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.
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.
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.
This 19th and 20th century ballooning memorabilia collection contains the following items, which have been meticulously inventoried: 112 stereoscopic photographs; 107 photographs; 84 postcards, trade cards, valentines, and similar items; 80 prints; and 23 miscellaneous items.
Scope and Contents:
The Krainik Ballooning Collection contains 112 stereoscopic photographs; 107 photographs; 84 postcards, trade cards, valentines, and similar items; 80 prints; and 23 miscellaneous items all pertaining to 19th and 20th century ballooning. Highlights of the stereoscopic photographs include: views of T.S.C. Lowe's balloons during the Civil War; views of the Nadar and Godard balloons; balloons during the Boer War, Russo-Japanese War, and WWI; and views of the airships Ganymede, Great Western, Phantom Balloons, Buffalo, Madame Carlotta, and The Aerial. The photographic portion of the collection features Matthew Brady's views of Lowe's balloons during the Civil War; views of the balloon Madam Carlotta before and during flights; smoke and gas balloon inflation and flights; and portraits of T.S.C. Lowe and other pioneers of ballooning.
The collection also contains lithographic cards printed in Germany, whimsical advertising trade cards incorporating popular ballooning motifs and events, and 19th century woodcut illustrations from various periodicals concerning all aspects of ballooning. Other items include a small broadside for the Grand Balloon Ascension of CARLOTTA and a contract for smoke balloon ascensions. A few non-archival items, such as medals for Lowe's balloon, City of New York, and Giffard's giant captive balloon, 1878, were accessioned with this collection and subsequently transferred to curatorial collections.
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 note:
This collection has been arranged, first, in chronological order based on the Krainik inventory number that was assigned by the donor (K#), and then by size.
Biographical / Historical:
The Krainik Ballooning Collection was amassed by Clifford and Michele Krainik, experts in 19th and early 20th century historical photographs, negatives, and ephemera. This collection of 19th and 20th century ballooning memorabilia contains 112 stereoscopic photographs; 107 photographs; 84 postcards, trade cards, valentines, and similar items; 80 prints; and 23 miscellaneous items.
Provenance:
Clifford Krainik, Purchase, 1989, 1990-0009, 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.
The Early Ballooning Prints collection contains .25 cubic feet of material related to early ballooning history.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of prints, newspapers, articles, and a letter related to early ballooning history.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized according to format.
Biographical / Historical:
This collection documents 18th, 19th, and 20th century ballooning feats. One print, while not of the period, depicts the oldest known representation of a parachute (1617).
Provenance:
Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, XXXX.0137
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 printed leaflet, dated 1783, calling for a public subscription to raise money for a group of scientists, headed by a Monsieur Housz, engineer, to build and launch a passenger-carrying balloon.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of one small printed leaflet, written in French.
Arrangement:
Collection is in original order.
Biographical / Historical:
The leaflet is written in French; but reference is made to the "Capital of the Empire", which may refer to Vienna. The deadline for contributions for the project was noted as the end of January, 1784. A balloon built by Alois von Widmannstetter was flown three times from a garden in Vienna on January 14, 1784, and Johann Georg Stuwer made balloon flights from the Prater in Vienna beginning in 1784.
Provenance:
Library of Congress, Transfer, 1934.
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 quarter-plate ambrotype made by an unknown photographer shows the balloon ascension by John Steiner at Erie, Pennsylvania, on June 18, 1857.
Scope and Contents:
This quarter-plate ambrotype made by an unknown photographer, shows the balloon ascension by John Steiner at Erie, Pennsylvania, on June 18, 1857. The scene pictured is the first attempt to fly to Canada across Lake Erie. This ambrotype, which shows men ringing the balloon as it is inflated outdoors, is thought to be the earliest dated photographic image of a balloon ascension in the United States.
Arrangement:
Single item.
Biographical / Historical:
Professor John H. Steiner emigrated from Germany in 1853 and quickly established himself as a daring aeronaut. Steiner's flight in 1857, the first attempt to fly to Canada across Lake Erie, made him famous. Due to adverse weather conditions, Steiner eventually was forced to jump into the lake and was rescued by the crew of the steamer Mary Stewart. His balloon was later found, in tatters, having successfully made it to Canada without its pilot. During the Civil War, Steiner served as a balloonist for the Union forces with Thaddeus S.C. Lowe's Balloon Corps. As a civilian in 1863, Steiner gave a tethered balloon ride to German officer, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was on leave as a military observer with Union army. Years later, after Count Zeppelin's rigid airships had flown over the cities of Europe, Zeppelin recalled his flight with Steiner as his inspiration.
Provenance:
Robert L. Drapkin, Gift, 1985, NASM.XXXX.0617.
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 John and Charles Wise Ballooning Collection contains material related to American ballooning pioneer John Wise (1808-1870) and his son Charles.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the following material relating to American ballooning pioneers John and Charles Wise: correspondence between John Wise and Major Albert J. Meyer during the Civil War, several unfinished manuscripts, including "Electricity of Instinct", envelopes, letterhead, and newspaper articles relating to the 150th anniversaries of John Wise's famous flights. Most importantly, this collection includes a scrapbook full of newspaper accounts, circa 1850-1870, of both John and Charles Wise's ballooning careers.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in two series:
I. Documents
II. Scrapbooks
Biographical / Historical:
John Wise (1808-1879), known to his contemporaries as the "Father of American ballooning", made his first balloon ascension in 1835, flying from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Haddenfield, New Jersey. During his long career, he was to make 446 free balloon ascensions in such craft as the Meteor, the United States, the Experiment, the Vesperus, and the Comet. In 1855, Wise flew 1,200 miles in 19 hours and 50 minutes in the Atlantic, setting a duration record that would stand until 1910. In the 1850s, Charles Wise, the aeronaut's son, joined him in his activities. In 1879, at the age of 71, John Wise made an ascension with passenger George Burr from St. Louis in the balloon Pathfinder; the balloon, Wise, and Burr were lost in Lake Michigan.
Provenance:
Jeanne Grist, Gift, 2000, NASM.2001.0002
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.
