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Photo, Print, Drawing Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Key West, Monroe County, FL Dry Tortugas National Park

View 45 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS FL-44  ]

More Resources

View 4 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS FL-44  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS FL-44  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS FL-44  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Key West, Monroe County, FL

Other Title

  • Dry Tortugas National Park

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Totten, Joseph
  • Meigs, Montgomery C.
  • U.S. Department of the Army
  • Peterson, Charles E., photographer
  • Deweese, John, historian
  • McCown, Susan, historian
  • Reeves, F. Blair, historian
  • Boucher, Jack E., photographer
  • Arzola, Robert R., project manager
  • Croteau, Todd A., photographer
  • Clark, Kelly, project assistant
  • U.S. National Park Service (NPS), Southeast Regional Office, sponsor
  • Dry Tortugas National Park, sponsor
  • Ortiz, Jarob J., photographer
  • Davidson, Paul, project manager
  • Davidson, Paul, project manager
  • De Sousa, Daniel, delineator
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  forts & fortifications
  • -  military organizations
  • -  casemates
  • -  parade grounds
  • -  monuments & memorials
  • -  brick
  • -  masonry (building materials)
  • -  bastions
  • -  terrepleins
  • -  ruins
  • -  graffiti
  • -  barracks
  • -  officers' quarters
  • -  magazines (military buildings)
  • -  lighthouses
  • -  artillery (weaponry)
  • -  national parks & reserves
  • -  Florida--Monroe County--Key West

Latitude / Longitude

  • 24.628633,-82.87321

Notes

  • -  Fort Jefferson was part of Fort Jefferson National Monument from 1935 to 1992. Since then it has been part of Dry Tortugas National Park. The address for the survey has been updated to reflect this change.
  • -  Significance: As initially designed by Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army General Joseph Totten, Fort Jefferson was to have independent free-standing powder magazines on the Parade Ground, with small, readily accessible magazines occupying two casemates of each long curtain wall and in each tower bastion. The bastions, located to each corner of the fort, project outward to allow defensive fire in many directions. The bastions also contain a granite spiral stairway providing access to all three tiers of the fort. Totten's plans for the fort were approved by the Secretary of War on November 16, 1846. However, the final plans for the Large and Small magazines that were to serve as the main and secondary powder storage facilities were not developed until 1861, and their construction not begun until 1865. In fact, when Superintending Engineer, Montgomery C. Meigs arrived in November 1860 he reported that not a single gun could be found. By January of the following year, however, the first guns had arrived. This occurred shortly after Florida announced its secession from the Union and only months before the outbreak of the Civil War. Thus, through out the Civil War, when Fort Jefferson served as a coastal blockade for Union naval forces and a military prison, the curtain and tower bastion magazines provided the only viable powder storage. Despite armament upgrades in 1872-73, advancements in weaponry made Fort Jefferson obsolete, and the military abandoned t in 1876.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2286
  • -  Survey number: HABS FL-44
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1861 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1865 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1872- 1873 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1846 Initial Construction
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 70000069, 01000228

Medium

  • Photo(s): 56
  • Color Transparencies: 2
  • Measured Drawing(s): 4
  • Data Page(s): 16
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 5

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS FLA,44-____,1-

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • fl0132

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS FLA,44-____,1-
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
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      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Joseph Totten, Montgomery C Meigs, U.S. Department Of The Army, John Deweese, Susan McCown, F. Blair Reeves, et al., Peterson, Charles E, Jack E Boucher, Todd A Croteau, and Jarob J Ortiz, photographer. Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Key West, Monroe County, FL. Dry Tortugas Islands Monroe Key West Monroe County Florida, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/fl0132/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Totten, J., Meigs, M. C., U.S. Department Of The Army, Deweese, J., McCown, S. [...] De Sousa, D., Peterson, C. E., Boucher, J. E., Croteau, T. A. & Ortiz, J. J., photographer. (1933) Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Key West, Monroe County, FL. Dry Tortugas Islands Monroe Key West Monroe County Florida, 1933. McPartland, M. & McPartland, M., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/fl0132/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographers by Peterson, Charles E, et al. Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Key West, Monroe County, FL. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter, and Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/fl0132/>.