The Thaddeus S. C. Lowe Family Photographs Collection contains material from the post-Civil War activities of aeronaut Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe, his wife, Leontine Augustine Gachon Lowe, and their family.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of Lowe family photographs, including portraits and mounted stereographs of Lowe, his wife Leontine Augustine Gachon Lowe, and their children. The collection also includes a folding leather wallet album of carte de visite portraits of Lowe, Leontine Lowe, and their children. There are two albums of photographs from a world cruise made by Leontine Lowe, circa 1889, including photographs of India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), China, Japan, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece. The images are round Kodak No. 2 photographs. The album pages have been dismounted. Besides family photographs, there are also photographs from the Civil War, including a Mathew Brady studio image of Lowe's Balloon Camp at Gaines' Hill during the battle of Fair Oaks, June 1, 1862, showing Lowe in the basket of a balloon held by Union soldiers; a portrait of Lowe with his father, Clovis Lowe; and a stereograph of one of Lowe's portable hydrogen generators. Photographs of Lowe's other business ventures include photographs of Lowe's Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railway, later known as the Mt. Lowe Railway, and of a visit by Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard, to Pasadena and Mt. Wilson, April 1892, and a mounted photograph of a Lowe designed coke furnace in operation at the San Francisco Coke & Gas Company. Besides the photographs there is a letter from General Andrew A. Humphreys (Lowe's commanding officer) to Lowe, dated July 23, 1862.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged by subject matter.
Biographical / Historical:
Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (1832-1913), was a balloonist, the Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army's Balloon Corps, a self-trained scientist and engineer, and an inventor and entrepreneur. He was born in Jefferson Mills, New Hampshire on August 20, 1832. After leaving his local grammar school, Lowe educated himself in chemistry and meteorology. Lowe built a portable laboratory and traveled on the lecture circuit, lecturing on scientific subjects and giving public demonstrations. In 1855, Lowe married Leontine Augustine Gachon, a French actress; they eventually had ten children. Lowe acquired his first balloon in 1856, and first achieved public notice with a series of ascents in Ottawa in 1858. In 1859, Lowe developed plans for a transatlantic flight with his giant "City of New York" (later renamed "Great Western") balloon, though the attempt was never made. With the coming of the Civil War, Lowe offered his services as a balloonist to the Union Army. His reconnaissance operations were appreciated, but disputes over pay caused him to resign in 1863. Lowe developed and patented the water gas process for the production of hydrogen gas, and invented a series of ice-making machines. Lowe moved to California in 1887 and eventually settled in Pasadena, where he built ice plants and founded a bank. With David J. Macpherson, Lowe began the construction of the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railway. By 1899, Lowe had suffered financial setbacks and his fortune was lost. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe died at the age of 80 in Pasadena on January 16, 1913.
Provenance:
Lance Ferm, Gift, 2011
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
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.
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:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, 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.
This collection includes two photographs on postcards. The first is of Wellman-Vaniman airship America. The second shows (left to right) Murray Simon (?) - navigator; Walter Wellman - explorer and journalist; Melvin Vaniman - designer of America and chief engineer on flight over Atlantic; Jack Irwin - radio operator on America; and Frederic Aubert and Louis Loud - engineers.
Biographical / Historical:
Walter Wellman (1858-1934) was an American journalist and explorer who attempted unsuccessfully both to reach the North Pole and to cross the Atlantic Ocean by powered airship. Born in Ohio, Wellman founded a weekly newspaper in Sutton, Nebraska, when he was 14, and later founded The Cincinnati Evening Post in 1879. For many years, he was the Washington correspondent for the Chicago Herald. He wrote of his many aerial and exploring adventures for the newspapers, including his 1891 claim that he had identified the exact spot where Christopher Columbus landed in San Salvador. Walter Wellman made his first attempt to reach the North Pole by land in 1894, leaving from base camp at Virgo Harbor, Danes Island. In 1898, Wellman headed north to Franz Joseph Land to search for the missing Swedish balloonist Salomon August Andrée and crew who had disappeared the year before in an attempt on the pole. In the spring of 1899, Wellman tried again to sled to the pole; again he failed. After these two sledding expeditions, Wellman decided that the best approach to the North Pole was by air. By 1906, he had raised the necessary funds to construct an airship, airship hangar, and base camp at Virgo Harbor. Unfortunately, his airship expeditions in search of the geographic North Pole were also unsuccessful; his first airship flight in 1907 only covered twenty miles, while his second attempt in 1909 covered only forty miles. During this latter (and final) attempt, Walter's brother Arthur Wellman managed the expedition's base camp on Dane's Island. After learning that Robert Peary and Frederick Cook both claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909, Walter Wellman abandoned his own efforts. In 1910, Wellman tried for his last aviation milestone, attempting a transatlantic crossing in his airship America. He was not successful.
Provenance:
Paul Liscomb, Gift, 1986
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
Myers, Mary, "Carlotta Queen of the Air" Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (1 slim legal document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Place:
Carl Myers Balloon Farm
Date:
1889-1910
Summary:
Carl Myers (1842-1925) was a meteorologist, photographer and balloonist. In 1875, Myers and his wife Mary ("Carlotta, Queen of the Air") began experimenting with balloons and made their first ascensions in 1880. Myers constructed and flew a variety of balloons and airships, and worked on the following technical advances: he developed a varnishing machine for producing fabrics impervious to hydrogen gas; he produced a portable system for generating hydrogen gas; he patented an apparatus for guiding balloons; and he made the first balloon ascension using natural gas as the lifting medium. Myers manufactured balloons for the U.S. Weather Bureau's rainmaking experiments and also supplied the United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) with twenty-one balloons for use in Spanish American War. Myers retired in 1910.
The collection consists of 91 images of the following: balloons, airships, and aeronautical gear in various stages of construction and flight; interior and exterior views of the Carl Myers Balloon Farm; and a number of portraits taken of the family and visitors, including Thomas C. Benbow, a noted pioneering aeronaut. It also contains correspondence written by Myers to Professor Henry Allen (H.A.) Hazen, a meteorologist connected with the United States Signal Office, and one letter to George E. Curtis, head of the U.S. Weather Bureau.
Scope and Contents:
The Carl Myers Balloon Farm Collection spans the years 1889-1910 and contains photographs and documents produced at the property of that name in Frankfort, New York, owned and operated by Carl Myers. "Professor Myers" as he was called by the press in his day, was a pioneering aeronaut, inventor, and experimenter actively engaged in all aspects of ballooning during these years.
The bulk of the collection consists of ninety-one captioned photographs showing a variety of balloons, airships, and aeronautical gear in various stages of construction and flight. Also included in this material are several interior and exterior views of the main house known as the Gates Mansion (see note) along with a number of portraits, both individual and group, taken of the family and visitors - possibly including several of Thomas C. Benbow. The latter was another pioneering aeronaut who visited the Balloon Farm in 1903 in conjunction with the construction of an airship later identified in contemporary press accounts of the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 as the Benbow Airship "Meteor."
Other material in the Carl Myers Balloon Collection consist of correspondence composed between 1891 and 1894. Except for one unrelated item, all are copies of letters written by Myers to George E. Curtis, head of the U.S. Weather Bureau, Department of Agriculture, and Henry Allen Hazen, then Professor of Meteorology at the Weather Bureau. The contents of these letters contain proposals for, discussions about, and observations involving the use of balloons for meteorological research. Information documented in these letters includes material on balloon technology, economical aspects of ballooning, and the operational aspects of conducting aeronautical activities with balloons in the 1890s.
Detailed information on the life of Carl Myers can be found in the biographical files of the National Air and Space Museum's Archives Division. Additional correspondence between Myers and the Weather Bureau is purported to be located in the archives of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Materials concerning Henry Allen Hazen can be found in two locations: at the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, listed under the Aeronautical Archives, Institute of the Aerospace Sciences, and at the Smithsonian Institution Archives under the Office of the Secretary, Records of the Smithsonian Institution.
Further information on Thomas Benbow and the Benbow "Meteor" (which the donor referred to as the "Montana Butterfly") can be located in the biographical files held at the National Air and Space Museum's Archives. Additional photographs of the Benbow Airship can be found in the Museum's photographic collection, images 2B 2166-2179.
NOTE: Gates Mansion - The main building at the Balloon Farm was located on Cemetery Hill Road in Frankfort, New York. It was a large mansion constructed by William Gates, the inventor of the sulfur safety match, in 1878 at a cost of $35,000. The property was sold to Carl Myers by Gates' son Fred.
Arrangement:
The Carl Myers Balloon Farm Collection is organized into two series.
Series 1: Photographic Images of the Carl Myers Balloon Farm (1889-1910); 91 images
Series 2: Correspondence (1891-1894); 20 items
Biographical/Historical note:
Charles Edgar Myers (1842 1925) was a meteorologist, photographer and balloonist. He grew up in the town of Mohawk, New York, becoming adept at the use of all types of electrical, chemical, and mechanical apparatus.
Myers started working in 1861 when he was hired as a teller by the Mohawk Valley Bank, a position which soon led to his interest in developing, and the subsequent invention of, a comparison system for identifying bogus bank notes. In 1863, at the solicitation of the Bank's officers, Myers established the town's first telegraph office. He resigned his position at the bank in 1867 and purchased a photograph gallery in the village of Hornell (then Hornellsville), New York. Fascinated with the rapid technical advances then being made in photography, he constructed a portable photographic set up for taking wet process photographs in scenic, remote locations. Using this equipment he produced the first known series of stereoscopic views of the Adirondack Wilderness billed as "The Adirondack Series."
While living in Hornellsville he met Mary Breed Hawley, seven years his junior, whom he married in 1871. In 1875 Myers sold the photographic gallery and moved back to Mohawk where he and Mary began to experiment with methods of making fabrics impervious to hydrogen gas so they would be suitable for manufacturing balloons and airship envelopes. Myers' interest in ballooning appears to have arisen out of his continuous involvement in meteorological measurements and a desire to further his studies of the atmosphere. One of his earliest achievements was the development of an automatic self-recording mercury barometer which properly compensated for temperature changes and kept a continuous record of local barometric pressure.
In 1878, Myers constructed his first balloon, but did not make his first ascension until 1880. Mary, who would later win notoriety as "Carlotta Queen of the Air," made her first ascension a few months later. Their only child, a daughter whom they named Elizabeth Aerial, was born the following year in 1881.
During the ten years that the Myers resided in Mohawk, Carl constructed and flew a variety of balloons and airships. He also developed a varnishing machine for producing fabrics impervious to hydrogen gas, produced a portable system for generating hydrogen gas, patented an apparatus for guiding balloons, and made the first balloon ascension using natural gas as the lifting medium. Within this time period he also published the writings of his wife, The Aerial Adventures of Carlotta, and started The Balloon Bulletin, a four page illustrated periodical devoted to aeronautics. Mary, it is said, made more balloon ascensions than any person in America and was one of the only balloonists of that era to attain a measure of navigational control during untethered flight.
In 1889 Myers purchased the property owned by Fred Gates in Frankfort, New York, renaming it the "Balloon Farm." When the Weather Bureau was transferred to the Agriculture Department in 1891, he visited Mr. George E. Curtis in Washington, D.C., to propose his services as a supplier of balloons for meteorological use. In the next few years Myers manufactured more then one hundred balloons for the Weather Bureau and personally participated in rainmaking experiments involving "exploding " balloons which he designed for this purpose. In 1898 the Balloon Farm supplied the United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) with twenty-one balloons for use in the Spanish American War. In 1904 Myers was appointed Superintendent of Aeronautics at the St. Louis Exposition where he was in charge of aeronautic exhibits and also arranged for, and supervised, such special features as balloon races and demonstrations of the latest airships.
Myers continued to operate the Balloon Farm until 1910, when he sold the farm and moved to his daughter's home in Atlanta, Georgia. His last known work on ballooning appeared in 1913 when he wrote an article for Scientific American titled "Half a Lifetime with the Hydrogen Balloon."
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 material relating to Walter Wellman's polar explorations (1894-1909) and the role his brother, Arthur Wellman, played in managing the base camp on Dane's Island during the 1909 attempt to reach the North Pole by air.
Scope and Contents:
This donation consists of material relating to Walter Wellman's polar explorations (1894-1909) and the role his brother, Arthur Wellman, played in managing the base camp on Dane's Island during the 1909 attempt to reach the North Pole by air. The following material is included: correspondence between Walter and Arthur Wellman and their respective immediate families, as well as correspondence between the Wellmans and Andrew Aagaard; an 1889 financial ledger sheet kept by Aagaard; newspaper articles about the Wellmans' adventures; airship fabric; black and white photographs of Wellman, the airship, crew members, and the base camp, including quarters and the airship hangar; glass plate photographs of the same scenes, which were evidently used by Arthur Wellman for his lectures; two copies of a poster announcing Arthur Wellman's lecture entitled, "Spitzbergen;" seven promotional postcards; and Arthur Wellman's notebook, which contains a Last Will and Testament, notes on the condition of the ship, and diary entries from the 1909 polar attempt. There are also seven black and while photographs of Walter Wellman's transatlantic attempt in the airship America. The last item in the collection is a set of five CDs produced by Jean and Steve Cooper, which contain scans of the entire collection.
Arrangement:
This collection was arranged by the archivist into 3 series:
Series 1: Correspondence
Series 2: Miscellaneous
Series 3: Photographs & Lantern Slides
Biographical/Historical note:
Walter Wellman (1858-1934) was an American journalist and explorer who attempted unsuccessfully both to reach the North Pole and to cross the Atlantic Ocean by powered airship. Born in Ohio, Wellman founded a weekly newspaper in Sutton, Nebraska, when he was 14, and later founded The Cincinnati Evening Post in 1879. For many years, he was the Washington correspondent for the Chicago Herald. He wrote of his many aerial and exploring adventures for the newspapers, including his 1891 claim that he had identified the exact spot where Christopher Columbus landed in San Salvador.
Walter Wellman made his first attempt to reach the North Pole by land in 1894, leaving from base camp at Virgo Harbor, Danes Island. In 1898, Wellman headed north to Franz Joseph Land to search for the missing Swedish balloonist Salomon August Andrée and crew who had disappeared the year before in an attempt on the pole. In the spring of 1899, Wellman tried again to sled to the pole; again he failed. After these two sledding expeditions, Wellman decided that the best approach to the North Pole was by air. By 1906, he had raised the necessary funds to construct an airship, airship hangar, and base camp at Virgo Harbor. Unfortunately, his airship expeditions in search of the geographic North Pole were also unsuccessful; his first airship flight in 1907 only covered twenty miles, while his second attempt in 1909 covered only forty miles. During this latter (and final) attempt, Walter's brother Arthur Wellman managed the expedition's base camp on Dane's Island.
After learning that Robert Peary and Frederick Cook both claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909, Walter Wellman abandoned his own efforts. In 1910, Wellman tried for his last aviation milestone, attempting a transatlantic crossing in his airship America. He was not successful.
Provenance:
Jean Wellman Thickens Cooper, Gift, 2003
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 two letters from Henry Allen Hazen to Alfred Edward Moore as well as two news clippings.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of two letters from Henry Allen Hazen to Alfred Edward Moore. The first, dated May 19, 1887, discusses their upcoming flight in the World balloon including an interview Hazen had with a reporter about the flight and about necessary provisions. The second letter, dated June 28, 1887, includes observations from that same flight as well as notes about the scientific data they obtained and the post-flight coverage in the press. The collection also includes a copy of an article by Edward Duffy about the World balloon flight entitled "Three Miles High in a Balloon," dated December 1887; and the September 1886 issue of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, which includes an article by Moore and one by John G. Doughty about earlier balloon flights.
Arrangement:
Collection is in chronological order.
Biographical / Historical:
Alfred Edward "Fred" Moore (1858-1890) was a balloonist who made several ascents in and around Winsted, Connecticut. In June 1887, Moore ascended from St. Louis, Missouri in a balloon that was financed by the New York World and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on an expedition that included Henry Allen Hazen, a meterologist with the U. S. Signal Service Weather Bureau, photographer John G. Doughty, and Edward Duffy, correspondent. Though widely reported to have reached an altitude of 16,000 feet, the flight was cut short due to a hand injury sustained by Moore upon take-off as well as mechanical difficulties.
Provenance:
David Carlton Moore, Gift, 2018, NASM.2019.0009
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.
"222. Prof. Wise inflating his baloon [sic], Ganymede, at St. Johnsburry, Vt." A large crowd gathers to witness an balloon ascension by John Wise, noted 19th century balloonist
Photograph by F.B. Gage; published by Edward Anthony, New York, 1859. See also Krainik numbers 1, 3, and 204.
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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Photographed and published by N. A. Forsyth, Butte, Montana.
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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, 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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
1 Photograph (Silver print photograph with typed text, 7 x 4.25 inches.)
Container:
Box 3, Folder 3, Item K# 206; 7A47413
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Photographs
Date:
circa 1909
Scope and Contents note:
Photographed by Frederic B. Hyed, Washington, D.C.
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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
1 Engraving (Woodcut illustration, 6.75 x 9.25 inches.)
Container:
Box 4, Folder 3, Item K# 341; 7A47428
Type:
Archival materials
Prints
Engravings
Date:
July 1875
Scope and Contents note:
Published in Harper's Weekly.
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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
"Sauvetage émouvant. Grâce a la télégraphie sans fil, l'aéronaute en danger prévient instantanément le poste de pompiers le plus voisin et tout péril est bientôt conjuré." Balloonist being rescued from mid-air by man on ladder
Published in Supplement de L'Assiette au Beurre, no. 37. This is the reverse of Krainik number 390.
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:
Krainik Ballooning Collection, Acc. 1990-0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
