The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

United States Naval Institute

U.S. Naval Institute
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, Maryland 21402

Email: mripley@usni.org

Fax: 410-269-7940

Phone: 410-268-6110

Repository URL: http://www.usni.org/heritage

Repository code: 3343

Repository description (CRHP): One of the primary aspects of the Naval Institute's mission is to preserve our naval and maritime heritage with an ever-expanding collection of more than 200 oral histories and 450,000 rare naval and maritime images. Bound copies of the oral histories and photographs of naval ships, aircraft, and other historically significant images are sold, the profits of which are used to fund further growth. The department recently began to digitize the photo collection and now sells electronic images. The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism.

Among these oral histories are interviews with some the first African American naval officers, also known as the Golden Thirteen.

Repository description (extant): The U.S. Naval Institute has been a fixture at the U.S. Naval Academy since its founding in 1873 by a group of 15 naval officers who began meeting to discuss the serious implications of a smaller, post-Civil War Navy and other matters of professional interest. The Naval Institute's headquarters on the grounds of the Naval Academy have a commanding view of the Severn River and the cemetery, where lie some of the most prominent heroes in Navy and Marine Corps lore.

The founding vision was to create a forum for the exchange of ideas, to disseminate and advance the knowledge of sea power, and to preserve our naval and maritime heritage. The "proceedings" of those earliest discussions were eventually published and read throughout the fleet. It was in the fleet, at the tip of the sword, where the value of the Naval Institute's forum was truly felt. The impact of the new organization spread quickly and soon embraced all of the nation's Sea Services-Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Today, the Naval Institute boasts more than 100,000 constituents worldwide.

Repository type: Federal Repository

Collections:

Oral history program