Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Arrangement
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Gideon Welles papers
Dates: 1846-1902
Bulk Dates: 1861-1870
Collection Number: mssWE
Creator OR Collector:
Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878
Extent:
Approximately 600 pieces in 10 boxes, with some items housed separately.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The papers of U.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Administrative Information
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with
the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Gideon Welles papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from Stan V. Henkels (Philadelphia), 1924.
Biographical Note
Gideon Welles was Secretary of the Navy during the American Civil War.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically. Several items are "oversize" and physically located in Box 10; some items are
housed separately at the end of the collection.
Scope and Content
Letters, manuscripts (including Welles' 1846-1849 diaries), documents and ephemera covering Welles' career as a naval administrator:
Chief of Bureau of Provision & Clothing for the Navy, 1846-1849; Secretary of the Navy, 1861-1869 (requests for appointments,
purchase of government vessels by George D. Morgan); criticism of Welles's successor, George Maxwell Robeson, and Robeson's
assistant David Dixon Porter. Naval operations during the Civil War, including blockades, letters of marque, and the capture
of New Orleans in April, 1862; Welles' views on Reconstruction politics; Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson. Much of the
correspondence is written to Welles' son, Edgar T. Welles.
Indexing Terms
Personal Names
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Morgan, George D.
Robeson, George M. (George Maxwell), 1829-1897
Welles, Edgar Thaddeus, 1843-1914
Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878 -- Archives
Corporate Names
United States. Navy. Bureau of Provisions & Clothing for the Navy -- Archives
United States. Navy Department -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Subjects
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- Sources
Geographic Areas
New Orleans (La.) -- History -- Capture, 1862 -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources
United States -- History, Naval -- To 1900 -- Sources
United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Sources
Genre
Diaries -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Military records -- United States -- 19th century
Personal papers -- United States -- 19th century
Professional papers -- United States -- 19th century