Caspar F. Goodrich Collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The collection includes official correspondence, notes and texts of lectures Admiral Goodrich delivered while an instructor at the Naval War College, other writings including the edited manuscript of his memoirs, extracts from the diary of his grandfather Captain James Goodrich, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings on the Spanish-American War.
Biographical Note
Missing Title
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in five series:
Missing Title
- Series I. Correspondence
- Series II. Naval War College lectures and lecture notes
- Series III. Writings
- Series IV. James Goodrich journal transcripts
- Series V. Bound volumes
Scope and Content Note
The collection includes official correspondence, notes and texts of lectures Admiral Goodrich delivered while a lecturer at the Naval War College, other writings including the edited manuscript of his memoirs, and extracts from the diary of his grandfather, Captain James Goodrich.
The Goodrich Collection forms Series 21 of the Naval History Society Collection, comprising 53 individual collections named for famous naval figures and ships, as well as the records of the Naval History Society itself, and donated to the New-York Historical Society by the Naval History Society in 1925.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)
Use Restrictions
Permission to quote from this collection in a publication must be requested and granted in writing. Send permission requests, citing the name of the collection from which you wish to quote, to
Library Director
The New-York Historical Society
Two West 77th Street
New York, NY 10024
The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as NHSC-Goodrich, The New-York Historical Society.
Provenance
Donated to the New-York Historical Society in 1936 by the Naval History Society.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Correspondence (1871-1918)
Scope and Contents note
The series consists mainly of official correspondence received, including orders to report to ships, permissions for leave, administration of the Torpedo Board, service on various courts martial, and assignments to lecture at the Naval War College. The letters sent are mostly typescript carbons with some letterpress copies, and include official reports filed on operations and cruises, providing details of the responsibilities of a ship's commander in this period. John Meigs's January 1909 letters discuss the formation of a naval historical society and in that year John Sanford Barnes sends draft bylaws of the Naval Historical Society, comparing it to Britain's Naval Records Society. The last document was found in the original Correspondence box and is not in Goodrich's handwriting; it may have been written by New-York Historical Society librarian Dorothy Barck.
Letters sent, 1871-1906
Letters sent: Draft to Ben Lamberton, 1895 December 8
Letters received, 1863 -1878
Letters received, 1881 -1884
Letters received, 1885 - 1887
Letters received, 1888 - 1889
Letters received, 1890 - 1893
Letters received, 1894 - 1895
Letters received, 1896 - 1897
Letters received, 1903 - 1906
Letters received, 1909, 1918
Printed enclosure: H.R. 8476, Committee on Naval Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 1895
Note on post-war planning, Undated
Series II. Naval War College lectures and lecture notes (1862-1904)
Scope and Contents note
The subseries includes notes, handwritten drafts, and final versions (mostly carbon typescripts) of lectures Goodrich presented at the Naval War College, as well as notes on other topics. Also included are a newspaper clipping and a list of personal items, perhaps from the Goodrich residence, found with the lecture materials. "The Problem of 96" is one of the annual examinations by College cadets of a challenge in coastal defense: the 1896 one looked at a specific part of nearby Narragansett Bay. This is an early precursor of the theoretical "war games" the College famously initiated.
The numbered lectures were delivered in order as part of a series on famous international naval encounters, from the Battle of Sluys in 1340 to Drake's destruction of King Phillip's fleet in Cadiz Harbor in 1587, Napoleon's Nile Campaign of 1798, and the 1827 Battle of Navarino during the Greek War of Independence. These form the backdrop for Goodrich's final multipart lecture on Dewey's engagement in Manila during the Spanish-American War, which had occurred only three years before these lectures. It is unclear if the material on the Army's landing in Cuba formed part of this presentation.
Arrangement
The lecture notes are arranged chronologically and the numbered lectures in order as noted on them and their original packaging. Some lectures' accompanying graphic materials (maps and photoreproductions probably used in the preparation of lantern slides) were pinned to the lecture text; these have been separated, numbered by page on which they appeared, and housed by lecture. The notes' original envelopes are in separate folders; they may date any time from the lectures in 1901 to the collection's donation to the Naval History Society in 1933.
Extract from "Fortifications and Sea Coast Defenses," Congressional Committee on Military Affairs, 1862
Lists of personal items, probably 1890s
Problem of 96: Eggemoggin Reach; copy of Admiral Mahan letter to Taylor on the subject, 1895 July 19, undated
Newspaper clipping on privateering, 1896 April 16
Letter on armored cruisers from Admiral W.S. Schley, 1896 July 23
Naval War College documents: Elements of a "War Chart and Defense Plan"; definition of art of war; document on international law, 1896, undated
Letter defining Mediterranean compass variations 1798; notes on Egyptian campaign of 1798, 1901 Jan 22, undated
First lecture: Battle of Sluys. Text, 1901
First lecture: Battle of Sluys. Photoreproductions, maps, 1901
Second lecture: Singeing the King of Spain's Beard: Cadiz, 1587. Draft, 1901
Second lecture: Singeing the King of Spain's Beard: Cadiz, 1587. Text, 1901
Third lecture: Blake at Porto Farina. Draft, 1901
Third lecture: Blake at Porto Farina. Text, 1901
Third lecture: Blake at Porto Farina. Maps and photoreproductions., 1901
Fourth lecture: Blake's last fight - Santa Cruz de Teneriffe, April 20, 1627. Text, 1901
Fifth lecture: The Nile Campaign I. The Pursuit. Text, 1901
Sixth lecture: The Battle of the Nile II. The Attack. Draft, 1901
Sixth lecture: The Battle of the Nile II. The Attack. Text, 1901
Sixth lecture: The Battle of the Nile II. The Attack. Maps and reproductions, 1901
Seventh lecture: The Battle of Navarino. Draft., 1901
Dewey at Manila: Notes, 1901
Dewey at Manila: I. Introduction. II. Strained Relations. III. Dewey's Objectives. IV. Authorities. V. American Preparations, 1901
Dewey at Manila: VI. The Opposing Forces. VII. Spanish Preparations. VIII. Spanish Accounts of the Battle, 1901
Dewey at Manila: IX. American Accounts of the Battle. X. The Finish, 1901
The landing of the army in Cuba, circa 1901
Assorted lecture notes. Envelope, 1904
Second lecture. Singeing of the King of Spain's Beard. Envelope, Undated
Seventh lecture. The Battle of Navarino. Envelope, Undated
Seventh lecture. The Battle of Navarino. Map blueprints, Undated
Sixth lecture. Battle of the Nile. Envelopes, Undated
Series III. Writings (1901-1933)
Scope and Contents note
The subseries includes notes and final versions of Goodrich's writings, apart from the lectures he delivered at the Naval War College, including various topics in naval warfare, an address on establishing a naval training facility in San Diego, and his 1924 memoirs. The latter includes a typescript with handwritten emendations probably by James Barnes, who edited the work for publication by the Naval History Society ("Rope yarns from the old navy," published by J.J. Little & Ives Co., as the eleventh volume of the Society's publications), and a final clean version incorporating those changes. The memoirs are an affectionate look at his early service in the Navy, which he describes as "coincident with the great changes from sail to steam; from wooden frigates to steel dreadnoughts; from smooth bore muzzle loaders to breech loading rifled cannon; from man power to electricity."
Logistics, [1901]
Coast defense, [1901]
Label from wrapper for writings on coast defense and logistics, [1901]
Navigation, [1901]
Interior water communication, [1901]
Scouting for the U.S.S. Tacony, [1901]
Dutch - French - English Wars of the 17th Century, [1901]
Extracts from G.B. Mundy's 1830 Biography of Admiral Rodney, [1901]
"Confidential report of Gunnery Information Obtained During a Visit to England - British Battle Practice", 1905 June
Comments to San Diego Chamber of Commerce about establishing a naval training station, circa 1916
In memoriam: Tribute to Stephen Bleecker Luce, published by the Naval History Society, 1919
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": Cover page, foreword, comments, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": I. How I Entered the Navy. II. At the Naval Academy During the Civil War. III. Some Experiences as a Midshipman, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": IV. Goldsborough. V. My First Foreign Port. VI. Mediterranean Cruise, Concluded. VII. With Farragut, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": VIII. In the South Atlantic, 1869-1871. IX. A Remote Island Community. X. St. Paul de Loando - St. Helena - Ascension. XI. In Asiatic Waters, 1875-1878, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": XII. Another European Cruise. XIII. Another European Cruise (Concluded). XIV. The Last of My Sailing Ships: 1. The Jamestown., 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": XV. 2. The Constellation. XVI. Bluejackets of the Old Navy, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": Complete revised typescript, 1924
"Rope Yarns from the Old Navy": Typescript box, presented to the Naval History Society March 29, 1933, 1933
View Inventory
Series IV. James Goodrich journal transcripts (undated)
Scope and Contents note
The subseries consists of undated notes in Goodrich's hand, and a typed transcript, from the logs of Captain James Goodrich (dated 1796-1853) aboard various vessels, including Confederacy. These may be related to the publication in Journal of American History (IV, II, pp. 273-280, 1910) of "First Commerce Under American Flag," by William Goodrich (grandson of James and brother of Caspar F.), which documents James Goodrich's claims against the French government for restitution of goods seized on a voyage.
"Notes from the log of the Confederacyfrom London to Madeira to China (in which James Goodrich sailed), 1796 Jan 10 - 1797 June 9, Undated
"Miscellaneous abstracts from journal on board the ship Fame etc. of Capt. James Goodrich, London to New Orleans", 1800-1801, Undated
"Random notes from the journals of Captain James W. Goodrich", 1823 - 1853, Undated
Typed transcript from James Goodrich logs: Conditions in Whampoa, China (probably aboard Galaxy), circa 1835, Undated
Subseries V. Bound volumes
Scope and Contents note
The subseries consists of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings on the Spanish-American War.