Rudy Arnold Photo Collection
Acc. XXXX-0356

Rudy Arnold (1902-1966) was a commercial aviation photographer. The Rudy Arnold Photo Collection primarily consists of images he took between circa 1920 through 1940. The majority of these images are of American aircraft such as Grumman, Douglas, Lockheed and Curtiss. The collection also contains images he took of aviation personalities including Douglas Corrigan, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and Howard Hughes.

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Carl H. Claudy Photography Collection
Acc. XXXX-0549

During the early 1900s, Carl Harry Claudy (1879-1957) photographed several important aeronautical events: Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral kite experiments; flights of the airship Signal Corps No. 1, the U.S. Army's first powered aircraft; and the Wright Military Flyer trials at Fort Meyer, Virginia. Attending these events were well-known figures of the day, and Claudy photographed many of them: Orville and Wilbur Wright, Glenn Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell, President William Howard Taft, Thomas Baldwin, and Alice Roosevelt. Claudy's photographs are a valuable record of the early days of aeronautics and of the people who played a part in them.

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Herbert Stephen Desind Collection
Acc. 1997-0014

Herbert S. Desind (1945-1992) was a science teacher and free-lance writer on aerospace topics. Also an avid model rocketeer, Desind collected air and space material to support his teaching, his writing and his hobby. Desind placed emphasis on illustrating his work, and his scale models depended on accurate portrayal of markings and layouts. Both of these needs were supported by photographic materials. The collection is therefore primarily photographic, with press releases, news clippings and correspondence rounding out the material gathered before his death. 109 cubic feet (305 Boxes)

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James H. Doolittle Scrapbooks
Acc. XXXX-0501

James "Jimmy" Doolittle (1896-1993) enjoyed a career of unusual impact. A flying instructor during World War I, he became known for his skill as a pilot. In the years between the wars, he won several trophy races and set many records. His work with instrument ("blind") flying would be of great importance to aviation. Returning to service in World War II, Doolittle led the April 1942 raid on Tokyo from the USS Hornet. 10 cubic feet (9 boxes)

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Edgar S. Gorrell Collection
Acc. XXXX-0057

Edgar S. Gorrell (1891-1945) was a pilot and an advocate for aviation safety. He served in the military from 1912-1920, eventually achieving the rank of Colonel and the position of Chief of Staff for the Air Service. He then spent sixteen years in the automobile business before being named president of the Air Transport Association of America in 1936. This collection mainly pertains to Gorrell's work for the Air Transport Association of America, with the material including his correspondence and speeches, the Congressional hearings and reports for the bills he advocated, and publications and newspaper articles about him and his career. Also in the collection are several photographs and photograph albums from World War I. 3.59 cubic feet (9 boxes).

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Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection
Acc. XXXX-0359

Hans Groenhoff (1906-1985) was an aviation photographer. He is most well known for his images that appeared in such publications as Life, Colliers, Esquire, National Geographic, the Saturday Evening Post, Flying, Flying and Popular Aviation, Air Trails Pictorial, Sportsman Pilot, and Aero Digest. Groenhoff spent most of his career in the New York area and a great deal of this work was conducted at or in the air above Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York. The images in this collection are primarily of American aircraft and were taken from 1933 to 1967.

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"Man's Reach for the Sky" Scrapbook Collection
Acc. XXXX-0032

The "Man's Reach for the Sky" Scrapbook Collection comprises 18 volumes of aeronautical memorabilia collected by Herbert L. Stephenson from 1925 through 1968. 8.06 cubic feet (13 boxes).

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Moisant Family Scrapbooks
Acc. XXXX-0535

The Moisant Family--John, Alfred and Matilde--jointly established the Moisant Aviation School in New York in 1911. Unlike many other early aviation schools, the Moisants accepted women as students, the most renowned of whom was Harriet Quimby, the first woman to receive a pilot license in America--Matilde Moisant was the second. The collection consists of three oversized scrapbooks containing newspaper accounts of the Moisants' flying escapades, as well as press releases and writings. The articles also discuss other aviators, such as Quimby, who were associated with the Moisants. 3.48 cubic feet (3 boxes).

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Revista Aérea Collection
Acc. 2003-0028

Revista Aérea, which began publication in 1937 as the Spanish-language edition of the US monthly Aero Digest, is the leading aviation journal in Latin America. This collection consists of portions of the magazine's reference files containing primarily photographs and trade literature covering the 1970s through 1990s. Collection size 61.8 cu.ft. (158 boxes)

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The Swoose: Odyssey of a B-17 Collection
Acc. 1994-0024

The Boeing B-17D The Swoose (serial number 40-3097) has a long and storied history. Its nickname derives from a song popular in the 1940s about a half-swan, half-goose. Like the bird, this B-17 was composed of components from different aircraft. The Swoose flew four historic trans-Pacific flights and carried out bombing and transport operations in the Pacific during World War II. The aircraft remained in service until 1953, when it was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum. This collection consists of materials collected by author Herbert Brownstein during his research for the book The Swoose: Odyssey of a B-17.

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Louise McPhetridge Thaden Collection
Acc. XXXX-0006, 1986-0042, 1986-0188

Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905-1979) was one of the United States foremost female aviators during the late 1920s and 1930s. She achieved several records including Altitude (1928), Solo Duration (1929), Speed (1929), Refueling Duration (1932), Light Plane Speed (1936), East-West Speed (1936), Inter-City Distance Speed (1937), and 100 km Speed (1937), and won the first National Woman's Air-Derby (1929) and the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race (1936). She later worked with the U.S. Department of Defense, Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) and co-founded the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots. This collection contains newspaper and journal articles, personal letters and business correspondence, writings, photographs, and scrapbooks, all relating to her aviation career. 3.38 cubic feet (10 boxes).

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Mary E. "Mother" Tusch Collection
Acc. XXXX-0128

The Mary E. "Mother" Tusch Collection reflects her interest in aviation. The bulk of the collection is from the early 1900s to the late 1950s and consists of 12 boxes that contain photography, family documentation, news clippings and scrapbooks. There are formal group and individual photographs as well as informal personal photographs of servicemen whom she had befriended and images signed by such famous aviators as Ruth Law and Earle Ovington. The collection also contains photographs of the famous wallpaper from her Berkeley home which was signed by such aviation notables as Charles Lindbergh and Edward Rickenbacker.

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United States Women in Aviation through World War I
Acc. XXXX-0424

This collection of photographs, written notes, articles, photocopies of news clippings, correspondence, and biographies was used by Claudia M. Oakes to prepare the publication United States Women in Aviation Through World War I (Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., 1978). 0.7 cubic feet (2 boxes).

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Lee Ya-Ching Papers
Acc. 2008-0009

Lee Ya-Ching was a Chinese aviatrix in the 1930's and 1940's. Beginning her flying career in Switzerland in 1934, Ms. Lee was the first woman to receive a pilot's licenses from the Ecole Aero Club de Suisse, the Boeing School of Aeronautics and the government of China. In partnership with several other pilots, Ms. Lee opened a civilian flying school in Shanghai. Despite being instrumental in the formation of a Chinese air force prior to World War Two, Ms. Lee found she was not allowed to fly for her country when Japan invaded. Finding other ways to serve her country, Ms. Lee helped form hospitals and flew Red Cross planes from Hong Kong to Canton. Wishing to do more, Ms Lee embarked on a goodwill tour of the United States, Canada and South America, raising money for the war effort in China. Following the war, Ms. Lee returned to China, where she receded from public life. This collection consists of news clippings, photographs, magazines and three scrapbooks. The majority of the collection is in English; however, there are significant occurrences of Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Dutch. Collection size is 11.9 cubic feet (22 boxes).

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