Physicist, engineer, government official, and science administrator. The collection relates primarily to Vannevar Bush's role as coordinator of the scientific community for defense efforts during and after World War II when he served as chairman of the National Defense Research Committee and director of its successor, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, where he supervised the Manhattan Project and other programs.

Charitable foundation. Correspondence, minutes of meetings, reports, subject files, financial records, photographs, printed matter, and other records relating to the foundation's funding of projects and programs in aviation and rocketry and in criminal justice.

Antiquarian, historian, and mayor of Washington, D.C. Chiefly Force's personal papers and papers he collected for his nine-volume American Archives. Force's personal papers document his career as a Washington printer, newspaper editor, compiler, and collector. The collection records political, military, scientific, and social aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century America.

Businessman, engineer, airplane manufacturer, and author. Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, plans and drawings, notes, photographs, patents, legal documents, speeches and writings, scrapbooks, clippings, and printed matter documenting Loening's career in aviation.

Biologist and ornithologist. Correspondence, research and writings, field notes and notebooks, poetry, prose, reviews, and other avocational writings, calendars, diaries, memorabilia, scrapbook, wills, and printed matter chiefly documenting McAtee's career as a biologist and ornithologist at the United States Bureau of Biological Survey and its successor, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and as curator of Hemiptera at the Smithsonian Institution.

Paleontologist, educator, and author. Correspondence, articles, memoranda, notes, reports, speeches, drawings, maps, photographs, memorabilia, printed matter, and other materials mainly concerning Merriam's work as chairman of the National Research Council, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and regent of the Smithsonian Institution.

Public official, diplomat, educator, and senator. Correspondence, memoranda, journals, speeches, writings, legislative files, notes, research material, subject files, appointment books, press releases, printed material, clippings, and photographs documenting Moynihan's career in public service, in higher education, and in politics, particularly his years as United States senator from New York.

Attorney general, associate and chief justice of the Supreme Court, and educator. Professional and family correspondence, writings, reports, legal case files, biographical information, and other material relating primarily to Stone's service on the Supreme Court.

Foreign service officer and lecturer. Correspondence, memoranda, family papers, reports, speeches, writings, photographs, clippings, and printed matter relating primarily to Trent's career as a foreign service officer in the State Department and a lecturer for the Smithsonian Institution's travel program.

Aviation pioneers and inventors. Correspondence, diaries, notebooks, business accounts, legal papers, minutes, reports, printed matter, photographs, blueprints, scrapbooks, and other papers relating primarily to the invention of the airplane and the development of aviation.