Logo for George Elsey Papers | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

George Elsey Papers | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Collection Overview

Title: George Elsey PapersAdd to your cart.

Primary Creator: Elsey, George

Extent: 1.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: This collection is arranged into two series: General Correspondence and materials related to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, memoranda, and other materials pertaining to George Elsey's work in FDR's White House Map Room, and to Elsey's interests and activities after World War II. Some of these materials may be duplicate documents housed in FDR's Map Room Papers.  The documents are dated between 1941 and 1979 and are arranged into two series: General Correspondence and Materials related to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Collection Historical Note

George McKee Elsey was a junior officer in Naval Intelligence. He was assigned to the White House Map Room, the intelligence communications center established a few days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the years of his service there (1941-1946), he handled Franklin Roosevelt’s communications with Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek. Later Elsey decoded and delivered the report to then-President Harry S. Truman that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan. After the war Elsey served as a civilian aide to Truman (1949-1951) and, later, as president of the American Red Cross.

Administrative Information

Repository: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Access Restrictions: This collection is available for use by the general public.

Use Restrictions: George Elsey has donated copyright. This material is subject to copyright restrictions under Title 17 of the U.S. Code.

Separated Materials: A map of the malay peninsula, World War II, is housed with maps in map cases.

Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

[Series 1: General Correspondence],
[Series 2: Papers Related to the White House Map Room of Franklin D. Roosevelt],
[All]


Series 2: Papers Related to the White House Map Room of Franklin D. RooseveltAdd to your cart.
This Series consists of materials related to FDR's Map Room, such as correspondence Elsey exchanged on the behalf of Franklin D. Roosevelt with world leaders including, Winston Churchill, Admiral Leahy, Henri Philippe Petain Chief of French State, and Princess Alice of Canada.  Also included are printed materials from White House events, photographs, and a list of naval ships, Intelligence reports about Japanese Naval activities and reproductions of Map Room materials, as well as Elsey's copies of FDR's travel logs between 1937 and 1945.

Box 1Add to your cart.

Map Room FilesAdd to your cart.

Reproductions from Map Room papers at the FDR Library, 1942-1944Add to your cart.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - Correspondence, 1941-1943Add to your cart.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. - Correspondence, undatedAdd to your cart.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. - Printed Addresses and MessagesAdd to your cart.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. - DeathAdd to your cart.

Navy Department, Bureau of ShipsAdd to your cart.

PhotographsAdd to your cart.

Printed MaterialsAdd to your cart.

Statement regarding the Pearl Harbor disaster by Henry L. StimsonAdd to your cart.

Box 2Add to your cart.

Japanese Intelligence Reports, 1942Add to your cart.

Japanese Naval Activities, 1943Add to your cart.

Reproductions of Map Room papers at the FDR Library, 1941-1943Add to your cart.

Reproductions of Map Room papers at the FDR Library, 1944-1945Add to your cart.

Box 3Add to your cart.

Item 1: The President's Log for the 1944 Quebec Conference, September 9-21, 1944Add to your cart.

Item 2: Log of the President's Inspection Trip to the Pacific, July-August 1944Add to your cart.

Item 3: Log of the President's Inspection Trip to the Pacific, July-August 1944Add to your cart.

Item 4: Log of the President's Trip to Africa and the Middle East, November-Dececember 1943Add to your cart.

Item 5: Log of the President's Trip to Africa and the Middle East, November-Dececember 1943Add to your cart.

Item 6: The Log of the President's Visit to Canada 16 August 1943 to 26 August 1943: 17-24 August - "Quadrant" Conference at Quebec,  25 August - Visit to OttawaAdd to your cart.

Item 7: Log of the President's Inspection Tour, 13-29 April, 1943Add to your cart.

Item 8: Log of the Trip of the President to the Casablanca Conference, 9-31 January, 1943Add to your cart.

Item 9: "Our Nation at War": Log of the President's Inspection Trip, 17 September-1 October, 1942Add to your cart.

Item 10: Log of the President's Inspection Trip and Cruise on Board USS Potomac, 19 March-1 April, 1941Add to your cart.

Item 11: Log of the President's Inspection Cruise through the West Indies on board the USS Tuscaloosa 3-14 December, 1940Add to your cart.

Item 12: The Log of the Caribbean Cruise aboard the USS Houston, Spring 1939Add to your cart.

Item 13: Log of the Third Presidential Cruise of the USS Houston 14 July to 9 August, 1938Add to your cart.

Item 14: The Inspection Cruise and Fishing Expedition of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Board USS Houston 16 July, 1938 - 9 August, 1938Add to your cart.

Item 15: Log of the Cruise of the President on board USS Philadelphia April 30 to May 8, 1938Add to your cart.

Item 16: Log of the Cruise of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Dry Tortugas Florida, 29 November, 1937-6 December, 1937Add to your cart.

Item 17: Log of the Cruise of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Gulf of Mexico 29 April-11 May, 1937Add to your cart.

Item 18: The President's Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt January 22 to February 28, 1945Add to your cart.

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: General Correspondence],
[Series 2: Papers Related to the White House Map Room of Franklin D. Roosevelt],
[All]