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Gideon Welles
A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress



Prepared by Michael McElderry 
Revised and expanded by Nan Thompson Ernst 
1997
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress 
Washington, D.C.
Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress 
Manuscript Division, 2003


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Collection Summary

Title:    Papers of Gideon Welles , 1777 - 1911 (bulk 1820 - 1876 ) 
ID No.:    MSS45054 
Creator: Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878 
Extent:    15,070 items ; 44 containers plus 1 oversize ; 18 linear feet ; 36
microfilm reels 
Repository:    Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C. 
Abstract:    United States Secretary of the Navy and newspaper editor.
Correspondence, diaries, writings, naval records, scrapbooks, and other
papers relating to Gideon Welles's workas editor of the Hartford (Conn.)
Times; his activities as a member of the Democratic Party and, later, the
Republican Party in state and national politics; the role of the United
States Navy in the Civil War; and the presidential administrations of
Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of
person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed
alphabetically therein. 
Names:
Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878 
Allyn, Joseph Pratt, 1833-1869--Correspondence 
Babcock, James F. (James Fairchild), 1809-1874--Correspondence. 
Blair, Montgomery, 1813-1883--Correspondence 
Burr, Alfred Edmund, 1815-1900--Correspondence 
Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873--Correspondence. 
Cleveland, Edward Spicer--Correspondence. 
Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885--Correspondence 
Cox, Samuel Sullivan, 1824-1889--Correspondence 
Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard, 1809-1870--Correspondence. 
Dana, Charles A. (Charles Anderson), 1819-1897--Correspondence. 
Day, Calvin--Correspondence. 
Dix, John A. (John Adams), 1798-1879--Correspondence 
Dixon, James, 1814-1873--Correspondence 
Eads, James Buchanan, 1820-1887--Correspondence 
Elliott, Henry H.--Correspondence. 
Faxon, William, 1822-1883--Correspondence 
Ferry, Orris S. (Orris Sanford), 1823-1875--Correspondence 
Field, David Dudley, 1805-1894--Correspondence 
Foote, Andrew H. (Andrew Hull), 1806-1863--Correspondence. 
Forbes, John Murray, 1813-1898--Correspondence 
Fox, Gustavus Vasa, 1821-1883--Correspondence 
Hawley, Joseph R. (Joseph Roswell), 1826-1905--Correspondence. 
Howard, Mark, 1817-1887--Correspondence 
Jackson, Amasa--Correspondence. 
Jenkins, Thornton A. (Thornton Alexander), 1811-1893--Correspondence. 
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875. 
Johnson, Richard M. (Richard Mentor), 1781-1850--Correspondence. 
Jouett, James E. (James Edward), 1828-1902--Correspondence. 
Judson, Andrew T. (Andrew Thompson), 1784-1853--Correspondence. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865. 
Mitchell, Henry, 1830-1902--Correspondence 
Morgan, Edwin D. (Edwin Denison), 1811-1883--Correspondence. 
Niles, Nathaniel, 1791-1869--Correspondence 
Parker, Foxhall A. (Foxhall Alexander), 1821-1879--Correspondence. 
Patton, William, 1798-1879--Correspondence 
Paulding, Hiram, 1797-1878--Correspondence 
Pease, J. J. R.--Correspondence. 
Pettit, William V.--Correspondence. 
Pratt, James J.--Correspondence. 
Smith, Albert, 1805-1870--Correspondence 
Smith, Joseph, 1790-1877--Correspondence 
Southworth, Sylvester S.--Correspondence. 
Tompkins, Daniel D., 1774-1825--Correspondence 
Warner, Charles Dudley, 1829-1900--Correspondence 
Weed, Thurlow, 1797-1882--Correspondence 
Wilkes, Charles, 1798-1877--Correspondence 
United States. Navy --History--Civil War, 1861-1865 
Democratic Party (U.S.) 
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ) 
Learned, Henry Barrett, 1868-1931. Papers of Henry Barrett Learned 

Subjects:
Times (Hartford, Conn. : 1834 : Weekly) 
American newspapers--Connecticut 
Connecticut--Politics and government--19th century 
Hartford (Conn.)--History 
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 
United States--Politics and government--19th century 

Occupations:
Cabinet officers
Newspaper editors

Administrative Information
Provenance:
The papers of Gideon Welles, newspaper editor and secretary of the navy,
were deposited in the Library of Congress in several installments from
1911 to 1914 by Welles's son, Edgar T. Welles. Formal conveyance of the
papers to the Library was recorded in 1941. Another gift from the Welles
family was made in 1915 by Alice Welles, Gideon Welles's granddaughter.
Other items were acquired by the Library through various gifts and
purchases, 1906-1997. The research papers of Henry B. Learned relating to
Welles were given to the Library by Mrs. Learned in 1931.

Processing History:
The papers were arranged and bound in volumes in 1918, and an addition
was appended in 1979. In 1963, a partial index for approximately four
thousand items of correspondence in the collection was completed by John
de Porry of the Manuscript Division. In 1987 the volumes were disbound
and the papers reorganized and arranged for microfilming. An addition to
the papers was made in 1997.

Copyright Status:
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Gideon Welles is
governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Microfilm:
A microfilm edition of the first eight series of these papers is available on
thirty-six reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division
concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.

Preferred Citation:
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: Container or reel number, Gideon Welles Papers, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note
Date Event 
1802 , July 1 Born, Glastonbury, Conn. 
1819 - 1821  Attended Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, Conn. 
1823 - 1825  Attended the American Literary, Scientific, and Military
Academy (Norwich University), Norwich, Vt. 
1826 - 1836  Editor and part owner, Hartford Times 
1827 - 1835  Member, Connecticut House of Representatives 
1834  Unsuccessful Democratic party candidate for Congress 
1835  Married Mary Jane Hale 
1835  Elected Connecticut state comptroller of public accounts 
1836 - 1841  Appointed postmaster of Hartford, Conn. 
1842 - 1843  Elected Connecticut state comptroller of public accounts 
1846 - 1849  Chief, Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, U.S. Navy 
1850  Unsuccessful Democratic party candidate for U.S. Senate 
1854  Resigned from the Democratic party 
1856  Unsuccessful Republican party candidate for governor of
Connecticut
Founder, Republican Party newspaper, Hartford Evening Press 
1856 - 1864  Member, Republican National Committee and National
Executive Committee 
1860  Leader, Connecticut delegation, Republican National Convention,
Chicago, Ill. 
1861 - 1869  Secretary of the Navy 
1868  Rejoined the Democratic party 
1869 - 1877  Published numerous historical articles in Galaxy 
1872  Resigned from the Democratic party to become a Liberal
Republican 
1878 , Feb. 11 Died, Hartford, Conn. 
1911  Posthumous publication, The Diary of Gideon Welles (Boston and
New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. 3 vols.) 

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Gideon Welles (1802-1878) span the period 1777-1911,
with the core of the material concentrated in the years 1820-1878. The
papers include diaries, correspondence, writings, naval records, and
scrapbooks reflecting all phases of Welles's career as a newspaper editor,
politician, and naval administrator. Welles was a gifted diarist,
correspondent, and essayist, and his papers are a rich source of primary
materials for the study of the political and social history of the United
States in the nineteenth century. 
The Diaries series includes a fifteen-volume diary, 1862-1869, written
when Welles was secretary of the navy, and a three-volume retrospective
narrative, 1861-1869, plus notes and journal entries for earlier periods in
his life. Welles's Civil War diaries were excerpted and edited by his son,
Edgar T. Welles, for publication in a three-volume set in 1911, drafts of
which are also included in the series.

Documentation for Welles's political, literary, and personal endeavors is
distributed throughout the collection. Welles's administration of the navy
is most substantially documented in his diaries and in the series of official
letterbooks. His diaries contain observations about cabinet members
during the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. The
Letterbooks record the day-to-day operational and administrative policies
enacted by the Navy Department during the Civil War including those
related to the establishment of blockades, ship construction and naval
ordnance, the outfitting of ironclads, naval engagements and tactical
maneuvers, and the pursuit and capture of Confederate cruisers and
subsequent rewarding of prize money.

In addition to the Diaries and Letterbooks, the papers also include a series
of Navy Department records collected by Edgar T. Welles while he was
employed as chief clerk of the Navy Department, 1865-1869. The records
are mostly concerned with routine administrative detail, especially
solicitations for positions and appointments of clerks, midshipmen,
surgeon's mates, and other minor officials.

The Diaries also document Welles's literary ambitions, evident even in his
youth. He attended Cheshire Episcopal Academy and the newly founded
Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Norwich, Vermont. While
enrolled at the latter school, Welles drafted one of his earliest writings
entitled "Journal of an Excursion to the White Mountains," an account of a
field trip undertaken by Welles and fifty other students in 1824 under the
leadership of Alden Partridge, headmaster and founder of the academy.
The draft of this journal is included in his diary and another copy is
located in the Speeches and Writings file. Exclusive of his Civil War
entries, the remainder of the diaries include occasional drafts of prose and
poetry, meditations in essay form, drafts of letters, travel descriptions, and
entries recording Welles's keen interest in observing the political and
natural world around him. The correspondence series also contains
material relating to Welles's school years and letters exchanged with
family members, friends, and schoolmates from Cheshire and Norwich.

Welles was a lifelong adherent to Jeffersonian principles and, until his
departure in 1854, an active participant in the Democratic party. As a
writer and politician, he helped organize and promote Jacksonian
democracy in his home state of Connecticut through the editorial policy of
his newspaper, the Hartford Times, and through his involvement as a
Democratic party spokesman and state legislator. The Correspondence
series is composed primarily of political correspondence documenting
Welles's commitment to the principles of Jefferson and Jackson on both
statewide and national levels first as a member of the Democratic party
and then in the newly-established Republican party. Welles's
correspondence with Democratic party leaders and functionaries concerns
the party from Jackson's administration to that of Franklin Pierce. Letters
in the Miscellany series written to Welles by John M. Niles, senator from
Connecticut, 1835-1839 and 1843-1849, and postmaster general,
1840-1841, provide detailed accounts of personalities and political issues.

The Correspondence series further chronicles Welles's withdrawal from
the Democratic party in 1854 over the issue of slavery and the
development of the Republican party. Other correspondence dates from his
term of office as secretary of the navy throughout the Civil War and the
early years of Reconstruction.

Observations of a more personal or family nature are interwoven
throughout the correspondence. Welles's letters to his cousin, Reuben
Hale, 1833-1835, were written while he was courting Hale's sister and
Welles's future wife, Mary Hale.

As an editorial writer and journalist, Welles contributed many articles on
local and national politics to the Hartford Times and, after his retirement
in 1869, to the Galaxy. The Speeches and Writings series contains copies
of many of these articles, and material in the Correspondence series
reveals interaction between newspaper policy and politics in nineteenth
century America.

A Miscellany series includes correspondence files for Welles's longtime
political ally and personal friend, John M. Niles, as well as for Welles's
son, Edgar T., and his wife, Mary. The Henry B. Learned series contains
research material relating to Welles compiled in the course of Learned's
research on the executive branch of government.

A partial index to the correspondence is arranged alphabetically by
correspondent and identifies items in the Correspondence series, the
Records of the Navy Department, and the correspondence files of John M.
Niles, Edgar T. Welles, and Mary Hale Welles. It also lists correspondents
other than Gideon Welles in the Miscellany series for the inclusive dates 1
January 1777-25 February 1828 and 14 March 1860-19 January 1911.

The Addition includes correspondence to and from Welles, 1822-1877,
letters relating to Welles, and undated drafts of his writings covering a
wide range of personal, business, and political subjects, especially naval
matters, the Civil War, and Reconstruction policies. Some letters and
writings concern political parties and presidential candidates or questions
on the limits and uses of federal and state powers. A few items date from
Welles's youth in Connecticut or concern his early interest in local politics.
Correspondents include Schuyler Colfax, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Charles A.
Dana, John A. Dix, William Faxon, Gustavus Vasa Fox, David Dudley
Field (1805-1894), Orris S. Ferry, Foxhall Parker, Joseph Smith, Charles
Dudley Warner, and Thurlow Weed. The Addition has not been
microfilmed or indexed.

Organization of the Papers
The collection is arranged in ten series:

Diaries, 1824-1869 
Letterbooks, 1862-1869 
Correspondence, 1820-1878, n.d. 
Records of the Navy Department, 1805-1878, n.d. 
Speeches and Writings, 1822-1878, n.d. 
Scrapbooks, 1834-1900 
Miscellany, 1777-1911, n.d. 
Henry B. Learned Papers, 1899-1911 
Addition, 1822-1877, n.d. 
Oversize, 1842-1860

March 24, 2004