Guide to the Great White Fleet ephemera
M1883
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, California, 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
2015
Title: Great White Fleet ephemera
Identifier/Call Number: M1883
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.5 Linear feet
Date (inclusive): circa 1901-1910
Abstract: Postcards, lithographs, clippings, and other material related to the Great White Fleet and the United States Navy.
Scope and Contents
On December 16, 1907, the Great White Fleet of 16 battleships, 6 torpedo boats and 4 auxiliaries from the Atlantic fleet left
Hampton Roads, Virginia for a round-the-world trip that would last over 2 years. President Teddy Roosevelt conceived of the
idea of sending the fleet around the world as promotion for the United States in the wake of the Sino-Japanese war. Pictorial
material including postcards, photographs, lithographs, magazine articles, a world map (map folder 3), flag (map folder 3),
neptune certificate (map folder 2), sheet music (map folder 1), etc. The collection is based primarily on material from Mr.
Edward Branning, electrician on the U.S.S. Rhode Island; other sources were later added.
Access to Collection
The materials are open for research use.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], Great White Fleet : ephemera (M1883). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Separated Materials note
The three oversize items in map folders were cataloged individually but retain the M1883 number.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Branning, Edward D.
United States. Navy.
United States--History, Naval--20th century
Box 1, Folder 1
5 sheets from the Art Supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, dating June 19, April 24, July 2, June 19, 1898
1898
Scope and Contents
5 sheets from the Art Supplement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, dating June 19, April 24, July 2, June 19, 1898. Colored photographic
chromolithographs of the armored cruiser, New York, with inset portrait of Wm. T. Sampson; the USS battleship Kentucky; US
protected cruiser San Francisco; US cruiser New Orleans; US armored cruiser Brooklyn, flagship.
Box 1, Folder 2
24 Sub Post Card Co. views of the ships in the Great White Fleet
Scope and Contents
24 Sub Post Card Co. black & white views of the ships in the Great White Fleet, published in Los Angeles. A letter written
home covers the backs of 7 of them. This spectator of the fleet watched as it entered San Diego "sailing up from Mexico 16
abreast"... "Greatest parade I ever witnessed of 5000 sailors marching through the streets...".
Box 1, Folder 3
4 real photo postcards of the USS Kearsarge, Arizona, cruiser Cincinnati & crew members.
Box 1, Folder 4
9 color printed postcards
Scope and Contents
9 color printed postcards, with postmarks of various ships of the fleet including Under Pepper Trees (SS South Dakota); Contact
Mines ready to land; Torpedo Tube & Torpedo on US torpedo boat; US marines with rapid fire gun; Entrance to Naval Academy,
Annapolis (USS Franklin); US Marine Barracks Annapolis MD (USS Kansas); Culibra Cut (USS Oregon); Coconut Palms, Hawaii (USS
Colorado); view Franklyn Park Boston (USS Washington).
Box 1, Folder 5
24 color postcards published by Edward Mitchell of San Francisco
Scope and Contents
24 color postcards published by Edward Mitchell of San Francisco of the ships of the fleet with details of their officer,
length and batteries. Including USS Battleship "Connecticut", USS Battleship "Kearsarge", USS Battleship "Missouri"; USS Armored
Cruiser "Pennsylvania"; USS armored Cruiser "California"; US Protected Cruiser "Charleston"; US Battleship "Minnesota" US
Battleship "Georgia" (tipped in album); US armored cruiser "South Dakota"; US Battleship "Rhode Island"; US Battleship "Maine";
US Armored Cruiser "Washington"; US Armored Cruiser "Tennessee"; US Armored Cruiser "Charleston";US Battleship "Kentucky";
Crew of US Battleship "Rhode Island"; US Battleship "Virginia"; US Battleship "Missouri"; Battleship "Nebraska"; US Battleship
"Maine"; US Battleship "Oregon"; US Battleship "Oregon" in dry dock; US Armored Cruiser "California"; US Battleship "New Jersey."
Box 1, Folders 6-19
68 color photographs of ships
Scope and Contents
50 tipped into an album, 18 loose.
Box 1, Folder 20
4 portraits of "Bob" Evans (commander of the fleet), each with a different verse of a poem.
Box 1, Folder 21
Set of 9 Alan Fanjoy postcards
Scope and Contents
Set of 9 greeting postcards in an Art Nouveau design by Alan Fanjoy Publish Publishers, Ocean Park, CA including USS Ohio,
Maine, Yanklan, Glacier, Rhode Island, Illinois, Virginia, Missouri, New Jersey.
Box 1, Folder 22
Clippings re: postmarks of Great White Fleet
Box 1, Folder 23
Set of 6 Honey Boy cards
Scope and Contents
Romantic postcards involving a sailor and his girl.
Box 1, Folder 24
7 postcards sent to Miss Jean Pray of Long Island
1908-1909
Scope and Contents
Collection of 7 postcards sent to Miss Jean Pray of Long Island, 1908-09, showing views of ports visited including Jumbo Tree
in Santa Cruz, California with fold-out of fleet; Landing San Diego April 11,1898; Punta Arenas; Honolulu 1908; Admiral Sperry,
Yokohama Japan; Landing on Domain after parade Sydney (Australia); real photo view of deck off Manila ("bad storm, lost a
shipmate").
Box 1, Folder 25
2 California Cards, 1 folding, welcoming the fleet in 1908
Box 1, Folder 26
5 stereoscopic views of the Fleet
Box 1, Folder 27
Unused calendar, each month commemorating a ship of the Fleet, issued by the Holyoke Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
1908
Box 1, Folder 28
2 complementary ball invitations
1909
Box 2, Folder 1
3 real photos, 1 of the Bennington sunk, by Bailey, and 2 on board the Wyoming
1903
Box 2, Folder 2
Hat band of the USS Wyoming
Box 2, Folder 3
3 color photo lithographs of ships including the Columbia, the Oregon's race of Cuba, and the Battleship Alabama
Box 2, Folder 4
Los Angeles City Public School certificate of donation to help replace the "Maine", destroyed in Havana in 1898
Box 2, Folder 5
Triple fold postcard, the Atlantic Fleet's departure by artist Nick F. Quirk
1907-12
Box 2, Folder 6
12 offcuts of illustrated magazine articles about the Fleet
Box 2, Folder 7
Autograph of W.F. Ichley, Rear Admiral USA
1899-12
Map-Folder 1
Life with the American Squadron : musical score by Harry V. Ingham (sheet music)
Map-Folder 2
Neptune certificate given to Edward Branning to commemorate the crossing of the equator by the U.S.S. Rhode Island
1908-01-06