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Summary

This collection consists of the photographs used in Race to the Stratosphere: Manned Scientific Ballooning in America and collected by David DeVorkin for research. It also includes a few engineering drawings of balloon gondolas.

Biographical / Historical

David DeVorkin, a curator of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum, completed Race to the Stratosphere: Manned Scientific Ballooning in America in 1989. The book traces the history of manned scientific ballooning, beginning with the flights of Auguste Piccard, and proceeding through the manned flights by the Army Air Corps, up to the Apollo Space Missions.

Identifier

NASM.1997.0034

Creator

DeVorkin, David H., 1944-

Date

circa 1930s-1960s

Provenance

David DeVorkin, Transfer, 1997

Extent

1.26 Linear feet

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

David DeVorkin, a Space History Curator at the National Air and Space Museum, completed Race to the Stratosphere: Manned Scientific Ballooning in America in 1989. The book traces the history of manned scientific ballooning from the 1930's to the 1960's, beginning with the flights of Auguste Piccard, and proceeding through the manned flights by the Army Air Corps, up to the Apollo Space Missions. This collection consists of the photographs used in the book and collected by David DeVorkin for research. The collection is organized by chapter. There are also a few engineering drawings of the gondola of balloons. There are three series in this collection. Series 1 consists of the photographs actually used in the book, arranged by chapter. Series 2 consists of photographs collected for research by David DeVorkin, but not used in the book. They are arranged by chapter. Series 3 consists of two subseries: Miscellaneous and Duplicate Photographs, and Science Service Photographs. There is one appendix to this collection. It is a list of all the Smithsonian Institution negative numbers from all the images that David DeVorkin used that came from the National Air and Space Museum's collections.

Arrangement note

There are three series in this collection. Series 1 consists of the photographs actually used in the book; it is arranged by chapter. Series 2 consists of photographs collected for research by David DeVorkin, but not used in the book; it is arranged by chapter. Series 3 consists of two subseries: Miscellaneous and Duplicate Photographs and Science Service Photographs. There is one appendix to this collection. It is a list of all Smithsonian Institution negative numbers from all images that David DeVorkin used that came from the National Air and Space Museum's collections.

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

Race to the Stratosphere Photograph Collection, Acc. 1997-0034, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Aeronautics

Airships

Balloons

Scientific apparatus and instruments

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials