This collection consisted of 10 cartons of photographs that were at first loaned, and then donated, from the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences (IAS) in 1968 when they were dissolving their library. After the photographs arrived at NASM, they were divided and placed in the Technical Files. As of 2009, 817 images have been identified and cataloged as being from the Sherman Fairchild Collection. The images include shots of balloons, gliders, airships, aircraft, aircraft instruments, engines, uniforms, aerial photographs, and early concepts of flight.
Biographical / Historical:
Sherman Fairchild (1896-1971) had a long and varied aviation career; included in his many contributions to the aerospace field was his work with aerial cameras and his aircraft companies, including Fairchild Industries.
Provenance:
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Gift, 1968
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
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
The collection is the result of Major Hammer's passion for amassing material related to aeronautics and technology, and it is arranged into eleven series: articles, clippings, correspondence, drawings and blueprints, leaflets, legislation, minutes, miscellaneous, photographs, programs and publications. Housed in 23 folders, the correspondence is the most comprehensive series, reflecting the original order which grouped the letters into series by topic. Much of the correspondence concerns the planning of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, and the involvement of Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss. There is also a scrapbook of black and white photographs providing front and side views of specified airplanes. Each page has 3 photos showing different views of the same plane accompanied by a label with additional information. (See written copy for details. Also, please see information written on 8x11 notebook paper.)
Scope and Contents:
The William J. Hammer Collection reflects Hammer's great interest in aeronautics --a passion he cultivated for several decades by accumulating a veritable storehouse of materials. Hammer's important contributions to the early development of aviation are also evident in this collection.
The collection of materials listed in the finding aid is arranged into two series. The first series includes correspondence, reports, handbooks, drawings, brochures, programs, leaflets, magazines, articles, newspaper clippings and miscellaneous materials. The second series is comprised of photographs of various sizes, scrapbooks, scrapbook pages and miscellaneous materials (the front pages of newspapers, certificates, posters, etc.).
Hammer's papers are arranged both chronologically and alphabetically. Correspondence, drawings, brochures, programs, leaflets, miscellaneous materials, scrapbook pages, articles and newspaper clippings are organized by the former method. Reports, handbooks, magazines and booklets are grouped alphabetically by either title of publication or author. Photographs are arranged either by subject or chronologically.
The reader should note that at some point, Hammer produced a series of large format photographs. These mounted photographs are duplicates. Due to the very fragile condition of these particular images, the photographs and are not available to researchers.
Additional photographic material regarding Hammer Collection photographs can be found in the NASM Archives Images database. An Archives staff member will assist you with research using this database.
Box 13 of the William J. Hammer Collection has not been scanned.
Note: The digital images in this finding aid were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.
Arrangement:
The William J. Hammer Collection is arranged by content type.
Biographical/Historical note:
William J. Hammer was born in Cressona, Pennsylvania, on February 26, 1858, was an associate of Thomas Edison and an early aviation supporter and enthusiast. He began his career as an assistant to Edward Weston of the Weston Malleable Nickel Company. In 1879, he moved on to a new position as laboratory assistant to Thomas Edison at Menlo Park, New Jersey. His duties ranged from aiding in conducting experiments on such devices as the phonograph, telephone and ore separator to acting as Edison's key person in further developing the incandescent electric lamp. By 1880, he was made chief engineer of the Edison Lamp Works. A year later, Edison dispatched Hammer to London to be chief engineer of the English Electric Light Company. In this position, he helped construct the Holborn Viaduct Central Electric Light Station in London. This was the first central station ever built for incandescent electric lighting. In 1883, Hammer became chief engineer for the German Edison Company. This task included planning and supervising the construction of all Edison plants in Germany. He returned to the United States late in the following year and acted as chief inspector of central stations of the parent Edison Electric Light Company. In 1886-87, Hammer was general manager and chief engineer of the Boston Edison Electric Illuminating Company. In 1888, he worked as an independent engineer and supervised the completion of the then-largest isolated electric lighting plant, located at the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. During that year, Hammer also was chosen as consulting electrical engineer to the Cincinnati Centennial Exposition. Subsequently, Edison selected him as his personal representative to the Paris Exposition of 1889. This assignment rounded out Hammer's eleven years with Edison. During his time as one of Edison's most trusted and important employees, Hammer devised a number of innovations to the incandescent electric lamp. He designed and built the first electric sign, which spelled out the name "Edison". While in Germany, he invented the automatic motor-driven flashing electric lamp sign. This particular sign flashed the word "Edison" letter by letter and then all at once. At the International Electrical Exhibition, held in Philadelphia in 1884, Hammer also constructed the first flashing column of electric lights.
Upon his return to the U.S. in 1890, Hammer worked as an independent consulting electrical engineer by assisting in a variety of electrical projects, carrying out tests, giving lectures and providing expert testimony in patent disputes. He based this modest enterprise in an office in New York City and continued in this occupation until 1925. His career as an electrical engineering consultant was interrupted by World War I. In June 1918, he was commissioned a major in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the Inventions Section of the War Plans Division of the General Staff in charge of Aeronautical and Electrical Inventions at the Army War College, Washington, D.C.. By December of that year, he was attached to the Operations Division General Staff at the War Department (Inventions Section). During the war and on into 1919, Hammer also worked for the U.S. Patent Office by identifying any aviation-related patents likely to convey too much information to potential enemies. In conjunction with his War Department duties, he acted as a member of the Advisory Board of Experts affiliated with the Alien Property Commission.
Busy as he was with his private consulting work, Hammer also immersed himself in other scientific activities. He took a particular interest in radium after visiting Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris in 1902. The two discoverers of radium gave him some samples of this substance. Soon after returning to the United States, Hammer experimented with radium. His research yielded numerous useful applications for this material such as radium-luminous powders and paints that were used to coat everything from watch and clock dials to aeronautical instruments, switches and toys. Hammer also advocated the use of radium for cancer and tumor treatment. Beyond his interest in this material, he invented selenium light-sensitive cells and recommended many practical uses for them. He also conducted a great deal of laboratory work on X-rays, ultraviolet and cathode rays, phosphorescence and wireless communications. Accordingly, he lectured and published extensively on many of these fields of research and study.
Hand in hand with his overall interest in science and technology, Hammer had a particular passion for aeronautics. Beyond paying careful attention to the rapid progress made in this field at the turn of the twentieth century, he also played an active role as participant and supporter. He made his first balloon flight over France during the Paris Exposition of 1889. His last lighter-than-air journey took place in 1931 aboard the U.S. Navy dirigible Los Angeles. Moreover, he attended and officiated over many balloon, airship and airplane exhibitions and races. Hammer was a member of the Aero Club of America and a director of the Aeronautical Society. This latter group made the first ever purchase of an airplane in January 1909. He served as expert and secretary of the Aeronautics Committee on the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission of 1909 and wrote the contracts for Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss to fly their airplanes for this event. This occasion in New York was important as it marked the first time a large gathering of people in the U.S. witnessed heavier-than-air powered flight. As a friend of the Wright brothers, Hammer testified as an expert witness on their behalf during various patent litigation suits. His contact with aviation pioneers went beyond the Wrights and Curtiss. He also knew and interacted with, among others, Samuel Langley, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henri Farman and Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Even his work with radium had applications for aviation. Hammer developed radium-based luminous compounds and used them on aircraft instruments so pilots could more easily view their cockpits' dials and gauges.
Hammer's last years were filled with serving as Historian General of the Military Order of the World War, as well as participating in many scientific, engineering and aeronautical committees and societies. During this time, he was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, John Scott Medal from the Franklin Institute and the Cross of the Legion of Honor from France. Up until his death on March 24, 1934, he also labored in his efforts to organize a vast personal collection of rare and valuable scientific artifacts, photographs and other materials accumulated since his days with Edison. Following Hammer's death, this important collection was left in the care of his daughter Mabel (his wife of twelve years, Alice, having died in 1906). Some years later, International Business Machines (IBM) acquired it. In 1962, IBM donated the William J. Hammer Scientific Collection to the Smithsonian Institution. The bulk of the collection resides with the National Museum of American History's Archives Center. In the mid 1980s, the aeronautical portion of this collection was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Archives.
Provenance:
IBM (Mr. William J. Hammer Collection), gift, 1961, XXXX-0074, not NASM
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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.
On June 26, 1940, it was announced by the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS), a scientific society founded in 1932 that was made up of leading aeronautical specialists, that Paul Kollsman and Square D had provided the IAS with an endowment of $50,000 to found an aeronautical lending library at Rockefeller Center, New York City. The Paul Kollsman Library was a library of books, pamphlets, and other published materials which could be borrowed by people interested in aeronautics via postal mail within the United States. In 1941, $10,000 from the original endowment (the Paul Kollsman Fund) was used to found the Pacific Aeronautical Library at Hollywood, California, which was opened on October of that year. This collection consists of a scrapbook of press releases and clippings regarding the founding of the IAS' Paul Kollsman Library and Pacific Aeronautical Library.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a scrapbook of press releases and clippings regarding the founding of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences' Paul Kollsman Library and Pacific Aeronautical Library. The scrapbook also includes portrait photographs of Kollsman and F. W. Magin, President of the Square D Company; a menu signed by attendees of a luncheon held in honor of Kollsman and Magin at Rockefeller Center, New York City, on July 18, 1940; a list of organizations using the Kollsman Library during 1940 to 1941; and a portrait of and biographical information relating to Sherman Fairchild.
Arrangement:
Collection is a single item.
Biographical / Historical:
Paul Kollsman (1900--1982), a German immigrant who came to the United States in 1923, founded the Kollsman Instrument Company in Elmshurst, Long Island, New York, in 1928, to manufacture precision aeronautical instruments. In 1939, the Kollsman Instrument Company was acquired by the Square D Company of Detroit, Michigan. On June 26, 1940, it was announced by the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS), a scientific society founded in 1932 that was made up of leading aeronautical specialists, that Paul Kollsman and Square D had provided the IAS with an endowment of $50,000 to found an aeronautical lending library at Rockefeller Center, New York City (home of the IAS). The Paul Kollsman Library (as it was known) was a library of books, pamphlets, and other published materials which could be borrowed by people interested in aeronautics via postal mail within the United States. In 1941, $10,000 from the original endowment (the Paul Kollsman Fund) was used to found the Pacific Aeronautical Library at Hollywood, California, which was opened on October of that year. Kollsman provided an additional $65,000 to the IAS on December 17, 1941, to further aid in the operation of these libraries. The Institute of Aeronautical Sciences merged in 1963 with the American Rocket Society to form the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Provenance:
Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, Gift, NASM.XXXX.0319.
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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.
This collection contains photographs (some with captions) with corresponding negatives, publications, periodicals, Early Bird newsletters and stationary, biographical material, and correspondence from friends and contemporaries.
Biographical / Historical:
Elmo Neale Pickerill (1885 - 1968) was born in Greenridge, Missouri. In 1910 he made his first solo flight while establishing air to ground wireless radio communication. Pickerill was an officer in the aviation section of the Army Signal Corps during World War I. He joined RCA in 1920 and retired in 1950. Pickerill was not only a member, but held officer positions in the following organizations: The Early Birds, Long Island Early Fliers Club, the OX5 Club, and the Veterans Wireless Operators Association. He was most noted for his work with the Early Birds.
Provenance:
Eugene M. Baker, gift, 1997, 1997-0023, NASM
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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
These pieces were designated as ragtime music by Sam DeVincent. Most are labeled as "ragtime," but some are called marches and two-steps. (13 items)
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
This collection contains documentation on TAT (Transcontinental Air Transport) and NAT (National Air Transport) as well as radio communication and general aviation themes. The following types of material are included: house newspapers/newsletters for both airlines; newspaper and magazine articles relating to Proctor, the airlines or aviation; photographs of both NAT and TAT, specifically dealing with radio; correspondence; and memorabilia relating to TAT and NAT.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains documentation on TAT (Transcontinental Air Transport) and NAT (National Air Transport) as well as radio communication and general aviation themes. The following types of material are included: house newspapers/newsletters for both airlines; newspaper and magazine articles relating to Proctor, the airlines or aviation; photographs of both NAT and TAT, specifically dealing with radio; correspondence; and memorabilia relating to TAT and NAT.
Arrangement:
The Elbert W. Proctor Collection is arranged by content type.
Biographical / Historical:
Elbert W. Proctor worked for both National Air Transport (NAT) and Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) Airlines during the 1920s and early 1930s as a radio engineer. Proctor was in charge of communication for TAT.
General:
Additional Materials: Artifacts that accompanied this collection have been transferred to the National Air and Space Museum Aeronautics Division.
NASMrev
Provenance:
Elbert W. Proctor, gift, 1993, 1993-0038, NASM
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
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
Topic:
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Search this
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.
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.
Collection Citation:
Philip Van Horn (P. V. H.) Weems Papers, Accession 2012.0052, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Thomas DeWitt Milling Collection, NASM.XXXX.0133, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Collection Citation:
Science Service Astronomy and Astronautics Files, Acc. 1987-0125, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ames Research Center Search this
Extent:
1.09 Cubic feet ((1 records center box))
1.04 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Publications
Drawings
Date:
1981-1982
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of documents which were part of a collection of DAAS hardware donated to the National Air and Space Museum.
Biographical / Historical:
NASA Ames Research Center and Honeywell, Inc. (contractor), developed the Demonstration Advanced Avionics System (DAAS) in 1981. The DAAS was a single, integrated, computer controlled system built to replace the various computer systems in aircraft.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
NASA Langley Research Center, Transfer, 1989, 1990-0077
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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
Topic:
Demonstration Advanced Avionics System (DAAS) Search this
Knabenshue, A. Roy (Augustus Roy), 1876-1960 Search this
Container:
Box 6, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
A. Roy Knabenshue Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0136, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
International Telephone Development Company Search this
Extent:
0.45 Cubic feet ((1 legal document box))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Clippings
Reports
Photographs
Drawings
Glass negatives
Date:
1939-1944
Scope and Contents:
This collection includes newspaper and magazine articles on ILS testing and development; ITDC proposal for the system; technical reports with engineering drawings; 24 photos of the Indianapolis testing, 13 with accompanying glass plate transparencies; and 3 autographed photos of pilot Benny Howard, CAA Chief of Radio Development Bill Jackson, and United Airlines Director of Flight Operations R.T. Feng.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1938 the International Telephone Development Company (ITDC) was awarded a contract by the Bureau of Standards for the Aeronautical Branch of the Department of Commerce (BAC) to develop a blind landing system which would enable pilots to land their aircraft under conditions of poor visibility. In 1944, the term 'Blind Landing' was changed to 'Instrument Landing.'
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Mrs. Paul Byrne, gift, 1991, 1991-0089, unknown
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
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
