Office of the Superintendent/Administrative Records: Registers of Candidates for Admission to the Academy, 1849-1871; 1876-1930: Finding Aid

History of the Office of the Superintendent

The plan of the Naval School at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Maryland, approved by the Navy Department August 28, 1846, provided that a Superintendent of the school be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy from a list of officers of a rank not higher than commander. The Superintendent was to have responsibility for the general management of the institution, including overseeing the course of study, professors, and other personnel connected with the Academy. He could appoint and remove all persons employed at the Academy except those for whose appointment or discharge special provision was made by the laws or regulations of the Navy or the Academy. He had general charge of the buildings, grounds, and ships belonging to the Academy. The Superintendent also formulated the code of rules and regulations for the internal government of the school to be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy for approval. After 1867, officers were assigned by the Navy Department to the Academy to serve as assistants or aides to the Superintendent. The Office of the Superintendent as described in the 1846 plan remained relatively unchanged throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officers of ranks higher than commander, however, have served in the position.

Description of Contents

This series consists of registers of candidates appointed to the academy containing the following information: date of appointment, date of admission to the academy; date and place of birth; age; city or town and congressional district and sometimes ward from which appointed; name of appointing official or type of appointment; previous education (public or private); religious denomination; and name, residence, profession or occupation of parent or guardian. Not all of this information is entered for each candidate. Most of the register pages have remarks columns in which rejections by the Academic Board or Medical Board, resignations, or withdrawals are noted. Registers for approximately the period October 1849-September 1871 are also known as "Roll Books."

The register for 1849 to 1860 (volume 1) includes those acting midshipmen that received their appointments as early as September 1845, yet entered the academy in 1857. The register for 1861 to 1871 is designated as volume 2. In the register for 1876 to 1884 (designated as volume 5), cadet-midshipmen and cadet-engineer candidates are entered separately into the register for the period between June 14, 1876 and June 21, 1882. The register for 1885 to 1898 is designated as volume 6; the register for 1898 to 1904 as volume 3; the register for 1904 to 1916 as volume 4; and the register for 1917 to 1930 as volume 7.

Arrangement

Arranged in two parts: chronologically by date of admission for the periods October 1849-October 1860 and September 1861-September 1871, and chronologically by date upon which a candidate reported to the Academy for examination for the period June 1876-September 1930.

Access and Use

Access

Unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

Unrestricted.

Other Finding Aid(s)

National Archives Catalog entry available electronically at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/3000074.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Custodial History

RG 405 Records of the United States Naval Academy is the property of the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials are housed at the United States Naval Academy, William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives, an affiliated archive, as per a Memorandum of Agreement between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Naval Academy.

Related Materials

Related Archival Material

Reports of academic and medical examinations of admission candidates are found in entry 60: "Reports of Academic and Medical Examination of Candidates for Admission and Related Correspondence, 1846-1899 (bulk 1846-1876)" (NAID: 3000044); and entry 61: "Reports of Academic and Medical Examination of Candidates for Admission, 1848-1850; 1853" (NAID: 3000050). Lists and information pertaining to the appointment of candidates for admission to the academy as third assistant engineers are not part of this series, but are found in entry 63: "Register of Candidates for Admission to the Academy as Midshipmen, Acting Third Assistant Engineers and Cadet Engineers, 1861-1867; 1871; 1875" (3020758); and entry 64: "Register of Candidates for Admission to the Academy as Acting Third Assistant and Cadet Engineers, 1867-1875" (NAID: 3020766). Names of candidates for appointment as cadet engineers for time periods not included in this series may also be found in these entries. Candidate admission data found in these volumes is potentially duplicated in Entry 66: "Miscellaneous Lists of Candidates Admitted to the Academy, 1860, 1866, 1886-1892" (NAID: 3021172). Birth dates of candidates mentioned in this entry may be found in entry 65: "Registers of Birth Dates of Candidates for Admission, 1864-1884" (NAID: 3020797). Record books containing grades received on oral and written examinations in arithmetic by candidates for admission are found in Subseries 1d Mathematics Entrance Examination Grade Books, 1867-1903 in entry 201f: "Records of the Division of Mathematics and Science, 1862-1995"; for similar record books documenting admission candidate examination grades received in Department of Ethics and English Studies subjects, see entry 67: "Record of Examination of Candidates for Cadet Midshipmen, 1867-1873" (NAID: 3021181); Other candidate examination grades and remarks are found in entry 68: "Marks for the First Oral Examination of Candidates for Cadet Midshipmen, 1867-1870," (NAID: 3021185); entry 69: "Record of Examination of Candidates for Cadet Engineers, 1871-1873" (NAID: 3021191); entry 70: "Register of Grades Received on Examinations for Admission by Applicants for Cadet Appointments, 1873-1886" (NAID: 3021194); entry 71: "Register of Marks Received by Candidates for Appointment at Entrance Examinations, 1874-1890" (NAID: 3023070); and entry 72: "Register of Candidates Who Failed to Pass the Required Examination for Admission to the Academy, 1875-1881" (NAID: 3025145).

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Office of the Superintendent/Administrative Records: Registers of Candidates for Admission to the Academy, RG 405.2.3 Entry 62

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during preparation of the historical note:

Sweetman, Jack. The U.S. Naval Academy: An Illustrated History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 1979.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Samuel Limneos in November 2021. Finding aid written by Samuel Limneos in November 2021. Historical Sketch and Scope and Content Note adapted in part from Inventory of Records Group 405 by Geraldine N. Phillips and Aloha South, 1975.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Naval education -- United States
• United States Naval Academy -- Admission
• United States Naval Academy – Students

Genre Terms

• Registers (lists)