Use Restrictions

Public Domain. There are no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

"United States Japan Expedition by Com. M.C. Perry. Vol. II. Maps" bound volume, C0413, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Donor is unknown

Processing Information

Processing and finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner from October - November 2023.

Historical and Biographical Information

In the mid-19th century, the United States became interested in reestablishing contact with the country of Japan, which for 250 years had maintained a strict isolationist policy toward to the West. With the opening of trade with China, and the establishment of an American port on the Pacific with the annexation of California in 1848, the United States anticipated regular and steady traffic between North America and Asia, which would require the need to secure coaling stations for the country's steam ships to refuel ahead of the long journey between continents. Additionally, the American whaling industry had entered the Pacific in the mid-18th century, leading to the need for increased access to safe and reliable harbors, supply stations, and assistance in the event of shipwrecks. In response to these perceived needs, in 1852 the United States sent a squadron of ships, led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy, to Japan to demand that the country end its isolationist policy and open up trade with the West. After two trips, the second with a larger squadron, Japan agreed to Perry's demands and the two countries signed the Treaty of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854. Upon his return to the United States, Perry was offered a grant to write and publish a narrative of his expedition. To complete this, Perry hired Rev. Francis L. Hawks who used the personal logs and diaries of Perry and his crew to craft the first volume of Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan which was published in 1856.

Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry was born on April 10, 1794 to Christopher Raymond and Sarah Wallace (Alexander) Perry. The Perrys were a strong naval family, with his father serving in the Continental and United States Navies, Matthew and his four brothers serving as naval officers, and two of his three sisters marrying naval officers. Perry gained distinction as a naval commander during the Mexican-American War and is considered the "Father of the Steam Navy" for his promotion of converting the Navy's fleet to steam engines. Commodore Perry married Jane Slidell in 1814 and the couple would go on to have eight children and settle in New York City. Perry passed away only a few years after his expedition to Japan on March 4, 1858 at the age of 63 and was initially buried in his wife's family plot at Saint Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, but later moved and reinterred in 1866 in the Perry family plot in Island Cemetery located in Newport, Rhode Island.

Reverand Francis Lister Hawks was born on June 10, 1798 in New Bern, North Carolina to Francis and Julia Airay (Stephens) Hawks. An Episcopal priest and preacher, Rev. Hawks was also a prolific writer, publishing on a variety of topics including a history of the Episcopal Church in America, editing an American biographical encyclopedia, and assisting with the narrative of Commodore Perry's expedition. Rev. Hawks passed away on September 26, 1866 at the age of 68 and is buried in Christ Church Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Selmar Siebert was a German engraver who immigrated to the United States circa 1840. He settled with his family in Washington, D.C. and opened an engraving and printing shop which he ran until returning with his family to Germany in 1861 due to the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War. Siebert's son, Edward Selmar Siebert, born in 1856, would go on to become a renowned American portrait painter with works displayed in galleries across the country, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Scope and Content

A bound volume titled "United States Japan Expedition by Com. M.C. Perry. Vol. II. Maps" containing 14 fold-out charts and maps printed to accompany a three volume set, written by Francis L. Hawks, recounting Commodore M.C. Perry's expedition to Japan. The two large charts include "Chart of the World Showing the Track of the U.S. Steam Frigates Mississippi, Susquehanna and Powhatan as Flagships of the Japan Squadron under the Command of Commodore Mathew C. Perry, U.S.N. 1853-1854" and "Chart of the Coast of China and of the Japan Islands including the Marianes and a part of the Philippines compiled order of Commodore M.C. Perry, U.S.N. from the latest authorities, with additions and corrections by the U.S. Japan Expedition by Lieuts W. L. Maury and S. Bent, U.S.N. 1855".

The remaining maps include The Island of Lew Chew, The Harbor of Napha, Deep Bay, Tubootch & Suco Harbors, Shah Bay, Keelung Harbor (Formosa Island), The Coffin Islands, Western Shore of the Bay of Yedo, "Reconnaissance of the Gulf And survey of the Western Shore of the Bay of Yedo", Simoda Harbor (Japan), The Harbor of Hakodadi (Japan), and Endermo Harbor (Island of Jesso). All charts and maps are engraved by Selmar Siebert.

Arrangement

This is a single item collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other historic maps, atlases, and engravings such as the C. Harrison Mann, Jr. map collection and the "A New Atlas of the British West Indies" bound volume .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Asia
• Atlases
• Bonin Islands (Japan)
• China
• Engraving
• Hawks, Francis L. (Francis Lister), 1798-1866
• Japan
• Maps
• Perry, Matthew Calbraith, 1794-1858
• Ryukyu Islands
• Siebert, Selmar
• Taiwan
• United States Naval Expedition to Japan (1852-1854)