National Archives research services

Specializing in research at the National Archives, Washington, D.C., where lighthouse documentation includes:

• Annual Reports of U.S. Light-House Board
• Architectural drawings and plans
• Construction contracts, solicitation of bids for proposals
• Correspondence from regional Custom Collectors/Superintendents of Lights, Stephen Pleasonton, Winslow Lewis, etc. (pre-1852)
• Correspondence from and to District Engineers and Inspectors (1852-1910)
• Field Records of the Lighthouse Districts
• Historic photographs
• Journals of the U.S. Light-House Board (meetings)
• Keepers' Logbooks
• Light Lists and Notice to Mariners
• Real estate disposal files
• Registers of Keeper salaries/appointments
• Site files and property descriptions
• U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses correspondence (1911 - 1939)
• U.S. Light-House Board correspondence and publications
• U.S. Coast Guard World War II histories
• U.S. Lighthouse Service Bulletins 1912 - 1939

For detailed information on for some of the material in Record Group 26, in theWashington, D.C. branch of the National Archives, see the finding aids I have created for lighthouse records and lifesaving records. Although most of my research is focused on the records of the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor agencies in Record Group 26, I also work with other Record Groups that touch on lighthouses including Army Corps of Engineers (RG 77), U.S. Treasury Department Accounting Records (RG 217), U.S. Custom Service (RG 36), etc. I also have access to the files, photograph collection, and library at the U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office.

Comprehensive searches on a light station can take anywhere from 20 to 150 hours, depending on the age of the station and how much material has survived. Projects can be streamlined to answer a specific research question or focus on a particular period; however, a two-hour minimum is required.

Documents are generally provided in a digital format on a CD. (The Archives now charges 25 cents per copy on the regular copier, 50 cents for copies from microfilm, and 75 cents on the book scanner.) Oversize plans and drawings at the Cartographic Branch at Archives II can now be digitized as either a PDF, JPG, or TIF format. Some of the lighthouse photos at Archives II can be scanned; most have to be copied by an Archives vendor.

Sample documents

Our primary researcher, Candace Clifford, also researches lighthouse vessels and buoy tenders, digitizes deck logs of Coast Guard vessels, and is familiar with the records of the merchant vessels lost in WWII and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.

Primary Researcher's Relevant Experience

Co-author, Women Who Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers, Mind the Light, Katie: The History of Thirty-Three Female Lighthouse Keepers, Lighthouses Short & Tall, and Nineteenth-Century Lights: Historic Images of American Lighthouses; publisher of these titles and of Lighthouses, Lightships, and the Gulf of Mexico by David Cipra.

Consultant, National Park Service Maritime Heritage Program (1988-2001): compiled and edited 1990 Inventory of Large Historic Vessels and 1994 Inventory of Historic Light Stations, produced Historic Lighthouse Preservation Handbook; created National Lighthouse Heritage website; edited and finalized lighthouse nominations for the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks program; created preliminary inventory of historic lifesaving stations; and documented two Fresnel lens projects.

Candace Clifford was featured in "Women of the Lights" by Jeremy D'Entremont in Lighthouse Digest in June 2005.

The Francis Ross Holland, Jr. Distinguished Service Award was presented to J. Candace Clifford for "Contributions to the History and Preservation of America's Lighthouses" by the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committte (ALCC) on September 17, 2010.

Current and Former Clients for National Archives Research

American Lighthouse Foundation
Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association, Rhode Island
Buffalo Lighthouse Association, New York
Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras, and Ocracoke Light Stations), North Carolina
Delta County Historical Society (Escanaba/Sand Point Light Station), Michigan
Emmet County (McGulpin Point Lighthouse), Michigan
Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society, Michigan
Friends of Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse, New York
Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse, Maine
Friends of Yaquina Head Lighthouses, Oregon
Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum (South Fox Island Lighthouse), Michigan
Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, (Whitefish Point Lifeboat Station), Michigan
Harbor Point Association (Little Traverse Lighthouse), Michigan
Historical Research Associates (National Register nominations for U.S. Coast Lighthouses)
Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society, New York
Los Angeles Maritime Museum, California
Marquette Maritime Museum, Michigan
Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum, Maine
Mathews County Historical Society (New Point Comfort Lighthouse), Virginia
National Park Service Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) (U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Fir and 133-foot buoy tender class)
North Light Commission (Block Island North Light Station), Rhode Island
Ontonagon County Historical Society (Ontonagon Lighthouse), Michigan
Peninsula Township (Old Mission Point Lighthouse), Michigan
Piedras Blancas Light Station (Bureau of Land Managment), California
Point Arena Lighthouse, California
Point Lookout Lighthouse, Maryland
Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Historical Society, Michigan
Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, Florida
Port Washington Historical Soceity, Wisconsin
Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association, Michigan
San Luis Obispo Lighthouse Keepers, California
Spring Point Ledge Light Trust, Maine
St. George Reef Lighthouse Preservation Society, California
Thacher Island Association, Massachusetts
The Lighthouse People
Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society, Washington
Twin Lights Historical Society, New Jersey
U.S. Lighthouse Society (Point No Point Lighthouse, Washington, and Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Maryland)
Washington State Parks (Admiralty Head Light Station), Washington
Wesport Maritime Museum (Grays Harbor Light Station), Washington

Articles

Lighthouses in the National Park System, CRM Bulletin, 1997

Moving Lighthouses, CRM Bulletin, 1999