Official correspondence regarding naval career, 1920–1951; Personal correspondence, 1908–1971; Family correspondence, chiefly to his mother, 1914–1934; Miscellany, including photographs, diary, menus, booklets, newspaper clippings; Correspondence and travel writings of his mother Mrs. Katherine Scott Umsted, 1904–1934.

This collection consists of single manuscripts items from past NWC presidents, faculty, and staff, as well as other other naval officers and military service members from Rhode Island and the surrounding area. These items include correspondence, journals, reports, certificates, commissions, scrapbooks, and other ephemera that relate to the history of the U.S. Naval War College, the history of navies in the Narragansett Bay region, and the history of naval warfare and strategy.