson coat, presented by H.R.H. Prince Albert to Greenwich Hospital…"
 1846
Box 1, Folder 20 Photographs: Maulius G. Evans
 undated
Box 1, Folder 21 Photographs: Jomini, the family dog
 undated
Box 1, Folder 22 Photographs: Alfred T. Mahan with daughter, Helen
 undated
Box 1, Folder 23 Photographs: Alfred T. Mahan with grandson, Alfred T. Mahan, II
 undated
Box 1, Folder 24 Photographs: Ellen Evans Mahan
 undated
Box 1, Folder 25 Photographs: Ellen Evans Mahan with her daughters
 1906
Box 1, Folder 26 Photographs: Ellen Kuhn Mahan
 1880 Feb 16 and undated
Box 1, Folder 27 Photographs: Frederick A. Mahan
 undated
Box 2, Folder 1 Photographs: Helen Evans Mahan
 undated
Box 2, Folder 2 Photographs: Lyle Evans Mahan
 1891 and undated
Box 2, Folder 3 Research notes: Blok
 undated
Box 2, Folder 4 Research notes: Campbell, Lives of British Admirals, vol. 1
 undated
Box 2, Folder 5 Research notes: Campbell, Lives of British Admirals, vol. 2
 undated
Box 2, Folder 6 Research notes: Comparing British, German, Italian, and Austrian battleships
 circa 1912-1913
Box 2, Folder 7 Research notes: Creighton's Q. Elizabeth, Blok, Table of Dates, Hanse Towns
 1901
Box 2, Folder 8 Research notes: Data for naval strategy lectures
 circa 1907-1914
Box 2, Folder 9 Research notes: Data, War of 1812
 1903
Box 6x, Folder 1 Research notes: Data, War of 1812
 1903
Box 2, Folder 10 Research notes: Debates on Constitution
 1901 Nov
Box 2, Folder 11 Research notes: Green, Creighton, Monson, Ranke, Bacon, and Gardiner
 1900-1901
Box 5, Folder 1 Research notes: Handwritten copies of letters to Lord Castlereagh from Charles Liverpool
 1814 Sep 2-Dec 23
Box 5, Folder 2 Research notes: Handwritten copies of letters to the Duke of Wellington from Charles Liverpool
 1814 Sep 7-Nov 13
Box 2, Folder 12 Research notes: List of Nelson's battles
 undated
Box 5, Folder 3 Research notes: Mahan's notations from copying Castlereagh papers from the British Museum
 undated
Box 2, Folder 13 Research notes: Stubbs' lectures
 1901
Box 2, Folder 14 Research notes: Stubbs, Rodney
 1901
Box 3, Folder 1 Research notes: Stubbs, Social England, Roger's
 1901
Box 3, Folder 2 Research notes: Volume I of Index to scrapbook kept by Berkeley C. Quill
 undated
Box 3, Folder 3 Research notes: Volume II of Index to scrapbook kept by Berkeley C. Quill
 undated
Box 3, Folder 4 Research notes: War of 1812
 undated
Box 4, Folder 1 Resolution not to drink
 [1868] Nov 21
Box 4, Folder 2 U.S.S. Iroquois daily schedule
 1869 Apr 3
Box 4, Folder 3 U.S.S. Iroquois essay on religion
 circa 1868-1869
Box 5, Folder 4 U.S.S. Iroquois journal
 1868 Apr 26-1869 Sep 10
Box 4, Folder 4-5 U.S.S. Iroquois journal
 1868 Apr 26-1869 Sep 10
Box 4, Folder 5 U.S.S. Iroquois prayer
 circa 1868-1869