back to 1798, of Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries, U.S. Presidents, admirals, commodores, other officers, and enlisted personnel, ca. 1840-1958; women in the Navy Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, 1943-45; ships, boats, ordnance, equipment, airfields, naval air stations, navy bases and yards in the United States and foreign countries, blimps, dirigibles, balloons (including the first navy observation balloon), hydroplanes, flying boats, and other types of airplanes, 1896-1958; historic flights, air races, polar expeditions, and trophies, 1896-1939; training activities, 1911-58; the Great White Fleet in Australia, 1908; and the Japanese surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, 1945. Included are photographs of plants under contract to supply the Navy with war materials, 1943, and recruiting, Red Cross, and Liberty Loan posters, 1892-1919. There are also photographs of foreign navies and scenes, 1911-58. There are motion pictures (35 reels) of wreckage of the Navy dirigible Shenandoah (ZR-1), 1925; medical training in the United States, 1938; and naval equipment and activities, mainly in the Pacific theater during World War II, including ships, submarines, airplanes, training, mail delivery, defense against kamikaze attacks, the battle of Midway, the battle for the Marianas, the invasions of Saipan, Eniwetok, Solomon Islands, Guam, and Okinawa, preparation for the invasion of the Ryukus, bombing raids over Japan, and the Japanese surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. There are also films on the history of naval aviation, Japan, and peace celebrations in several American cities. Microfilm Publication: Annual Reports of the Governors of Guam, 1901-1941, M181, 3 rolls, DP. SPECIFIC RESTRICTIONS I. Records: Records of the office of James V. Forrestal as Under Secretary and Secretary of the Navy, including records of his special assistant, Eugene S. Duffield, 1941-47. Restrictions: Permission to examine these records must be obtained from authorized personnel of the Secretary of the Navy's Office. Specified by: Assistant Vice Chief of Naval Operations/Director of Naval Administration. be II. Records: Photographic records of the Department of the Navy accessioned from the Naval Photographic Center, Washington, comprising the Department of the Navy's official "general" still picture history file. Restrictions: Access may granted to these photographic records except that when the records are not marked or otherwise stamped "Released," the approval of the Chief of Information, Navy Department, must be obtained before reproductions thereof are furnished. Specified by: Assistant Vice Chief of Naval Operations/Director of Naval Administration. NAVAL RECORDS COLLECTION OF THE OFFICE OF The Naval Records Collection was begun in 1882 when the Librarian of the Navy Department, then in the Office of Naval Intelligence, began to collect f publication naval documents relating to the Civil War. The staff engaged in this task was designated the Naval War Record Office and was known collectively with the library as the Office of Library and Naval War Records. The Office was placed under the Secretary of the Navy in 1899, and shortly thereafter most of the bound records of the Secretary's Office-all dated before 1886 were transferred to the Office of Library and Naval War Records. In the early 1900's the Office collected older records of naval bureaus and records relating to naval personnel and operations during the American Revolution. In 1915 the Office was named the Office of Naval Records and Library, and it was reassigned in 1919 to the Office of Naval Intelligence where it was merged with the Historical Section, created in 1918 to select and arrange records relating to U.S. naval participation in World War I. During the period between World Wars I and II many documents relating to naval history were acquired from private and public sources. In August 1946 the Office of Naval Records and Library was combined with the Office of Naval History, established in 1944 to prepare histories and narratives of naval activities during World War II. There are 2,962 cubic feet of records dated between 1691 and 1927 in this record group. RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 1776-1913. 1,127 lin. ft. These comprise nearly all existing records that originated in the Office of the Secretary before 1886 and include correspondence, directives, and fiscal, personnel, legal, and miscellaneous records. Most of the records created after 1886 are among the general records of the Department of the Navy (see RG 80). Correspondence includes letters to officers, to Federal executive agents, and to the Congress, and miscellaneous letters sent, 1798-1886. There are letters to commandants and Navy agents, 180865; confidential letters sent, 1813-22, 1840, 1843-79, and 1893-1908; letters to the Board of Navy Commissioners, 1815-42, and Members of Congress, 1820-31; indexes, 1823-61; letters to Navy Department bureaus, 1842-86, and officers commanding squadrons or vessels, 1861-86; and deciphered messages, 1888-1910. Letters received include miscellaneous letters received, 1801-84; letters from officers below the rank of commander, 1802-48, commanders, 1804-86, captains, 1805-61, officers commanding expeditions, 1818-85, the Congress, 1825-61, the Board of Navy Commissioners, 1827-42, Federal executive agents, 1837-86, officers commanding squadrons, 1841-86, Navy Department Bureaus, 1842-85, Navy agents and naval storekeepers, 1843-65, the Superintendent of the Naval Academy, 184784, commandants of Navy yards and shore stations, 1848-86, rear admirals, commodores, and captains, 1862-65, and rear admirals and commodores, 1866-84; and related registers and indexes. Directives, 1776-1913, include orders, circulars, and regulations; fiscal records, 1794-1893, include correspondence, ledgers, and registers of bills and warrants; and personnel records include correspondence about appointments and resignations, 1803-90, muster rolls and payrolls, 1798-1859, rosters, 1798-1889, registers and indexes of applications and appointments, 1814-87, registers and indexes of regular officers, 1798-1874, registers of volunteer officers, 1861-79, and indexes and registers of officers' orders, 1823-73. Legal records resulted from legal and regulatory functions of the Office of the Secretary, relating to contracts, claims, prize vessels and their cargoes, prisoners, courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and the examination, promotion, and retirement of Navy and Marine officers, 1807-76. Miscellaneous records 295 include letters relating to the Barbary pirates, 1803-8; correspondence relating to the reception of liberated Africans and letters from members of the American Colonization Society; letters relating to the Florida-Indian War, 1835-42, and the Naval Asylum; reports on naval vessels and live-oak lands; and records relating to naval service. RECORDS OF THE BOARD OF NAVY COMMISSIONERS. 1794-1842. 109 lin. ft. Included are the journal of the Board, 1815-42, with a register, 1825-42; letters sent, 1815-42, including those to the Secretary of the Navy, Navy agents, and commandants; letters received, 1814-42; reports of the Chief Naval Constructor, 1827-34; and other records, 1794-1842, including contracts, a register of officers, inventories of naval stores, journals of timber expeditions, and records relating to expenditures, supplies, property inventories, and work at navy yards. RECORDS OF OFFICES AND BUREAUS OF THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. 1811-1914. 48 lin. ft. These consist of records of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1811-79, including letters relating to timber and a history, 1797-1875, of the Boston navy yard by Commodore George Henry Preble; the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, 1842-62, including journals of the North Pacific exploring expedition under Comdrs. Cadwalader Ringgold and John Rodgers, 1853-56; the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs, 1825-58, including statistics on building costs of naval vessels, reports on sailing vessel qualities, and reports of engineers; the Bureau of Construction and Repair, 1865-76; the Bureau of Steam Engineering, 1861-86; the Bureau of Navigation, including letters sent relating to appointments and resignations, 1813-42, cruising reports of naval vessels, 1895-1910, and daily reports of ves sel arrivals and departures, 1897-1910; and the Office of the Judge Advocate General, the Office of Naval Intelligence, 1888-1914, and the Bureau of Equipment, 1888-1908. RECORDS OF NAVAL SHORE ESTABLISHMENTS. 1814-1911. 21 lin. ft. Included are correspondence, orders, logs, and miscellaneous records of the Baltimore, Havana, Mound City, New Orleans, Newport, and Rio Grande Naval Stations; the Boston, Gosport (Norfolk), Mare Island, New York, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, N.H., and Washington navy yards; and the Naval Academy. RECORDS OF BOARDS AND These comprise minutes, letters, journals, and miscellaneous records of the Board for Testing Ordnance, 1836-37, the Board To Prepare a Code of Regulations for the Government of the Navy, 1857-58, the Naval Examining Board, 1861-62, the Permanent Commission, 1861-65, the Joint Army and Navy Board, 1866, the Board for the Examination of Officers for Promotion, 1868-69, the Commission To Ascertain the Cost of Removing the Naval Observatory, 1878, the Naval War Board, 1898, and the Board of Arbitration for Army and Navy Maneuvers, 1902. RECORDS AND PAPERS FROM Records transferred from the War Department include letters sent by the Secretary of War to naval officers, constructors, shipbuilders, and others, 179098; some records of the Philadelphia Arsenal, concerning military and naval supplies, 1796-1814; and correspondence between the Secretary of War and Samuel Hodgdon and John Harris, storekeepers at the Philadelphia Arsenal, relating to the arming of frigates and warships, 1795-98. Records transferred from the Treasury Department include indexes to bonds executed by Navy paymasters, 1809-65, and notes on naval fiscal matters, 1844-62. Records transferred from the Department of State, 1812-83, include letters from collectors of customs to the Secretary of State, relating to commissions for privateers, 1812-15. There are originals and transcripts of logs, journals, and diaries of officers of the U.S. Navy at sea, 1776-1910, including copies of logs of the Wasp, 1776, Ranger, 1777-80, Bonhomme Richard, 1779, H.M.S. Serapis, 1779, Alliance, 1779-80, and Ariel, 1780; copies of logs and journals kept aboard the Constitution, 1798-1804; a log of the Monitor, 1862; logs and journals of American privateers and merchant vessels, 17761869; account books of naval vessels, 1777-1879; and a large collection of letter books of naval officers, 1778-1909. Records of the Confederate States of America and its citizens, 1861-67, consist principally of account books of naval vessels and payrolls of civilian personnel at naval shore establishments, 1861-64; muster rolls, payrolls, logs, and journals of naval vessels, 1861-65; and logs of Confederate privateers, 1861. There are documents and transcripts of documents from foreign sources, 1691-1908, many of them concerning the British Navy, including logs and journals of naval and merchant vessels, 17751889; documents relating to John Paul Jones, 1778-91; registers of U.S. prisoners in Halifax, Barbados, Jamaica, and Quebec, 1805-15; and naval manuscripts copied for Capt. Alfred T. Mahan, 180715. "AREA" AND "SUBJECT" FILES. 1775-1927. 1,225 lin. ft. The "area file" and the "subject file," 1775-1927, include unbound records and documents obtained from private sources, from volumes unbound because of their poor condition, and from the files of the Office of the Secretary, the Office of Detail, and the Bureau of Navigation. The material was augmented with photographs, drawings, clippings, pamphlets, occasional cross-reference sheets, and other items. The "area file" is arranged by region; the "subject file" is arranged by subject. Microfilm Publications: Many of the series of letters sent and received by the Secretary of the Navy to 1886 are available as microfilm publications. The "area file" for the period 1775-1910 has also been filmed. For a listing of records series and microfilm publication numbers, see the current List of National Archives Microfilm Publications. RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS (RECORD GROUP 38) The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations was established by an act of March 3, 1915, to coordinate naval operational activities. Under the Office were the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Board of Inspection and Survey, and the Naval Communication Service. On April 8, 1942, an Executive order placed The Chief of Naval Operations is the principal naval adviser to the President and the Secretary of the Navy on the conduct of war, the principal naval executive and adviser to the Secretary of the Navy on the administration of the Department, and the naval member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is responsible for the naval operating forces and associated bureaus and offices, manpower and logistical services, research and development plans and activities, naval strategic planning, the organization and training of naval forces, their preparation and readiness, and the maintenance of a high level of quality among personnel and components of the Navy. The general correspondence of the Office from 1915 to June 30, 1942, is interfiled with that of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy (see RG 80). See Henry P. Beers, "The Development of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations,” Military Affairs, Vols. 10 and 11 (1946-47); Julius Augustus Furer, Administration of the Navy Department in World War II (1959); and Vincent Davis, Postwar Defense Policy and the US. Navy, 1943-46 (Chapel Hill, 1966), and Admirals' Lobby (Chapel Hill, 1967). There are 3,120 cubic feet of records dated between 1882 and 1968 in this record group. RECORDS OF THE CHIEF OF General records consist of correspondence, 1942-46, with an index; and microfilm copies of classified correspondence, 1918-43 (375 rolls), and of history cards and indexes, 1918-42 (42 rolls). There are records that concern the military government established by the Navy in the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924, consisting of general correspondence, 1917-24, with a subject index; correspondence of the military governor with High Comissioner Sumner Welles, 1922-23; legal correspondence, 1920-22; correspondence of the naval detachment, 1924; miscellaneous correspondence, registers, and indexes; radio messages, with registers, 1922-24; quarterly reports, Executive orders and regula tions, and official publications and issuances of the military government, 1916-24; correspondence, memorandums, and reports relating to the military government and its predecessors, 1914-24; and financial records, 1917-23. RECORDS OF THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS (ADMINISTRATION). 1885-1963. 650 lin. ft. and 23,061 rolls of microfilm. The Deputy Chief for Administration is responsible for internal administration of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The records include records of the Division of Naval Communications, consisting of general correspondence of the Director, 1911-26; classified general correspondence, 1917-26; a subject index, 1911-26; microfilm copies (23,061 rolls) of classified messages and dispatches, 1941-63; correspondence of the Postal Affairs Section, 1942-45; general records of the Office of the Atlantic Coast Communications Superintendent, 1917-25; and miscellaneous office files, plans and blueprints, newspaper clippings, and publications. The Division of Pan American Affairs and U.S. Naval Missions grew out of the Navy's interest in developing ties with foreign naval services through means of naval missions and later in response to wartime conditions. The records consist of reports of secret conversations between U.S. naval representatives and those of other American Republics, 1940-42. The Military Government Section of the Central Division was organized in 1944 to establish policies for the administration of occupied areas. In 1945 the Section was reorganized as a division. under an Assistant Chief of Naval Operations. Its records consist of classified general correspondence, 1943-44, with an index; and classified plans and reports on public finance and health. The Naval District Affairs Division w |