Scope and Content Note
The papers of Charles Stark Draper (1901-1987) span the years 1773-1978, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1939-1973. Draper was an aeronautical engineer and has been called the father of inertial guidance. The technology of gyroscopic inertial guidance, by which vehicles are kept on course independent of outside navigational aids such as radio signals, radar, and celestial sightings, is the basis of the "automatic pilot" in commercial and military aircraft and of the navigational systems of submarines, missiles, and spacecraft. The Draper Papers are organized into five series: Family and Personal Papers , Professional File , Speeches and Writings , Miscellany , and Oversize .
The largest file in the Family and Personal Papers was created by Draper's mother, Martha Stark Draper ("Dada"), a founder of the Missouri chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It relates mostly to the history and genealogy of the Stark and Draper families, Missouri state and local history, family memorabilia, and the accomplishments of her son. Martha Stark Draper's interest in genealogy may account for the presence of the oldest document in the papers, a ledger and commonplace book kept by father and son commission merchants John Francis Lucas Jacoby and Ralph Jacoby during 1773-1833. Correspondents in the Family and Personal Papers include Martha Stark Draper, Thomas Benson Whitledge, and C. S. Draper's brother, Ralph Clayton Draper.
The Professional File is organized into consultant, correspondence, and organizations files. As a consultant to airplane manufacturers, such as the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, and to instrument makers, such as the Sperry Gyroscope Company and the Waltham Watch Company, C. S. Draper worked on problems of aircraft navigation, blind flying, and the monitoring and measuring through improved instrumentation of in-flight conditions such as engine combustion and vibration. Most of the Professional File dates from C. S. Draper's long association with the Instrumentation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Correspondence in the Professional File is divided into fan mail, general, and seventieth birthday greetings, according to an arrangement established by Draper or his secretarial staff. Substantive issues, such as the divestiture of the Instrumentation Laboratory by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970, are addressed in some of the fan letters, while some of the general correspondence is obviously fan mail. On his seventieth birthday in 1971, Draper received congratulatory letters from political figures such as Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, from former students by then highly placed in the aerospace industry, the military, and civilian agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and from colleagues. Correspondents in the Professional File include Holt Ashley, Sir Leon Bagrit, Raymond L. Bisplinghoff, Benjamin P. Blasingame, Secor D. Browne, Richard H. Frazier, Howard Wesley Johnson, I. J. Galantin, J. Francis Reintjes, Robert C. Seamans Jr., and Martin Summerfield.
The Organizations file documents Draper's attendance at the meetings of professional associations and his consulting relationships with government agencies.
The Speeches and Writings series includes articles and scientific papers, monographs, and speeches. One of the monographs is a three-volume, multipart report, Gunsight Mark 15 for the Control of Short- and Medium Range- Antiaircraft Fire from Naval Vessels,by the Instrumentation Laboratory (MIT) for the United States Navy Bureau of Ordnance.
The Miscellany series contains albums of awards and certificates documenting the course of Draper's career. The Miscellany also includes a catalog and inventory of his papers prepared by a member of Draper's staff. The introduction to the catalog provides a good general overview of the Draper Papers, and additional information about particular documents can sometimes be obtained through referencing the catalog.