Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Ericsson (1803-1889) span the years 1821-1890, with the bulk of the material falling within the years 1842-1886. The collection consists of correspondence, design specifications, articles, memoranda, technical notes, financial and legal papers, drawings, and printed matter.
Ericsson's papers relate mainly to his designs and scientific pursuits following his emigration from England to the United States. Early letters, mainly correspondence with Robert Field Stockton, concern Ericsson's "caloric" engine and the development of the screw propeller as a means of propulsion for ships. In 1841 by contract with the United States Navy, Ericsson designed the Princeton, the first screw-propelled warship with motive machinery below the water line. His papers include correspondence, specifications, and notes relating to the construction of this ship, an early effect in modern naval construction.
The collection reflects Ericsson's continued interest in naval warfare. An earlier design for an armored vessel which Ericsson sent to Napoleon III in 1854 is included in his papers. After 1861 the papers contain numerous letters and other documents pertaining to the design and construction of the Monitor, the ironclad ship which defeated the Merrimac in 1862 and inspired the United States and other maritime nations to build armored monitor fleets. The progress of seafaring countries in accepting the ironclad vessels as components of their navies can be traced in Ericsson's correspondence.
After the Civil War, Ericsson turned his attention to the vulnerability of armored ships and revived his earlier idea of a system of submarine attack using submerged lighter weight torpedo boats which featured speed and guided torpedoes as countermeasures to the impregnability of the ironclad ships. His plan was embodied in a boat which he called the Destroyer, and his papers from the late 1860s to 1888 contain letters detailing his efforts to sell the system to the United States and other maritime nations. Letters to S. B. Browning, his agent in London for all European countries except Sweden, depict Ericsson's strategy for creating interest in the Destroyer in England and eventually persuading the British Admiralty to purchase a vessel for test trials. Other topics related to naval defense include gun installations, floating batteries, revolving turrets, development of fleets, and the general outfitting of ships of war.
Letters to editors of scientific and naval journals describing Ericsson's designs and often responding to critiques made by other scientists and naval officers are interspersed throughout the correspondence. References to his work on solar energy can be found in several letters in the latter part of the 1860s. The specifications and technical notes file contains other papers relating to his designs and ideas, including materials on the pyrometer, the hydrometer, and other apparatuses which he exhibited at the 1851 World's Fair in London, as well as notes on various engines with which he was associated. Many of the letters are in Swedish, particularly the family correspondence. Correspondence from 1889 to 1890 consists of letters addressed to Ericsson's biographer, William Conant Church.
Correspondents include A. Adlersparre, S. B. Browning, William E. Chandler, John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren, Cornelius Henry Delamater, Hjalmar Elworth, Nils Ericson, Gustavus Vasa Fox, John A. Griswold, Charles H. Haswell, Eben Norton Horsford, Robert Green Ingersoll, William Gore Jones, Francis Barber Ogden, Oscar II, King of Sweden, Epes Sargent, John Osborne Sargent, William Henry Seward, Joseph Smith, Robert Field Stockton, and Gideon Welles.