3.43 cu. ft. (3 record storage boxes) (1 12x17 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Color photographs
Black-and-white photographs
Clippings
Manuscripts
Place:
Fort Gordon (Ga.)
Date:
1947-1995 and undated
Descriptive Entry:
Included in this collection are articles, reports, notebooks, photographs, slides, and certificates and awards. There is very little personal correspondence, but papers
written by Zisfein contained in this collection seem to represent some of his major writings. Of special note are 15 notebooks kept by Zisfein at NASM, which contain notes
concerning exhibition concepts, planning, budgets, and schedules; museum policy, meetings, and agendas; and other professional activities. Also of note are a large number
of photographic slides which depict the new NASM building and exhibition installations. Zisfein organized the slides into nine books, but books four to seven are missing from
this accession.
Historical Note:
Melvin B. Zisfein (1926-1995) received Aeronautical Engineering degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., 1948; M.S., 1948). He worked at various
companies as a designer and aerodynamicist from 1948 to 1953, including Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He joined Bell Aircraft Corporation in 1953 as the Chief of the Dynamics
Department. In 1960 Zisfein became General Manager of the Astromechanics Research Division of Giannini Controls Corporation until 1966, when he became Associate Director of
the Franklin Institute Research Laboratories. From 1971 to 1982 he was at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) as Deputy Director (1971-1982) and also as Acting Director
(1978), where he was instrumental in the planning, construction and design of the new NASM building which opened in 1976. In 1982 Zisfein became the first Director of the
Army Discovery Center at the National Science Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. He retired in 1988 but continued to teach as Adjunct Professor at Augusta College (Georgia) until
1990.
