Scope and Contents note for 1983 Addition: This material is an addition to the Franklin Hanford papers. It consists primarily of bound volumes such as Hanford's journals, official Navy log books and manuals of regulation and procedure, personal and family ledgers, and catalogs of books in Hanford's library. There is also some private and official correspondence, photographs, printed ephemera, and material dating from Hanford's student days at Rochester High School (1861-1862) and the United States Naval Academy (1862-1866 The correspondence contained in this collection is composed of letters Hanford received from friends and relatives as well as letters Hanford sent to various family members between 1862 and 1928. These letters concern the affairs of Hanford's immediate family, other relatives and friends. A few of them refer to Navy business, current events, and various ports that Hanford visited. Official Navy and governmental communiqués make up the rest of the correspondence. Notification of orders and promotions and clarification of regulations are the topics of these letters. The official correspondence dates from the early 1860s when Hanford began his career in the Navy and continues until his death in 1928. Although most of the letters are unbound, some of his official papers have been organized chronologically and mounted in a bound volume. Among these is a letter to Hanford from Theodore Roosevelt, then acting Secretary of the Navy (5 August 1897). Hanford's journals span six decades between the 1860s and the 1910s. Fifteen of the twenty-three extant journals cover the 1860s and 1870s. Of the remaining eight, two date from the 1880s and three each from the 1890s and 1900s. The earliest volume (1861) deals with life in and around Scottsville and Rochester, New York. Hanford recorded such events as the meetings of various social clubs, dances, public debates and lectures, concerts, deaths and funerals. He also gave an account of his chores around the house, and the subjects he studied in school. Of special interest are the entries for 13 April in which he reported the firing on Fort Sumter and 15 April when he heard the news that Major Anderson had surrendered the fort to Confederate forces. The journals kept during 1863, 1864 and 1866 focus on Hanford's days as a student at the United States Naval Academy, then located in Newport, Rhode Island. In the other volumes from the 1860s (1867, 1868, 1869) he wrote of the voyages he took aboard various naval vessels to Central and South America and the Caribbean. The journals Hanford kept through the 1870s (1871-1877) continue in this pattern, giving descriptions of the places he and his shipmates visited, some account of the customs of each country, and other events he thought interesting enough to note. During these years Hanford traveled to Central and South America (1871), Western Europe (1872), the Middle East (1873, 1875), India (1875), and China, Japan, and Southeast Asia (1875-1877). Hanford's surviving journals from the 1880s (1888, 1889) are not as detailed and complete as those from the 1860s and 1870s. They were kept for only the first three months of each year. In January 1888, Hanford was visiting Cold Spring, New York with his family while awaiting reassignment. In March he was ordered to the U.S.S. Pensacola and sailed for Venezuela. There are no entries after March 26, 1888. The journal for 1889 was kept while Hanford was attached to the U.S.S. Pensacola as executive officer. The Pensacola was at anchor in the Norfolk Navy Yard awaiting repairs; Hanford was soon given liberty and returned to Scottsville. He made no entries after March 9, 1889. Hanford kept journals for the years 1895 through 1897 when he was commander of the U.S.S. Alert. During the 1890s he saw duty in Central and South America (1895-1896), California (1896, 1897), the Hawaiian Islands (1896-1897), British Columbia (1897), and Alaska (1897). The journal for 1901 was compiled while Hanford was serving as commandant of the United States Naval Station at Cavite, Philippine Islands. The final two volumes cover the years 1906-1912, after Hanford retired from active duty in the Navy. The entries in these line-a-day diaries provide a brief daily account of weather conditions and activities in and around Scottsville and Rochester. Hanford ceased making daily entries after suffering a stroke on September 12, 1912. The balance of the collection includes newspaper clippings mentioning Hanford, members of his family, or some other matter of personal or professional interest. There are also a number of other items such as calling cards, invitations, holiday and birthday greetings, programs from concerts and sporting events, tickets of various kinds, information concerning the eye problems from which Hanford suffered during the 1890s, and notification of his election to various clubs and honorary societies. Hanford's high school compositions are also part of this collection, as are copies of the handwritten newspaper (The Scottsville Weekly News, 1856-1857) and the journal (The American Monthly Magazine, 1858) he created and edited while a teenager.

The collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and other memorabilia belonging to the Hanford family of Scottsville, New York.

The Mors Ostrander Slocum Papers are comprised of one box containing mainly correspondence between Mors Ostrander Slocum and Admiral Franklin Hanford, both of Scottsville, N. Y. The letters discuss the publication of a book entitled Wheatland, Monroe County, New York. A brief sketch of its history (1906) written by George Engs Slocum, 1824-1906, father of Mors Slocum. The early letters, February through May 1907, discuss the editing of the manuscript of the book for publication. There is a gap in the correspondence between June 1907 and October 1910. Subsequent letters discuss the sale of the book. Included in the collection is a final typescript copy of the book. Materials relating to Mumford and Wheatland, New York are included within this collection, with reference to John McKay, Robert McKay, and Thomas Mumford.