1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Inventory

5.   Subjects


    List of finding aids

    R.I.H.S. Library page

    R.I.H.S. home page

 Walter K. Schroder Research Notes on

     the Defenses of Narragansett Bay

 Historian, of Jamestown, R.I.

 Research notes, circa 1975-2002

 Size: 2.5 linear feet

 Catalog number: MSS 1123

 Processed by: Rick Stattler and Allison Parr, July 2003


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            Walter K. Schroder was born in Pawtucket, R.I. in 1928 to German-born parents. Circa 1937, he accompanied his parents back to Germany. He served with Germany during World War II, and acted as an interpreter while a prisoner of war from 1945 to 1946. He later served with the U.S. Army as an interpreter from 1948 to 1952. He was them employed by the U.S. Army as a civilian in the produrement and contracting field for almost thirty years until his retirement. As an historian, he has also lectured extensively and published several books, mostly relating to Rhode Island's military installations. He is presently a resident of Jamestown, R.I.


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Scope and content:


            This collection consists of Schroder's notes on World War II-era forts, compiled while researching his Defenses of Narragansett Bay in World War II (Providence: Rhode Island Bicentennial Foundation, 1980), Images of America: Dutch Island and Fort Greble (Dover, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 1998), and Images of America: Davisville and the Seabees (Dover, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 1999). The notes consist mostly of research correspondence with veterans and fellow historians; copies of original documents from the National Archives and other sources; and pertinent articles from newspapers and magazines.

            The files on Fort Greble (on Dutch Island, off Jamestown) are particularly extensive. Schroder compiled a detailed document list for a portion of these Fort Greble files, keyed to numbers for each document. The appropriate section of this list appears in each folder.


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Provenance:


            These papers were a gift from Walter K. Schroder in 2003.


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Inventory:

 

Box 1, folder 1.          Admiral King

Box 1, folder 2.          Annex “A” Harbor Defense Plan

Box 1, folder 3.          Army - Anti-aircraft

Box 1, folder 4.          Block Island

Box 1, folder 5.          Brenton Point (Newport, R.I.) - Panama Mounts

Box 1, folder 6.          Chopmist Hill Monitoring Site (Scituate, R.I.)

Box 1, folder 7.          Coast Artillery units

Box 1, folder 8.          Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Ctr. (N Kingstown, R.I.) - WW2

Box 1, folder 9.          Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center - WW 2

Box 1, folder 10.        Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center - Post War

Box 1, folder 11-12.   Fort Adams (Newport, R.I.)

Box 1, folder 13-16.   Fort Burnside (Jamestown, R.I.) - Beavertail

Box 2, folder 1.          Fort Church (Little Compton, R.I.)

Box 2, folder 2.           Fort Getty (Jamestown, R.I.) - 243th Coast Artillery

Box 2, folder 3.          Fort Getty - General

Box 2, folder 4.          Fort Greble (Dutch Island, Jamestown, R.I.) - Cemetery data

Box 2, folder 5.          Fort Greble - Columbiads, etc.

Box 2, folder 6.          Fort Greble - Construction and utility reports, 1922-1941

Box 2, folder 7.          Fort Greble - Flag - 14th Regiment, R.I. Heavy Artillery, Civil War

Box 2, folder 8.          Fort Greble - Fort record book

Box 2, folder 9.          Fort Greble - Lt. John Greble

Box 2, folder 10.        Fort Greble - Lower and middle batteries

Box 2, folder 11.        Fort Greble - Middle battery transition

Box 2, folder 12.        Fort Greble - Records of buildings

Box 2, folder 13.        Fort Greble - Single 6" battery

Box 2, folder 14.        Fort Greble - Water, Dutch Island

Box 2, folder 15.        Fort Greble - Items 1-15

Box 2, folder 16.        Fort Greble - Items 16-28

Box 2, folder 17.        Fort Greble - Items 29-38

Box 2, folder 18.        Fort Greble - Items 1A-15A

Box 2, folder 19.        Fort Greble - Items 1B-51C

Box 2, folder 20.        Fort Greble - Items D1-D14 (including National Park Service survey)

Box 2, folder 21.        Fort Greble - Items 1D-4E

Box 2, folder 22.        Fort Greble - Item 5E

Box 2, folder 23.        Fort Greble - Items 1F-4F

Box 2, folder 24.        Fort Greble - Items 5F-22F

Box 2, folder 25.        Fort Greble - 2G-7G

Box 2, folder 26-32.   Fort Greble - Miscellaneous reports, etc.

Box 3, folder 1.          Fort Greene (Point Judith, Narragansett, R.I.) - Fort record book

Box 3, folder 2.          Fort Greene - Records

Box 3, folder 3.          Fort Kearney (Narragansett, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 4.          Fort Varnum (Narragansett, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 5.          Fort Wetherill (Jamestown, R.I.) - Construction completion reports

Box 3, folder 6.          Fort Wetherill - Facilities - Maps of gun emplacements

Box 3, folder 7.           Fort Wetherill - Fort Dumpling

Box 3, folder 8.           Fort Wetherill - Fort Dumpling - Surplus property issues

Box 3, folder 9.          Fort Wetherill - Fort Record Book

Box 3, folder 10.        Fort Wetherill - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program

Box 3, folder 11.        Fort Wetherill - Miscellaneous

Box 3, folder 12.        German experimental aircraft - JU-390

Box 3, folder 13.        German submarines - U-853

Box 3, folder 14.        Harbor Defense Plan, Narragansett Bay (document #CCA-AN-NARB-38)

Box 3, folder 15.        Harbor Defense - General symbols - Aerials

Box 3, folder 16.        Naval War College (Newport, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 17.        Navalog

Box 3, folder 18.        Navy - Gould Island (Newport, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 19.        Navy - Newport - WW 2

Box 3, folder 20.        Navy - Prudence Island and Melville and PT Boats

Box 3, folder 21.        Navy - Fort Hamilton, Rose Island (Newport, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 22.        Navy - Sachuest Point (Middletown, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 23.        Navy - Torpedo Station - Goat Island (Newport, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 24.        NETC Gun Emplacements

Box 3, folder 25.        Prisoners of War

Box 3, folder 26-27.   Prisoners of War - "The Factory" (prisoner of war re-education camp)

Box 3, folder 28.        Prospect Hill (Jamestown, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 29.        Quonset Point Naval Air Station (North Kingstown, R.I.)

Box 3, folder 30.        Rhode Island waters covered by fields of fire by New York forts

Box 3, folder 31-33.   Seabees

Box 3, folder 34.        U-Boats, WWI - U-53 and U-111

Box 3, folder 35.        United Service Organization (Jamestown, R.I.)


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Subjects:


Artillery, Coast - Rhode Island

Coast defenses - Rhode Island

Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center (North Kingstown, R.I.)

Defenses of Narragansett Bay in World War II

Dutch Island (Jamestown, R.I.)

Fort Adams (Newport, R.I.)

Fort Burnside (Jamestown, R.I.)

Fort Church (Little Compton, R.I.)

Fort Dumpling (Jamestown, R.I.)

Fort Getty (Jamestown, R.I.)

Fort Greble (Jamestown, R.I.)

Fort Greene (Narragansett, R.I.)

Fort Hamilton (Newport, R.I.)

Fort Kearney (Narragansett, R.I.)

Fort Varnum (Narragansett, R.I.)

Fort Wetherill (Jamestown, R.I.)

14th Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Heavy Artillery

Germany - History, Military -- 20th century

Goat Island (Newport, R.I.)

Gould Island (Newport, R.I.)

Jamestown, R.I. - Buildings, structures, etc.

Narragansett, R.I. - Buildings, structures, etc.

Narragansett Bay - Buildings, structures, etc.

Naval Torpedo Station (Newport, R.I.)

Naval War College (Newport, R.I.)

Newport, R.I. - Buildings, structures, etc.

Prisoners of war - Germany

Quonset Point Naval Air Station (North Kingstown, R.I.)

Rose Island (Newport, R.I.)

Sachuest Point (Middletown, R.I.)

Seabees

Submarine warfare - United States - Rhode Island

United Service Organizations - Rhode Island - Jamestown

United States - Armed Forces - Facilities

World War, 1939-1945


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RIHS1822