Luce, Stephen Bleecker, 1827-1917

Abstract

This collection includes five letters from Stephen B. Luce, founder of the U.S. Naval War College, and one letter from Alfred T. Mahan, esteemed naval officer and historian.

Abstract

Correspondence, memoranda, lists, contracts, inventories, military and naval orders, and plans regarding the early administration and curriculum of the Naval War College, new building construction, and items relating to the establishment of a naval coaling station in Narraganset Bay. Also included are journals and letterpress copybooks kept by past NWC presidents Charles Stockton and French Chadwick.

Content Description Manuscript Collection 10, the papers of Stephen B. Luce, was created in 1970 from a Naval War College Library historical file. Information on provenance is unknown. This small collection consists of three series: correspondence, writings and miscellany. The correspondence series, letters received and copies of letters sent, 1876-1911, includes such prominent correspondents as Alfred T. Mahan, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Stockton and Henry C. Lodge. Topics at issue are Naval War College lectures, the publication of Luce's own articles, the continued existence of the College, A.T. Mahan's writings and war games.Series II, writings, contains several articles written by Luce for various publications, including the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings and The North American Review, 1905-1911, along with reviews of several of Mahan's works. Finally, miscellany, series III, has tributes to Stephen B. Luce, articles by other writers, and publisher's notes.A collection of photocopies of the publications of Stephen B. Luce, 1862-1911, was a 1973 gift to the Naval War College Foundation for deposit in the Naval Historical Collection by John B. Hattendorf, co-editor of the first contribution to the Naval War College Historical Monograph Series, The Writings of Stephen B. Luce. These items comprise manuscript collection 23.The Captain Kay Russell collection of research source materials on Stephen B. Luce is the third major component of this register....