- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Lane, Moses A.
- Title:
- Moses A. Lane Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/6d56zw68t
- Dates:
- 1852-1957 (mostly 1852-1885)
- Size:
- 1 box and 0.4 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box 1
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists of selected papers of Moses A. Lane, a nineteenth-century career serviceman in the U.S. Navy, serving most of his time as a gunner. Much of the material relates to a tour (1852-1855) in the Mediterranean aboard the sloop of war St. Louis.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
The collection consists of selected papers of Moses A. Lane. Included are a manuscript journal (1852-1855) maintained by Lane during his trip aboard the U.S.S. St. Louis in the Mediterranean, which contains a full-page watercolor drawing of the sloop of war; a typed transcription (151 pp.) of the journal; manuscript maps of the eastern Mediterranean and the coast of Turkey and Holy Land; 20 holograph letters (1852-1861) by Lane to family members, describing stops along the Mediterranean coast, such as Greece, Constantinople, and Turkey, with a full-page pencil drawing of the ship; orders from the Navy Dept., letters from the Treasury Dept., related legal papers, including Lane's initial naval appointment as "acting gunner" (28 January 1852), with typed transcriptions; a copy of Daring Diplomacy (1957) by Andor Klay, subtitled "The Case of the First American Ultimatum," which chronicles the story of Hungarian "freedom fighter" Martin Koszta and the role played by the St. Louis in achieving his release from imprisonment aboard an Austrian warship in Smyrna Bay (Turkey).
- Collection Creator Biography:
Lane, Moses A.
Moses A. Lane was a nineteenth-century career serviceman in the U.S. Navy, serving most of his time as a gunner. He joined the Navy on January 28, 1852. During the Civil War, he was attached to the Cimarron, a double-ended steam gunboat, was primarily assigned to blockade duty with the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. While the Cimarron's primary duty was blockading off South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the ship also took part in the attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor in late August 1863. Lane was placed on the retired list on January 11, 1885, and died on October 31, 1888.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
The collection was purchased from William Reese Co. with matching funds provided by the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund in February 2009 (AM2009-90).
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by John Delaney on February 5, 2009. Finding aid written by John Delaney on February 6, 2009. Folder Inventory added by Hilde Creager (2015) in 2012.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
Moses A. Lane Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/6d56zw68t
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box 1
Find More
- Genre Terms:
- Diaries -- 19th century
Letters -- 19th century.
Manuscript maps -- 19th century.
Orders (military records) -- 19th century.
Watercolors (paintings) -- 19th century - Names:
- United States. Navy
St. Louis (Sloop of war)
Koszta, Martin, b. 1819 - Places:
- Greece -- Description and travel -- 19th century.
Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel -- 19th century.
Izmir (Turkey) -- History, Military -- 19th century -- Sources.
Mediterranean Coast (Greece) -- Description and travel -- 19th century.
Mediterranean Coast (Turkey) -- Description and travel -- 19th century.
Turkey -- Description and travel -- 19th century.
United States -- Foreign relations -- Austria -- 1853-1857.
United States -- History, Naval -- 19th century -- Sources.
