Scope and Content Note
The papers of Joseph Strauss (1861-1948) span the years 1884-1949 and consist of correspondence, memoranda, logbooks, reports, speeches, writings, orders for duty, notebooks, scrapbooks, and printed matter. Strauss's career is chronicled from his days at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to his retirement from the navy in 1929 and to his subsequent reactivation by the secretary of the navy. Covered in these papers are his duties as the commander of the northern sea mine barrage to impede German U-boats during World War I, as commander in chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet aboard the flagship Huron, 1921-1922, and as a joint-receiver for the navy during the investigation of the Teapot Dome scandal and the resulting case of United States v. Mammoth Oil Co., 1924-1928. Included also in the papers are student notebooks with Strauss's detailed drawings of sails, riggings, and rails; his patents; and logbooks kept while serving aboard various ships.