James Means Collection

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James Means (1855-1920) was an American industrialist who sacrificed his business to devote himself to the promotion of aviation. The collection consists of correspondence, publications, photographs, and scrapbooks.

James Means (1855-1920) was an American industrialist who sacrificed his business to devote himself to the promotion of aviation. Determined to disseminate information on flying, he collected and edited the most significant works of Otto Lilienthal, Octave Chanute, Samuel Langley and others, producing the 'Aeronautical Annuals' which appeared in 3 volumes in 1895, 1896 and 1897. Dr. Means studied bird-flight, kites and gliders, and designed model gliders in the early 1890s. He was awarded patents for his aircraft smoke signal device (1909), his aircraft launcher (1909), and his simplified control column for airplanes (1909-1911).

Identifier

NASM.XXXX.0394

Creator

Means, James, 1853-1920

Date

1892-1913
bulk 1895-1897

Provenance

James H. Means, gift, unknown, XXXX-0394, unknown

Extent

1.8 Cubic feet ((4 legal document boxes))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of correspondence and scrapbooks. The correspondence is arranged into 15 sub-series: Aerial Experiment Association, Aero Club of America, Aero Club of Washington, Aeronautic Society of New York, Aeronautical Annuals, Octave Chanute and his daughters, Glenn Curtiss, House Resolution #7653, Ernest Jones, Otto Lilienthal, Henry Cabot Lodge, Hiram Maxim, Technical Matters, U.S. Signal Corps, and Albert Zahm. Of the three scrapbooks, one is a photograph album containing early glider photos and travel postcards. The second contains photos and news clippings regarding aviation in the 1890's, especially the work of Langley and Maxim with kites, balloons, and aerial bicycles. Clippings are in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch. The third scrapbook is labeled 'James Means 1892' and consists of photos, letters, manuscripts, clippings in English and German, copies of legislation, and book excerpts. Note: The digital images shown for this collection were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product which did not reproduce all materials found in this collection; some items have not been scanned.

Arrangement note

The James Means Collection is arranged by content type.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Citation

James Means Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0394, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Aeronautics, Military
Aeronautics, Commercial
Aeronautics -- pre-1903
Aeronautics
Airships
Balloons
Kites
Gliding and soaring
Periodicals

Type

Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Publications
Photographs
Manuscripts
Correspondence

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