Carved from Granite: West Point since 1902

Notes on Sources

429 FEW INSTITUTIONS of higher learning are as well documented as the United States Military Academy. Part of the reason is West Point’s status as a federal entity, which is required by law to maintain official records. For the most part, the Academy has accomplished the records-keeping task with military efficiency, much to the benefit of researchers. With so many available sources, the scholar’s greatest challenge is to identify and locate the most useful ones. Fortunately, the job is made easier by the existence of the Special Collections and Archives Division of the West Point Library. As a satellite facility of the National Archives and Records Administration , it houses Record Group 404—United States Military Academy. The records include an extensive collection of primary sources—official records, unpublished manuscripts, photographs, memoirs, maps, yearbooks, serial records, and many other valuable holdings. Additionally, it houses important secondary sources that are conveniently located at arm’s length. The staff of the Special Collections and Archives Division, though overworked and undermanned , are very helpful in accessing the holdings. Within the vast archive is a core of primary sources that is a must for any serious historian of West Point. Four primary sources head the list. First and foremost is the Annual Report of the Superintendent, published from 1890 through 1989. These reports provide an enormous quantity of information on every aspect of West Point; when read consecutively, they allow the reader to understand the evolution of the institution over an entire century. Second on the list is the Official Register of the Officers and Cadets of the U.S. Military Academy, published annually from 1818 through 1966. In addition to a comprehensive listing of the officers and cadets by year, the Official Register describes the curriculum , chain of command, and organizational structure of the Academy. The third core source is the Annual Report of the Board of Visitors, published most years since 1819. These reports highlight the issues of greatest importance to the Academy and record the opinions of powerful advocates (and a few opponents ) of the institution. The West Point library has done a great service by making the aforementioned three sources—and many others—available through its website at http://www.library.usma.edu. Finally, the Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of the United States Military Academy, published Notes on Sources 430 NOTES ON SOURCES annually by the West Point Association of Graduates, has invaluable data on every person who has ever been a cadet. Additionally, it contains much other useful information on the history of West Point. While the Special Collections and Archives Division holds the large majority of primary sources pertinent to West Point, there are other important repositories. Several records groups at the National Archives, College Park, Maryland, contain useful information found nowhere else. The diligent researcher will uncover reports, records, official correspondence, and other materials that pertain to West Point but originated in higher headquarters and thus may never have been placed in the West Point archives. Other valuable holdings are at the Military History Institute at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the National War College in Washington, DC. Another important repository is the Center for Oral History, a subelement of the Department of History at West Point. Established in 2005, it holds hundreds of interview records of prominent soldiers and statesmen. Among the many interviews are those of West Point senior leaders—superintendents, commandants, deans, department heads, and key staff officers. Most of the interviews were done by Dr. Stephen Grove, West Point’s command historian from 1978 to 2008. His diligence in recording the first-person testimony of these Academy leaders resulted in the creation of a rich archive for researchers. While many of the interviews are still in their raw state, those that have been transcribed and edited constitute an invaluable resource for understanding the human side of West Point. One hopes that the Academy will find the money to complete the job that Dr. Grove started, and that his successors will continue doing interviews. Editing interview transcripts is a long and tedious process, and the Center for Oral History had not completed the task at the time I was doing my research . It is therefore likely that some of the transcript page numbers cited in the endnotes will be incorrect. Researchers who wish to find the cited passages would have to do a word search of the transcript. This task should be...