National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
American Interplanetary Society (New York, NY) [Documents]
Collection Creator:
National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
American Interplanetary Society (New York, NY) [Photos]
Collection Creator:
National Air and Space Museum. Archives Division. Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
The majority of the Archives Department's public reference requests can be answered using material in these files, which may be accessed through the Reading Room at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. More specific information can be requested by contacting the Archives Research Request.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Photo Album
Creator:
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Search this
Extent:
0.18 Cubic feet (1 flatbox)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photograph albums
Date:
Circa 1945-1959
Summary:
This collection consists a photo album containing black and white photographs of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) library, archives, and museum.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists a photo album containing black and white photographs of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) library, archives, and museum. Lester D. Gardner is shown on page 10. The album measures approximately 9.5 by 11.75 inches and features accordian-style pages.
Arrangement:
Collection is a single item.
Biographical / Historical:
The Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS) was established in 1933 and the organization's first secretary, Lester D. Gardner, immediately began collecting aeronautical artifacts for a museum. These artifacts were primarily displayed in offices until 1945 when the museum collection was displayed in a dedicated but limited space in the organization's library and archives. In 1959, space was expanded in the library for technology information, and the majority of the museum's artifacts were kept in storage. Many of these artifacts later became part of the national collection at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) through the efforts of Paul Garber, former NASM Head Curator and Senior Historian and later Assistant Director of Aeronautics.
The Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS) went through several organizational changes over the years. The group changed its name to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 1960. Because of the changing nature of propulsion technology into missile, rocket, and space technology, in 1963 AIAA merged with the American Rocket Society (formerly known as the American Interplanetary Society (AIS)), which had been created in 1930.
Provenance:
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Gift, date unknown, NASM.XXXX.0798.
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 consists of approximately 0.15 cubic feet of material relating to Harry W. Bull and his work with rockets.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately 0.15 cubic feet of material relating to Harry W. Bull and his work with rockets. Included in the collection are photocopies of items loaned by the donor for copying, including copies of pages of a scrapbook which includes captions by Bull. Additional types of material contained in the collection include correspondence; photographs; news clippings; technical papers written by Bull; pages of notes on Bull's research and experiments including calculations, drawings, and notes on various tests; three notebooks of technical information compiled by Bull; and copies of diary entries made by Bull in 1925. There is a section of material relating specifically to Bull's rocket-propelled sled. Notable correspondents whose letters appear in the collection include Robert Hutchings Goddard and George Edward Pendray.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged according to location.
Biographical / Historical:
Harry W. Bull (1909-1971) was an American rocketry pioneer who conducted more than 800 individual tests during the period from 1926 to 1934, as well as building and successfully riding a rocket-propelled sled in 1931. Bull was credited by James Hart Wyld with being the first American to design and build a regeneratively-cooled rocket motor and the first to experiment with a monopropellant rocket motor. Bull also did extensive research on steam propulsion as well as various types of propellants. Bull financed his education by lecturing on rocketry, and by selling photos of his successful rocket sled experiments to various news outlets. Bull also was able to use publicity generated by the sled run to produce and sell a copyrighted specification booklet. Bull graduated from the College of Applied Science at Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1932. After graduating, Bull was employed by Church and Dwight Company to design and test packaging machines, then went to work in 1935 with the Tennessee Valley Authority where he was involved in aerial mapping. Bull joined The Dow Chemical Company in 1937 as a design engineer, becoming a packaging coordinator in 1954, and he was named Director of Packaging in 1962. Bull retired from Dow in 1968 due to ill health. Bull was a member of the American Interplanetary Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and was a charter member of the American Rocket Society, as well as belonging to various organizations relating to his work in packaging.
Provenance:
Bertha K. Bull, Gift, 1973, NASM.XXXX.1207
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.
A collection of items attributed to rocket pioneer James Hart Wyld dating from the 1930s and 1940s. The collection consists of two boxes, with one containing notes and prints attributed to Wyld and the other containing original negatives.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately 140 black-and-white negatives (28 35mm strips of 8 frames each, seven 35mm strips of 2 frames each, and six 3.5 x 6 inch sheets), predominantly taken by James H. Wyld, of American Rocket Society meets and rocket tests and an Elmira, New York, glider meet, and images taken by Wyld on various trips around the New York City area and elsewhere. Buildings, engineering projects, and landscapes pictured include the Lincoln Tunnel and the Triborough Bridge (under construction), the Empire State Building, Central Park, Gilgo Beach and Long Beach (Long Island), Port Washington, Fire Island, the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, the Vanderbilt Cup races in Mineola, New Rochelle, Cornwall, and the Catskills, all in New York. Also included are images taken in Princeton, New Jersey; Connecticut; Mount Washington, New Hampshire; and Massillon, Ohio. Individuals pictured include Frank Harrison, Albert Rice, and Bill Baum. The collection also consists of Wyld's personal papers including a diary covering the period of February 1931 to May 1936; a 1932 scientific notebook; two photographs of rocket test activities; a post card addressed to Wyld from "John" (possibly John Shesta) referencing a postponement; a portraint of James Wyld; handwritten report, "An Automatic Thrust and Mixture Control for Rocket Motors," 1946.an envelope full of information relating to a court case involving the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; a Princeton University Alumni Lectures pamphlet entitled America's Problem of National Defense by Professor Harold Sprout; five newspaper clippings related to rockets; an undated letter, missing the first page, to Wyld from Bernard E. "Ben" Smith regarding rocket testing; two letters, dating from 1938-1939, from Wyld to "John" (possibly John Shesta) regarding rocket testing; a report entitled Long Range Rocket, Section II (Propellant Systems) by Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, Director of Laboratories, Reaction Motors, Inc.; "Proposal for Unguided Liquid-Propellant Rocket Projectile" by an unknown author, possibly Wyld; two drawings of rockets; three pages of notes handwritten by Wyld, and a letter from Albert M. Paquin to the American Rocket Society, with handwritten comment attached, regarding financial assistance from the Society for rocket research. In addition, the collection contains a memo to Wyld regarding Reaction Motors, Inc. stock prices; and Wyld's handwritten notes and drawings entitled, "The Design of Streamline Hulls and Fins for Rockets," "The Nature of Rocket Flight" (noted as draft of Chapter IV of Introduction to Rocketry), "Pumping Mechanism" (appears to be missing pages), "Superchargine Airplane with Oxygen," and six additional pages of miscellaneous notes and drawings. Some pages of the notes have been initialled and noted by Shesta and Lawrence.
Biographical / Historical:
Rocket pioneer James Hart Wyld was born in 1913 and received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University in 1935. He joined the American Interplanetary Society (later the American Rocket Society) in 1931. In the late nineteen thirties, Wyld developed and tested the first modern liquid-propellant rocket motors. In 1941 he, along with John Shesta, Lovell Lawrence, Jr., and Hugh Franklin Pierce, formed Reaction Motors, Inc. (RMI), the first US rocket propulsion company.
Related Materials:
The American Rocket Society's Rocket Test Stand No. 2 is featured in negatives present in this collection. More information concerning this artifact can be found at American Rocket Society's Rocket Test Stand No. 2.
Provenance:
Anne W. Blizard, Gift, 2005, NASM.2005.0051
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 consists of approximately 0.3 cubic feet of material relating to Louis Goodman's work with the American Rocket Society (ARS) including correspondence; original technical drawings by Goodman and others; news clippings; publications; and five 8 by 10 copy photographs of Goodman and one 11 by 17 inch copy photograph of the Luncheon for Inventors of America held in 1941. There is also a small section of autographs given to Goodman by Willy Ley and a 1936 contract between Goodman, Ley, and Hugh Franklin Pierce stipulating a division of rights and rewards if a rocket designed and constructed by them wins the REP-Hirsch Prize (Prix d'Astronautique). Besides the aforementioned persons, notable figures mentioned in the collection include George Edward Pendray; Nathan Carver; Peter Van Dresser; Hermann Julius Oberth; Robert Hutchings Goddard; Walter Hohmann; Guido von Pirquet; and Franz Oskar Leo Edler von Hoefft.
Biographical / Historical:
Louis Goodman (1905-1973) was an inventor and artist who was active in the American Interplanetary Society (later the American Rocket Society (ARS)) beginning in the early 1930s. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Russia, he emigrated to the United States in 1924. Although he received little formal education, he was mechanically gifted and became an active member of the Society's Experimental Committee. In 1938 he helped design, with H. Franklin Pierce and G. Edward Pendray, the ARS Rocket No. 1. He also assisted other members in the preparation of their rocket motors on the groups' static test stands, notably, the ARS Test Stand No. 2.
Provenance:
Annalisa P. Magnusson, Gift, 2015
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 consists of Willey Ley's personal files, including his business correspondence, book contracts, and galley proofs, as well as publicity concerning Dr. Ley and his activities, and inquiries and comments from Ley's readership during his tenure as columnist for Galaxy Magazine (1952-1969). The material also includes articles gathered by Ley on topics ranging from astronomy and space travel to biology and natural parks to mythology, psychic phenomena, and UFOs.
Scope and Contents note:
The Willy Ley Collection reflects Ley's broad, restless curiosity about the world around him. However, the main thrust of this material emphasizes his intense interest in the aerospace field. Ley's significant contributions as a great proponent, theorist and historian of rocketry and space travel are quite evident in this collection.
For the most part, the collection encompasses the years Ley spent in the U.S., roughly, from the mid 1930s to his death in 1969. Accordingly, very little pertaining to Ley's time in the VfR is found here. This wide array of materials was sold to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) by Ley's widow, Olga, in 1970.(1) Later that year, NASM personnel traveled to Ley's home in New York to transfer this collection to the museum. They were careful to maintain the overall order of the collection which reflects its original organizational structure, as well as the research techniques and thinking processes of Ley himself.
The collection of materials listed in the finding aid is arranged into four series. The first series is composed of personal materials that include correspondence, book and article contract materials, galley proofs, manuscript and article drafts, notes, articles, lecture invitations and brochures, photographs, drawings, travel and war-time memorabilia, newspaper and press clippings, book reviews, personal bills and receipts, business cards, children's' report cards and Christmas cards. The materials of this series range in date from the early 1930s to 1969. Except for moving this series to the beginning of the collection, original order was maintained. Additionally, original folder titles were retained (as they were for the rest of the collection). Correspondence, book/article contracts materials, research notes, articles, newspaper and press clippings and miscellaneous personal materials are arranged chronologically while the manuscript drafts, galley proofs and book reviews are organized alphabetically by title.
The second series comprises the bulk --about two-thirds, of the Willy Ley Collection. This series, the aerospace subject files, ranges in date from the late 1800s to 1969, and covers the following topics: biography (Ley and others), aviation, inventions, astronomy, space travel, rockets, artificial satellites, manned space flight, ground support and rocket test centers. The folders include correspondence, photographs, notes, reports, brochures, pamphlets, magazines, articles and newspaper clippings. Original order was maintained for this series. The materials are organized by subject.
The third series consists of printed materials. This series ranges in date from the early 1950s to 1970 and includes various publications (newsletters, pamphlets, journals, reports, directories, magazines and books). Also included are article and newspaper clippings. Ley organized the newsletters by title and then chronologically.
The fourth and final series of this collection contains non-aerospace subject files. Ley's certificates, citations and a scrapbook are found in this series. The certificates and citations are for Ley's civic and professional achievements. The scrapbook contains miscellaneous newspaper clippings regarding rocketry and space travel (in English and German) from the 1930s and 1940s. However, this series, ranging in date from the early 1900s to 1969, mainly encompasses materials not directly related to aviation, rocketry or space travel. Original order was maintained for this series. The materials are organized by subject.
The researcher should note that all the folders (except for those of Series 4) are numbered. This numbering system reflects an effort by NASM's Department of Space History in 1970 to create a rough catalog of the Willy Ley Collection as it was being moved to the museum. Though now obsolete as an index, these penciled numbers were retained and are written in the upper right corner of the folders.
Endnotes: 1. That same year, Mrs. Ley also sold her husband's collection of books and journals to the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Currently, it is known as the Willy Ley Memorial Collection and resides at the University's library. Wernher von Braun and NASA Saturn launch vehicle program manager Arthur Rudolph participated in the dedication ceremony in 1971.
Arrangement note:
Series 1: Personal Materials
Series 2: Aerospace Subject Files
Series 3: Printed Materials
Series 4: Non-Aerospace Subject Files
Biographical/Historical note:
Willy Ley was a world-renown expert in and proponent of rocketry and space travel. Born in Berlin, Germany on October 2, 1906, Ley attended the Universities of Berlin and Konigsberg and studied astronomy, paleontology, zoology and physics. Beyond these studies however, he developed a passionate interest in rocketry and its potential applications for space travel. Accordingly, he wrote and published his first book, Die Fahrt in den Weltraum (Travel in Outer Space) in 1926 and helped found Germany's early rocketry and spaceflight club, Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR (Society for Space Travel) the following year. In 1929, Ley, along with well-known rocketry theorist Hermann Oberth, acted as a technical consultant on Fritz Lang's film, Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon). Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, he continued to write books, as well as numerous articles in German and foreign publications, on the subject of rockets and spaceflight. Once Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, the Nazis pressured Ley to cease publishing his articles in foreign journals and magazines due to rocketry's potential as a weapon in Germany's arsenal. Also, the VfR disbanded during the Nazis' first year in power amid concerns among the membership regarding the interest the German military was taking in their activities. These factors compelled Ley to leave Germany for Britain briefly and then to the U.S. in 1935. He became an American citizen in 1944.
Until World War II, Ley focused his writing career on topics unrelated to rocketry and space travel. He discovered little interest in these fields among the U.S. public. He was successful though, with a number of non-space publications such as Salamanders and Other Wonders and The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn. From 1940-44, Ley was science editor of the New York newspaper, PM and later lectured as a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He was also a regular contributor to a myriad of magazines, encyclopedias and digests such as Popular Mechanics, Cowles Encyclopedia and Galaxy. However, once World War II began and especially after Germany launched V-2 missile attacks on Britain in 1944, Ley found himself in great demand as an expert in rocketry. Following the end of the war, his writings, lectures and newspaper, radio and television interviews helped to spur even greater public interest in rockets and their potential for space flight. Additionally, his books on this subject were widely read in the U.S. and around the world. First published in 1944, Ley's Rockets, Missiles, & Space Travel enjoyed a great deal of popularity and justified numerous printings of revised editions. Other highly successful titles that Ley produced during the 1950s and 1960s included The Conquest of Space, The Conquest of the Moon (written with Wernher von Braun and astronomer Fred Whipple) and Beyond the Solar System. Ley, along with von Braun, artist Chesley Bonestell and others, collaborated on a series of space-themed issues of Collier's (1952-54) that helped to foster popular support for future U.S. missions to earth orbit, the moon and the planets.
Aside from his busy career as a prolific author and populizer of rockets and space travel, Ley was also a husband and father of two children. His wife, Olga, was an accomplished ballet dancer, model and author in her own right. The couple had to two daughters, Sandra and Xenia. Ley had hoped to attend the Apollo 11 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but died of a heart attack at his home in Jackson Heights, New York, on June 24, 1969. His death came only four weeks before the launch of mankind's first landing on the moon's surface.
1906 October 2 -- Ley born in Berlin, Germany
1920 January 11 -- Smithsonian Institution publishes A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, a pamphlet written by U.S. rocket scientist Dr. Robert H. Goddard
1923 -- Romanian rocket scientist Hermann Oberth publishes short book, Die Rakate zu den Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Planetary Space)
1926 -- Ley writes and publishes first book, Die Fahrt in den Weltraum(Travel in Outer Space)
1926 March 16 -- Goddard successfully launches first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts
1927 July 5 -- Ley helps found Germany's early rocketry and space travel club, Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR (Society for Space Travel)
1929 -- Ley (along with Oberth) acts as a technical consultant for Fritz Lang film, Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon)
1933 January 30 -- Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
1935 -- Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky dies
1935 -- Ley leaves Germany for Britain and then to the U.S.
1939 September 1 -- Germany invades Poland – World War II begins
1940 -- Ley begins stint as science editor of New York newspaper, PM
1942 October 3 -- First successful launch of Nazi V-2 (A-4) rocket, Peenemunde, Germany
1944 -- Ley becomes a U.S. citizen
1944 -- Ley publishes first edition of book, Rockets (book would eventually see many revised editions and renamed Rockets, Missiles, & Space Travel)
1944 September 7-8 -- First V-2 rocket attacks on London and Paris
1945 May 8 -- Germany surrenders to Allies
1945 August 10 -- Goddard dies
1945 September 2 -- Japan surrenders to Allies
1945 September 29 -- Wernher von Braun and other captured German rocket scientists are taken to the U.S.
1945 October -- Arthur C. Clarke first proposes concept of communication satellites in Wireless World magazine
1946 April 16 -- First successful launch by the U.S. of a captured V-2
1950 -- Ley publishes book, The Conquest of Space
1952 -- Ley collaborates with von Braun, artist Chesley Bonestell and others on a series of space-themed issues of Collier's
1953 -- Ley collaborates with von Braun and Fred Whipple and publishes book, The Conquest of the Moon
1957 October 4 -- Russia's successful launch of first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1
1958 January 31 -- Successful launch of first U.S. artificial satellite, Explorer 1
1961 April 12 -- Russia's successful launch of first human into space, Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1
1961 May 5 -- Successful launch of first U.S. astronaut into space, Alan Shepard aboard Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7)
1964 -- Ley collaborates with Bonestell and publishes book, Beyond the Solar System
1969 June 24 -- Ley dies at his home in Jackson Heights, New York
1969 July 16-24 -- Flight of Apollo 11 succeeds in landing U.S. astronauts on the moon
List of Acronyms:
AFB -- Air Force Base
ARCAS -- All-Purpose Rocket for the Collection of Atmospheric Soundings
AS -- Apollo-Saturn [spacecraft-launch vehicle stack]
ELDO -- European Launcher Development Organization
GALCIT -- Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology
No restrictions. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Contact SIA Reference Staff for further information (email photos@si.edu)
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_arc_367103
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