The career and personal life of Ralph H. Upson were so related as to form a harmonic whole, difficult to compartmentalize. An interest in education expressed itself in both employment by universities and volunteer work
with primary school students. A lifetime's accumulation of knowledge was channeled into the writing of a substantial collection of articles and reports. Only materials related directly to Upson's career and personal life are included in this series; more general materials concerning projects Upson may have been involved with can be found in Series 3: Subject Files.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection Rights:
Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Ralph Hazlett Upson Collection, Acc. XXXX-0177, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
As an inventor and engineer, Upson had a great stake in recording and preserving the origins of his ideas
and their development. He kept meticulous notes for nearly his entire adult life. The first subseries found here
includes notepads and appointment books, which consist mainly of personal notes and reminders. The notebooks,
which make up the second subseries below, contain sketches of possible inventions, equations, calculations and
notes.
Separated Materials:
Notebooks # 20, #26, and #28 are missing.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection Rights:
Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Ralph Hazlett Upson Collection, Acc. XXXX-0177, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
This series is composed of files maintained by Upson for his own research and the development of projects
pursued by him. The researcher especially interested in the inventions of Ralph Upson may wish to consult the files
below on metalclad airships, balloons, flight instrumentation and re-entry and recovery.
Where files were found together and labelled by Upson, their integrity has been preserved.
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Collection Rights:
Permissions Requests
Collection Citation:
Ralph Hazlett Upson Collection, Acc. XXXX-0177, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
