Scope and Content Note
Part I
Part I of the papers of the Piccard Family dates from circa 1470 to 1968, with the period of concentration falling between 1926 and 1966. This part of the collection primarily documents the achievements and activities of Jean Felix Piccard (1884-1963) and, to a lesser extent, those of Jeannette Ridlon Piccard (1895-1981), his wife. Trained in Europe as an organic chemist, Jean Piccard gained recognition in the 1930s and 1940s as an aeronautical engineer and an active participant in the exploration of the earth's stratosphere and the study of cosmic rays. Jeannette Piccard, who also studied chemistry, provided valuable assistance to her husband and piloted the balloon for their widely publicized ascent into the stratosphere in 1934. Part I is arranged into the following series: Diaries and Spiritual Meditations, Family Correspondence, Personal Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, Financial Papers, Miscellany, Printed Matter and Oversize. Family correspondence comprises almost half of the correspondence, with personal and general correspondence making up the other half. The papers also include notebooks, biographical material, blueprints, patent specifications and descriptions, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings. Part II of the papers contains a few files of Jean Piccard, but focuses more on Jeannette's later activities as an aerospace consultant and her association with the Episcopal Church.
The Diaries and Spiritual Meditations series consists chiefly of writings of Jeannette Piccard and exhibits her early and enduring interest in Christianity and the church. The Family Correspondence includes communications among numerous members of both the Piccard and Ridlon families. Significant among the correspondents is Auguste Piccard, Jean Piccard's twin brother and professor of physics. In the vanguard of stratospheric exploration, Auguste Piccard had made balloon flights into the lower regions of the stratosphere in 1931 and 1932 to study cosmic rays. His correspondence depicts his considerable collaborations with Jean in the design of Jean's balloon gondola and their mutual scientific interests. Another important correspondent is Jacques Piccard, son of Auguste Piccard and acclaimed undersea explorer. Other notable correspondents include Jean Piccard's father, Jules Piccard, professor of chemistry at the University of Basel, and Jeannette Piccard's father, John Ridlon, an eminent orthopedic surgeon. The Family Correspondence also includes letters exchanged with foster children whom the Piccards took into their home. Many of the letters of members of the Piccard family are in French or German.
The General Correspondence series reflects Jean Piccard's work as a consultant in the natural sciences. Correspondence with the National Research Council in 1918, especially on the subject of trinitrotoluene (TNT), reflects the scientific aspect of the papers. During the period 1910-1913 and in the late 1930s there is additional scientific correspondence which relates to his inventions. All of the correspondence series in Part I includes material relating to the Piccards' stratospheric flight in 1934. Personal Correspondence includes letters from family friends and also reflects the management of the Piccard household. Both Jean and Jeannette Piccard corresponded in the 1930s with scientists and mathematicians such as Albert Einstein, Robert Andrews Millikan, W. F.G. Swann, and A. W. Stevens.
The Subject File also includes material relating to the Piccards' stratospheric flight in 1934 as well as a written account with photographs of Jean Piccard's test flight in his experimental aerostat Pleiades in 1937 and reports by Piccard for the Hercules Powder Company. Other items in the Subject File consist of material related to college classes taught by Jean Piccard, interview scripts, information regarding an experimental radio station on the campus of the University of Minnesota, records of the Aéro-Club Suisse which Jean Piccard served as treasurer, and a transcript of interrogations he conducted for the United States Army Air Corps in July and August 1945. Jeannette Piccard's papers in the Subject File reflect her role in the Episcopal Church and as an educator.
The Speeches and Writings file includes a large body of writings by Jean Piccard consisting of manuscripts, typescripts, and printed copies of numerous articles for scientific journals and other publications. Also contained in this file are writings by Jeannette Piccard and other family members.
Miscellany includes biographical material pertaining to several Piccard family members and a number of genealogical and legal documents concerning the family dating from approximately the 1470s to the late eighteenth century. The Printed Matter series contains clippings pertaining to the family and numerous miscellaneous pamphlets and ephemeral printed material.
Part II
Part II of the Piccard Family Papers spans the years circa 1850-1983 with the bulk of the material clustered between 1967 and 1983. This part of the collection focuses primarily on the professional activities and accomplishments of Jeannette Piccard after the death of her husband Jean in 1963. Highlights in the papers relate to her role as consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center in the 1960s and her efforts in the 1970s to become one of the first women officially admitted into the priesthood of the Episcopal Church. Also included are a few files of Jean Piccard and papers of their son Don Piccard (1926- ). Part II, organized into the following series: Family Correspondence, General Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, and Miscellany, includes correspondence, diaries, typescripts, autobiographies, memoranda, reports, notes, newspaper clippings, and printed matter.
The Family Correspondence in Part II supplements Part I and includes significant material relating to Auguste and Jacques Piccard and John Ridlon. Another notable correspondent is Kathryn Ann Piccard, a granddaughter who, sharing Jeannette Piccard's interest in the church, was also ordained an Episcopal priest. The files include correspondence with Jean and Jeannette Piccard's parents, siblings, children and grandchildren, and their relatives in Switzerland.
General Correspondence also complements Part I and includes communications with professional colleagues and family friends. Earlier material relates to the career of Jean Piccard, while later portions reflect Jeannette Piccard's ambitions in the 1970s regarding the priesthood.
The Subject File is composed of the professional files of Jean, Jeannette, and Don Piccard. Jeannette Piccard's files comprise the bulk of the material and exhibit her work as an aerospace consultant with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and, more fully, her ordination as a priest. In 1971 she was ordained as deacon, and in 1973 she completed a course of study at General Theological Seminary in New York City. She was “irregularly” ordained as priest in 1974 in Philadelphia, along with ten other women in a ceremony performed without the official sanction of the church. In 1976, the Episcopal Church officially recognized the ordination of women as priests. Key files relate to her ordinations to the diaconate and the priesthood, deacons and deaconesses, and the denomination in general. Material filed under the Episcopal Church pertains to national general conferences and annual meetings of the diocese of Minnesota. Papers relating to Jeannette Piccard's association with other religious organizations are also located throughout the Subject File. Significant correspondents include Denzil A. Carty, Daniel Corrigan, Robert R. Gilruth, Suzanne R. Hiatt, Philip F. McNairy, and Francis Zielinski.
The files of Jean Piccard in the Subject File include those relating to his research on an oxygen converter and his work with Calco Chemical Company and the Hercules Powder Company Experimental Station. The Subject File also contains Don Piccard's editor's file for the newsletter for the Balloon Federation of America and material relating to his sport balloon manufacturing company, Don Piccard Balloons, Inc.
The Speeches and Writings series augments the file in Part I and comprise material principally by Jeannette Piccard, including essays, sermons, and poetry. Of particular interest is a 1916 college essay entitled “Should Women Be Admitted to the Priesthood of the Anglican Church?” Other writings include those by Jean Piccard and drafts and background material of the memoirs of Jeannette Piccard's father, John Ridlon.
The Miscellany series includes engagement calendars, membership directories, photographs, and printed matter relating to the Piccard family, stratospheric balloon flights, ballooning, and women and the priesthood.