Call Number:

C1126

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Citations should be as follows: Alfred Thayer Mahan Collection, Box #, Folder #, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1883-1913 (bulk) and 1883-1977 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer), 1840-1914

Form:

Correspondence -- 19th century

Abstract:

Consists chiefly of letters by Alfred Thayer Mahan to his publisher regarding his writings about United States naval history. Mahan was a U.S. naval officer in the Civil War, and his work on the importance of adequate navies and merchant marines influenced the policies and philosophies of national leaders across the globe, including those of the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

Alfred Thayer Mahan was a U.S. naval officer and historian. A Union naval officer in the Civil War, he later lectured on naval history and strategy at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., of which he was president (1886-89, 1892-93). Out of his lectures came his two major works on the historical significance of sea power: The influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 (1890) and The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (2 vols., 1892). In these he argued that naval power was the key to success in international politics; the nation that controlled the seas held the decisive factor in modern warfare. Theodore Roosevelt and other proponents of a big navy and overseas expansion were influenced by Mahan's writings. Among his many works are biographies of David Farragut and Horatio Nelson and the autobiographical From Sail to Steam.

The collection consists chiefly of letters by Mahan to staff members of the New York publisher Charles Scribner's Sons. The major correspondents are Edward L. Burlingame, first editor of the firm's most successful magazine, Scribner's Magazine, to whom Mahan writes about his manuscript of "Gulf Island Waters," his article "Campaign on Lake Champlain of 1776," and galleys and proofs of other works; and Joseph Hawley Chapin, head of the firm's Art Department, to whom Mahan wrties regarding captions for book illustrations. Other material includes a letter (1897) by the writer Robert Bright Marston regarding publishing a book titled History of the Royal Navy, two letters (1908) by Mahan to Robert Mountsier declining an invitation to deliver an address at the University of Michigan due to ill health, a prospectus for a biography about Mahan by Charles Carlisle Taylor titled The Life of Admiral Mahan (1920), and a partial genealogy of Mahan's family, dated June 1977.

Arranged chronologically.