Scope and Content Note
The papers of Alfred Louis Heinrich Hildebrandt (1870-1949) extend from 1826 to 1943, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1910-1930. A pioneer in aviation, Hildebrandt was a German author on aeronautical subjects and the first European to support the experiments of the Wright Brothers. His collection focuses on the history of aviation in Germany from the time of balloon experiments to the development of airplanes in World War II. Included is material on aviation sports, inventions, laws, meteorology, aviation societies, transportation, and other activities, both national and international, in addition to personal papers on his career and aeronautics. The papers consist of correspondence, notes, diaries, clippings, scrapbooks, pamphlets, periodicals, books, maps and charts, pictures and photographs, and indexes.
Correspondents include Albert, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg, Patrick Young Alexander, Octave Chanute, Ernst A. Damm, Hans Grade, Hans Ravenstein, and Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin.