letters (correspondence)

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 Personal letters sent to his parents, siblings, friend Jones and his wife, Anne Hitchcock Sims, 1882–1925; Letters received from Navy Department regarding assignment; Letters comment on travels, places visited, family matters, politics and rebellions in the Caribbean, ship’s movements, health, social life in port, shipboard life, Hawaiian politics, life in Paris, France, French lessons, Sino-Japanese War, position as Naval Attaché in Paris and St. Petersburg, travels through Europe, criticism of U.S. Navy, World War I assignment as CO, Naval Forces, European Waters, London, England, 1917–1978, including daily routine and social life; Assignments on the China Station. Letters sent by Anne Sims to William S. Sims, 1906, 1909–1912, 1915–1917, regarding family matters. Scope and Contents The twenty-five box collection measures twelve and one-half linear feet and is divided into five series. Series I contains typescript copies of personal letters sent by Sims to his parents, his sister Louisa and brothers, Harry and Alfred, his friend Jones, and to his wife, Anne Hitchcock Sims. They date from 1881 to 1925. Several personal letters Sims received are located here. The letters focus on his daily shipboard routine, family matters, health, social life, financial matters, and friends as well as his duties as a naval officer and naval attaché. He described the geography, politics, economics, people, and customs of the countries he...