1. The Brooklyn Naval Lyceum
Steven Lubar

2. Brooklyn, 1820

3. Navy Yard, 1830s

4. Before the Lyceum

5. American Philosophical Society, 1789

6. Peale in his museum, 1822

7. East India Marine Society, 1825

8. Scudder’s Museum, 1810

9. For “establishing a library, and for
collecting and forming a repository
of books, maps, drawing apparatus,
models of machinery, tools and
knowledge, and thereby improving
the condition of mechanics,
manufacturers, artisans and others.”
Brooklyn Lyceum, 1824

10. West Point, founded 1802

11. Founding the Lyceum

12. Matthew Perry

13. Commandant’s offices

14. Constitution and By-Laws

15. Purpose of Naval Lyceum, 1833

16. “For culture as well as war”

17. Madison offered membership, 1834

18. Madison offered membership, 1834

19. Madison accepting membership

20. Madison accepting membership

21. Naval Magazine, 1836-37

22. Building the Collections

23. The mineralogical and entomological
departments are particularly well stored. The
actual costumes of different nations, and
implements of war and peaceful pursuits
belonging to them, are of great variety. Among
other curiosities, a state paper of Napoleon,
when he was first consul of the empire, with his
signature attached, repaid our especial attention.
A bust of Washington, by Greenough, executed
at Florence, is admired by every observer. The
library is comparatively large, and abounds with
many excellent volumes.
Collections, 1839

24. Collections, 1839

25. “Extent of their collections,” 1839

26. Naval officers as scientists, 1839

27. Natural history collections

28. Nautical collections

29. Naval worthies...

30. ...and Durand’s presidents

31. “Token of remembrance,” 1836

32. Bust of Washington

33. Portrait of William IV, 1836

34. West Point chain, 1834

35. “Medal found at New Rochelle,” 1836

36. “Medal found at New Rochelle,” 1836

37. Fragment of USS Philadelphia 1835

38. “The belt worn by Captain Lawrence in
the action between the United States
Frigate Chesapeake and the British
Frigate Shannon, on the 1st of June,
1813, and which was loosed from his
waist the moment previous to his
uttering the memorable words, " Don't
give up the ship!"
Belt worn by Captain Lawrence, 1834

39. Gliddon Mummy-Case, 1842

40. Naval Lyceum artifacts

41. Naval Lyceum artifacts

42. Naval Lyceum artifacts

43. Naval Lyceum artifacts

44. Naval Lyceum artifacts

45. Headings:
Ancient history, modern
history, antiquities,
geography, travels, memoirs,
biography, politics, ethics,
ecclesiastical history, natural
history, chemical sciences,
medical sciences,
mathematics, astronomy, fine
arts, and philosophy
Library Catalog, 1841

46. There is also a valuable and extensive library,
embracing the choicest works, literary and
scientific. The reading table is well supplied
with interesting periodicals, foreign and
domestic, as well as daily newspapers. ... In
short, I know no a place where the man of
leisure and research could pass an hour or
two, daily, with more pleasure and profit than
with the apartments of the Naval Lyceum.
Naval Lyceum library, 1839

47. New books, 1839

49. The aim of the society will be, to open new
channels of improvement to its members, in
those branches of science immediately
connected with their profession; to
encourage discussions and dissertations on
naval subjects; to prohibit all political
controversies, and to give its undivided
attention to the honorable advancement of
its members in professional skill and science.
Naval Lyceum library, 1839

50. The Liberator newspaper

51. The 1840s through
the Civil War

52. Navy Yard, about 1851

53. Yard during Civil War

54. Naval Lyceum building, 1850s

55. Naval Lyceum, 1857

56. Naval Lyceum, 1850

57. Naval Lyceum diploma, 1856

58. Lyceum as mail forwarder

59. Navy Yard politics, 1859

60. Shaving Cream?, 1846

61. Olla podrida of Queer Things, 1852

62. At the sanitary fair, 1864

63. Barnum Museum, founded 1841

64. Barnum Museum, founded 1841

65. American Museum of Natural History, 1869

66. U.S. Naval Academy, founded 1845

67. The end of the Lyceum

68. Naval Lyceum building, 1870s?

69. Navy Yard, 1870

70. “Pleases the general curiosity,”1886

71. “Tumbled pell mell into boxes,”1890

72. “Memory and tradition,” 1892

73. Naval Lyceum building, 1880s?

74. Lyceum at US Naval Academy, 1900

75. Naval Academy Museum, today