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Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm70052811
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 the Rodgers family were deposited in the Library of Congress by the Naval Historical Foundation in 1950. Additional deposits were made 1964-1969, and the collection was converted to a gift in 1998.
The Rodgers Family Papers were processed in 1971. The finding aid was revised in 2011 by Ruth S. Nicholson. The finding aid was updated in 2024 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
1972 the Library published
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of the Rodgers family is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of the Rodgers family 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, Rodgers Family Papers, Naval Historical Foundation Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of the Rodgers family contain the papers of Commodore John Rodgers (1773-1838), who fought in the War of 1812 and who for many years was the senior officer in the American navy; his son, Rear Admiral John Rodgers ((1812-1882), who fought in the Civil War; his grandson, Vice Admiral William Ledyard Rodgers, who fought in World War I; and a great-grandson, naval aviator John Rodgers (1881-1926), who commanded a submarine division during World War I. The Rodgers collection also contains some papers of the latter John Rodgers's father, John Augustus Rodgers, who commanded the USS
The papers of John Rodgers (1773-1838), consist of a letterbook Rodgers kept on board the USS
Also in the first series are the papers of Matthew C. Perry and Perry's and Rodgers's nephew, Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers, as well as letters to and from other naval contemporaries. Significant topics within this material are the Battle of Lake Erie affair and the Somers Mutiny. There are letters from William Henry Harrison and others to Matthew Perry supporting Oliver H. Perry against Jesse D. Elliott in the argument over Elliott's actions during the crucial Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, and a letter from Charles Sumner to Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (Matthew C. Perry's brother-in-law) supporting Mackenzie's action in hanging the son of the secretary of war for mutiny on the brig
The second series in the collection, the papers of John Rodgers (1812-1882) include official correspondence documenting his long and varied service in the navy and a large group of family letters. Rodgers wrote frequently to his wife, Ann H. Rodgers, and his father-in-law, William Ledyard Hodge. In his letters to his wife he wrote detailed accounts of his surroundings and activities, including during the Civil War period. There are also letters to his mother, Minerya D. Rodgers, to his brothers and sisters, and to his sister-in-law, Theodosia M. Hodge. Among the correspondents are Louis Agassiz, Daniel Ammen, John M. Brooke, James Buchanan, Oscar Bullus, Charles H. Davis, Sophie Madeleine du Pont (Mrs. Samuel Francis Du Pont), David Glasgow Farragut, Ernest R. Knorr, John K. Luttrell, Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, John T. McLaughlin, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Lewis Warrington, and Gideon Welles.
The papers of William Ledyard Rodgers, grandson of the first John Rodgers and son of the second, include official orders, a journal, family and general correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, and printed matter. The correspondence documents William's service as president of the United States Naval War College and in the Asiatic Fleet; his membership on the advisory council to the Conference on Limitation of Armament; his work as technical adviser to the Committee of Jurists on the Laws of War; and his participation in the Institute of Politics at Williams College. Also in the series are speeches, articles, radio broadcasts, and book reviews, as well as the notes, drafts, maps, and illustrations for his two published books. Significant correspondents include William Shepherd Benson, Josephus Daniels, William H. Gardiner, Harry A. Garfield, Charles E. Hughes, H. P. Huse, Dudley W. Knox, John Bassett Moore, William Snowden Sims, and George G. Wilson.
The last series consists mainly of the papers of aviator John Rodgers (1881-1926), but includes the orders to duty of his father, John Augustus Rodgers, from his enrollment at the United States Naval Academy in 1865 until his last order to muster out the naval units of several Boston area colleges in 1919. John Rodgers's papers include logbooks and correspondence relating to his service in naval aviation, in the submarine force, and as commanding officer of the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor, but most of the other material pertaining to him concerns an aborted flight to Hawaii from the West Coast of the United States in 1925 and his death in 1926 as a result of an airplane accident while en route from Anacostia, D.C., to Philadelphia. Among the correspondents are Paul M. Bates, Wallace R. Farrington, Stanford E. Moses, and James H. Strong.
The collection is arranged in four series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm70052811
Correspondence sent and received and notebooks.
Arranged by type of correspondence or material.
Letters to and from John Rodgers and letters between his contemporaries.
Rodgers's letters arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent. Letters between contemporaries are arranged alphabetically by name of sender.
Biographical and autobiographical material, official documents, miscellany concerning Matthew Calbraith Perry, and other miscellaneous items.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material.
Orders to duty, letters sent and memoranda received, and general orders on the Florida Expedition, the North Pacific Surveying Expedition, the Civil War and the Asiatic Fleet.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters sent and received between family members. Includes Hodge family correspondence.
Arranged by type of correspondence or name of correspondent.
Biographical material, genealogy file, photographs, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Journal, orders to duty, and letters sent and received.
Arranged chronologically.
Handwritten and typewritten drafts and galleys of books and handwritten, typewritten, and printed copies of articles, speeches, radio broadcasts, and book reviews.
Arranged by type of material.
Memoranda, reports, and correspondence.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Memoranda, newspaper clippings, commissions, photographs, and printed matter.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material.
Orders to duty of John Augustus Rodgers and aviation logbooks and letters sent and received by John Rodgers.
Arranged chronologically within type of material.
Addresses, speeches, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and two scrapbooks.
Arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material.