Search Results

1. L'Aerophile collection, 1876-1949

   152 boxes. 15,000 items. -- Science Section, Researcher Engagement and General Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Correspondence, blueprints and manufactures information for early French and foreign aircraft and dirigibles, reports of accidents involving flyers and balloonists, World War I aerial photographs and intelligence reports, a series of French cartoons, drawings, graphs, charts, diagrams of equipment, maps, newspapers, printed material, and photographs. The materials in the collection were evidently assembled by staff of the magazine L’Aerophile which was published by Georges Besançon in collaboration with Union Aérophile de France. Subjects include aeronautics chiefly in Europe and the U.S., aeronautics corporations, air shows, aviators, balloons, bombs and missiles, commercial airlines, dirigibles, gliders, hydroplanes, medical aviation, military aeronautics, model aircraft, parachutes, propellers, record flights, and research and testing of aircraft. Individuals represented include Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, Georges Besançon, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and William "Billy" Mitchell.

2. Tissandier collection on the history of aeronautics, 1539-1929

   8,000 items. 27 containers plus 19 oversize. 14 linear feet. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Collection of items gathered by Gaston Tissandier, an aeronaut and scientist, with additions by his brother, Albert Tissandier, an artist and aeronaut, and his son, Paul Tissandier, also an aeronaut. Includes the collection of J. F. Dupuis-Delcourt, an airship builder, brought together prior to 1860 and later purchased by Gaston Tissandier. Mostly in French, the collection pertains primarily to balloon flights of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but also includes material concerning early heavier-than-air flight and the aeronautical career of Gaston and Albert Tissandier as well as art work of Albert Tissandier.

3. Henri Giffard papers, 1852-1910

   65 items. 1 container plus 1 oversize. 0.2 linear feet. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Engineer and aeronaut. Correspondence, notes, design drawings, broadsides, newspapers, printed illustrations, articles about Giffard, and newspaper clippings relating chiefly to Giffard's balloon designs and ascents.

4. Institute of the Aerospace Sciences archives, 1783-1962

   30,000 items. 182 containers plus 84 oversize. 80 linear feet. 4 microfilm reels. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Historical records of the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences. Biographical and corporate files including correspondence, memoranda, writings, reports, biographical data and sketches, genealogical records, financial reports, broadsides, charts, press releases, newspaper clippings, blueprints, cartoons, maps, aeromedical and aeronautical reproductions, airplane specifications, prints, engravings, illustrations, sketches, photographs, memorabilia, printed matter, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous material relating to aviation and aeronautics collected and maintained by the institute prior to its merger with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

5. Washington Irving Chambers papers, 1871-1943

   12,000 items. 48 containers. 12 linear feet. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Naval officer. Correspondence, subject files, logbooks, memoranda, blueprints, photographs, printed matter, and other papers relating primarily to Chambers's service in the navy and with the Greely Relief Expedition to the Arctic and the Nicaragua Canal survey expedition of 1884-1885.

6. William Jones Rhees papers, 1856-1885

   150 items. 1 container plus 7 oversize. 1.8 linear feet. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Chief clerk of the Smithsonian Institution. Correspondence to Laura O. Clarke Rhees, his first wife, on his Christian beliefs, their marriage and family, life in Washington, D.C., his work at the Smithsonian Institution, T. S. C. Lowe and balloon ascensions on the National Mall, and the American Civil War. Seven scrapbooks with newspaper clippings pertaining to scientific discoveries, the history of the Smithsonian, education in public schools, cultural events, and social concerns in the United States.

7. Benjamin Franklin Fuller papers, 1856-1971

   35 items. 1 container. 0.2 linear feet. -- Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Union army soldier and clerk in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous material relating to Fuller's military service and family.