Scope and Content Note
The papers of Harry W. Frantz (1891-1982) span the years 1919-1965, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1929-1937. The collection is focused entirely on aviation, a field Frantz covered as a correspondent for United Press International, and documents pioneering long distance and endurance flights and the early history of the Pan American Airways Corporation and other commercial passenger and freight air carriers.
The Frantz Papers comprise three series, Scrapbooks , Printed Matter , and Oversize . The Scrapbooks are organized in a numerical system of Frantz's devising. Loose leaf scrapbooks have been dismantled and the contents foldered in the original page order. Hard bound scrapbooks are in Oversize . The monographs, pamphlets, reports, serials, publicity material, and other print and near print material that comprise the Printed Matter are arranged chronologically under United States, other countries, and Pan American Airways Corporation headings.
Volumes 19-21 of the Scrapbooks consist of Pan American Airways publicity director William Van Dusen's "Dear Señor" letters, an informal newsletter, 1937-1940, disseminating inside information on such topics as routes, personnel, technological progress, and the latest developments in the Clipper and Stratoliner programs. Other correspondents include Arthur E. Curtis, Roy Wilson Howard, Manuel DeJ. Manduley, and B.V. McCandlish.