Guide to Finding Civil War Naval Photographs By Gary McQuarrie and Charles Williams The Center for Civil War Photography (https://civilwar photography.org/ccwp/) first published a “Guide to Finding Civil War Photographs” in the April 2012 issue of its journal (Zeller B. Battlefield Photographer. 2012; 10(1):8-10) to assist members of the Center and others searching for such photographs. The Center has continued to update this guide and the latest version may be found on its website under the ‘Resources’ tab on the home page. The Editors of Civil War Navy—The Magazine are pleased to offer the following “Guide to Finding Civil War Naval Photographs” to assist our subscribers and other naval enthusiasts in searching (mainly online) for naval-related photographs of the conflict. With the acquiescence of Mr. Zeller and the Center, we have compiled this guide in the same general format and, with regard to some of the USS Galena (1862-1872). Photograph looking forward along the sources listed in its guide, have ship’s port side, shortly after her May 15, 1862 action with modified the Center’s description Confederate batteries at Drewry’s Bluff, on the James River, Virginia. to specifically describe finding NH 53984 courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command. 18 | CIVIL WAR NAVY – The MAGAZINE | FALL 2017 the naval-related photographs, as well as adding other collection of naval-related photographs available for online sites not necessarily listed in the CCWP Guide. In purchase. Other sources and collections accessible online addition to publishing this naval-related guide, both which are identified in this guide contain smaller guides will be updated as needed. The Naval Guide will numbers of naval-related photographs, albeit occasionally be available on the magazine’s website (civilwarnavy. unique images, and/or specialized topic and subject com), along with a link to the CCWP Guide. photographs. Some photographs held by museums, libraries, various historical societies, or by private At the start of the Civil War, there were approximately individuals are not accessible online and are not included 1,200 officers of all ranks and 7,600 enlisted men in the in this guide; searching these holdings would require far Union navy.1,2 These numbers grew continually and by greater research efforts. early 1865 reached a maximum of approximately 6,700 officers and 51,000 enlisted men,1 although an estimated The largest proportion of Civil War naval-related total of 84,415 officers and sailors served during the photographs are available online for free or for course of the conflict.3 In contrast, the Confederacy had purchase or a user fee determined by the source. planned a somewhat small navy of approximately 3,000 Many Civil War photographs are now in the public officers and enlisted men and this number was only rarely domain, and reproductions of public domain exceeded, peaking in the spring of 1864 with photographs can be used in any fashion by anyone. approximately 750 officers of all ranks and just over 4,400 The public domain consists of works that are not enlisted men.4 In both navies, these were a small fraction protected by copyright or other legal means. However, of the total number of soldiers who served on both sides. some Civil War photographs, including naval-related When the war began, the Union navy had approximately photographs, may be subject to rights and use 90 ships, while the Confederate navy was almost restrictions by their owners or sources or may be nonexistent, with only about a dozen small vessels.4 The subject to copyright; users are strongly encouraged to Union navy expanded considerably, with construction of determine the reproduction rights and use restrictions more than 200 vessels undertaken and over 400 vessels associated with specific photographs, to seek purchased.5 It is estimated that the Confederacy appropriate permission for specific purposes as converted, contracted for, or initiated construction of at appropriate, to properly credit sources of the least 150 vessels, but only about half of these were photographs, and to adhere to the rules and completed and commissioned into service.4 Vessels on requirements of sources and institutions that are both sides included armored vessels (ironclads), providing images. unarmored steam vessels, acquired combatant vessels, In many cases, Civil War images that are sold online by service vessels, sailing ships, torpedo boats, and river stock photo companies, often at very high prices, are gunboats.1,4-6 Photographs are available for only a available for free from the Naval History and Heritage relatively small proportion of the total vessels that served Command, Library of Congress, the National Archives, during the Civil War naval action. or other sites. These should be checked before spending The overwhelming proportion of Civil War naval-related significant sums to acquire reproduction and use rights to photographs accessible online are held in the collections an image that is available elsewhere at no cost. In some of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, the cases, however, a rare Civil War naval-related image may Naval History and Heritage Command (formerly the be available only from a single institution or source, and Naval Historical Center), and the Library of Congress. it is customary for those institutions and sources to The collections of the American Civil War Museum and charge a fee for a reproduction of the image, as well as a the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Murphy Library separate use fee for commercial use, publication, or contain respectable numbers of naval photographs. The broadcast. Users should abide by the institution rules and Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes regulations, and include proper credit to the original has a large number of naval-related photographs and can source when using Civil War naval-related photographs. viewed online for free or purchased on a flash drive from the CCWP or Civil War Digital; the latter site also has a FALL 2017 | CIVILWARNAVY.COM | 19 Finding Civil War Naval Photographs The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center Specific subjects can be searched on their collections search page: (http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/index.cfm) http://usawc.libguides.com/graduates_others This institution provides low-resolution scans online. It charges a fee for providing higher-resolution reproductions and a While most photographs in the USAHEC collections or separate fee for publishing images. More information can be on the website are in the public domain and may be used found on the institution’s website or by contacting the without permission, some images have been obtained institution directly. from other organizations and permission to use these The United States Army Heritage and Education Center images should be obtained directly from the photograph (USAHEC) is the U.S. Army’s primary historical research source. Use of photographs may be subject to claim rights facility. It was formed in 1999 and reorganized in 2013 for their likenesses, and those using the images and consists of the U.S. Army Military History Institute commercially should contact their representatives. Some (USAMHI), the Army Heritage Museum (AHM), the materials on the website may be copyrighted, and the user Historical Services Division, Visitor and Education should inquire about copyright before any use; it is the Services, the U.S. Army War College Library, and the user’s responsibility to identify the copyright owner and USAHEC Staff. obtain permission before making use of the material in any way. USAHEC requests that users credit USAHEC as The MOLLUS-Massachusetts (Military Order of the Loyal the source of items in their collections, as follows: Legion of the United States-Massachusetts chapter) collection of Civil War photographic prints is available “Title of work,” date (if known), Title of collection, online at the USAHEC. The MOLLUS-Massachusetts U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA. collection was assembled by former Union officers in the Naval History and Heritage Command 1880s and put in 117 volumes that contain some 23,000 (https://www.history.navy.mil) images. They are available online only as low-resolution images in PDF files of the separate pages of each volume, There is no fee to download and use any photographs from the online collections of the Naval History and Heritage usually with multiple images displayed on each page. This Command. collection has approximately 1,000 naval-related photographs and illustrations, including ships, portraits The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC; of officers, groups of officers, crew, deck scenes, and navy formerly the Naval Historical Center, redesignated yards, almost completely Union related; many of the NHHC in December 2008) is responsible for the digitized items have multiple images, accounting for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval estimate of naval-related images. history and heritage and is located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. NHHC includes 42 facilities in MOLLUS-MASS Civil War Photograph Collection- 13 geographic locations and includes the Navy USAHEC: Department Library, 10 museums, and a heritage center. http://cdm16635.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/ Its online photograph collections are related to the U.S. collection/p16635coll12 Navy (or other navies when specifically associated with The Civil War Photographs Collection consists of the U.S. involvement or historical events) with particular United States Army Heritage and Education Center Civil focus on ships, aviation, places, wars/events, activities, War Photograph Collection, Record Group 98s (RG98s). and important individuals associated with naval history. This collection is a mix of original and high-quality Photographs in this collection reflect both official, as well reproductions of Civil War soldiers. It has only a few as unofficial, naval viewpoints and are the result of portrait photographs of high-ranking naval officers.