Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm70052688
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Robert Wilson Shufeldt, naval officer, explorer, and diplomat, were deposited in the Library of Congress by the Naval Historical Foundation in 1949, 1952, and 1954, and converted to a gift in 1998.
The papers of Robert Wilson Shufeldt were arranged and described in 1968. The finding aid was revised in 2011.
In 1969 the Library published
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Robert Wilson Shufeldt is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Robert Wilson Shufeldt are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Robert Wilson Shufeldt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Robert W. Shufeldt (1822-1895) span the years 1836-1910, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1860-1880. Shufeldt’s forty-five year naval career was interrupted by a nine-year period in the merchant marine service and in surveying for a proposed isthmian canal route. The correspondence for his broken-service years, however, includes many papers of interest on naval affairs.
The Shufeldt collection consists primarily of correspondence, letterbooks, and subject files, supplemented by diaries, notebooks, journals, logbooks, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and a small file of material concerning explorations in Africa by Shufeldt’s youngest son, Mason. The topics of interest are the nineteenth-century navy, its growth and development; Civil War naval and diplomatic activities; foreign relations in the 1870s and 1880s, especially with Africa and Asia; and the Tehuantepec, Mexico, surveying expeditions. The collection is organized into nine series: Diaries, Notebooks, Logbooks, and Journals; Letterbooks, Letterpress Books, and Letter Index Books; Official Correspondence; General Correspondence; Subject File; Newspaper Clippings; Printed Matter; Miscellany; and Mason A. Shufeldt File.
Shufeldt resigned his commission in the navy in 1854 and entered the merchant marine to command the
Shufeldt returned to active duty in the navy in 1863 with the rank of commander. During the Civil War, her served both ashore and afloat. After the Civil War, Shufeldt served at sea in the Far East and in 1868 he returned to the United States and was assigned ordnance duty ashore in New York.
In 1870, Shufeldt was promoted to the rank of captain and was assigned special duty in command of a survey expedition to Tehuantepec, Mexico. After the exploration, Shufeldt recommended that this territory be considered as a likely site for a transisthmus canal.
In 1878, Shufeldt was given command of the
Shufeldt was appointed president of the Naval Advisory Board, for which he served two years before retiring in 1884. It was during this last tour of duty that he helped formulate the plans for a new navy incorporating the technological advance from sail to steam propulsion and from wood to iron and steel hulls.
This collection is arranged in nine series:
Diaries, notebooks, log abstracts, logbooks, navigational data, journals, and other writings.
Arranged chronologically.
Copies of correspondence and reports sent by Shufeldt as commander of various ships.
A few of the volumes are indexed.
Letters received and a few drafts of letters sent.
Arranged chronologically. Correspondence concerning Shufeldt’s years in Cuba, the Tehuantepec Survey Expedition, and the world cruise in the Ticonderoga is in the Subject File.
Letters received and a few drafts of letters sent, mostly of a personal and family nature, but some material relating to Shufeldt’s activities in Cuba, Mexico, and elsewhere.
Arranged chronologically.
Correspondence, reports, memoranda, manuscripts, maps, printed matter, newspaper clippings, drafts of writings, bills and receipts, and miscellaneous items pertaining to Cuba, the Tehuantepec Survey Expedition, and the
Material concerning Cuba and Tehuantepec Survey Expedition is chronologically arranged and files concerning the
Clippings chiefly concerned with naval incidents.
Arranged alphabetically by topic.
Aticles, pamphlets, speeches, general orders, and other writings.
Arranged chronologically.
An account book, calling cards and invitations, notes and fragments, inventories, quartermaster reports, ship descriptions, officer register, ship specifications and blueprints, admiralty board arguments, bills, receipts, inventories, copies of treaties, certificates and awards, poetry, songs, and essays.
Arranged by topic.
Correspondence, reports, writings, and miscellaneous material. This file is mostly concerned with Mason A. Shufeldt’s explorations of Africa.
Arranged by topic and therein chronologically.