Special Collections & Archives
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof": Happy 250th Birthday, USA!
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring "that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." On Thursday, July 4, Congress ...
Aviation training at USNA turns 100
The U.S. Naval Academy’s class of 2026 that graduated and commissioned last week became the one hundredth class to receive some form of required aviation training. This does not mean that 1926 was the beginning of Naval aviation in ...
The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, AD 79
Map of the Bay of Naples (Golfo di Napoli) from Naples and the Campagna Felice (London, 1815). Campania is a region of southern Italy that in ancient times extended from the Volturno River to the Sorrentine ...
History of Dormitories at the U.S. Naval Academy
The above photograph features a scene familiar to those who visit or attend the Naval Academy. The figurehead of the USS Delaware (1820), brought to the Naval Academy in 1866, gazes stoically across T-Court at Bancroft ...
The Civil War Spreads Overseas
Ask your average passerby to name a Civil War battle or theater, and you are likely to get a response like Gettysburg, Antietam, or Fort Sumter. Restrict that same passerby to naming a naval battle or theater, and the response might be ...
Tiberius Gracchus, Tribune of the Plebs
Plebe Summer will soon be upon us at the U.S. Naval Academy. Plebes, derived from the Latin plebs, is the traditional name given to the incoming students through their first year at the school. The designation seems to date ...
History of Hospitals at the U.S. Naval Academy
The history of hospitals that served midshipmen is another relatively unknown, but interesting, part of Naval Academy lore. Throughout their history, the buildings outfitted as sick quarters and hospitals on the yard have changed in ...
Faster than a Speeding Bullet: Albert Michelson and the Velocity of Light
It was 142 years ago this May that Albert Abraham Michelson published the results of his first experiment to measure the velocity of light in The American Journal of Science and Arts. Born in Strelno, Prussia on December 19, 1852, ...
A Unique Commissioning Week
Color Ceremony with Color Girl Eleanor Thomson, 1907. Normally, this would be Commissioning Week when a series of yearend festivities culminate in the graduation and commissioning of the Naval Academy's first class ...
500th Anniversary of the Death of Raphael
Today marks the 500th anniversary of the death of the Italian High Renaissance painter and architect Raphael. Born in Urbino in 1483, Raphael is best known for his paintings of the Madonna and for his decoration of the papal apartments ...