The Signal Corps and Air Service. a study of their expansion in the United States, 1917-1918 / prepared in the Historical Section, the Army War College, July, 1922
Photographs collected by Marjorie Meriweather Post relating to NAtive Americans. They include images of Post's home at Camp Topridge, Geronimo, Buffalo Bill Cody, Native chiefs and US officials at Pine Ridge in 1891, and Princess Angeline, daughter of Chief Seattle. Additionally, there are lithographs of Caa-tou-see and Shin-Ga-Ba-Wossinis, and a B. Picart engraving of Native Americans circling a burial mound and a newspaper clipping ("Out of Human Skin") in a frame made from a squirrel pelt.
Biographical/Historical note:
Marjorie Meriweather Post (1887-1973) was a Washington, D.C., businesswoman, philanthropist, and collector of decorative art objects. Her father Charles W. Post was the owner of Postup Cereal Company, later General Foods Corporation. In 1973, Marjorie Post's philanthropy earned her the first ever James Smithson Society Medal, the Smithsonian Institution's highest benefactor award. After her death, Post willed her Hillwood estate to the Smithsonian along with her American Native American collection at Camp Topridge.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 75-46
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Marjorie Merriweather Post papers (MS 7278).
The Smithsonian Institution Archives holds the records of Post's Hillwood Estate, 1960-1976 (SIA RS00740).
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Lithographs
Engravings
Citation:
Photo lot 75-46, Marjorie Meriweather Post photograph collection, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
1 Poster (Full size; Multi-color, 104.5 x 71.5 cm)
Container:
Map-folder 347
Type:
Archival materials
Posters
Place:
United States
Date:
circa 1916
Image:
Main Image: Three U.S. soldiers; one operating a telegraph, the second is taking down notes, and the third is standing on a caisson and looking through binoculars
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 2793
General:
Issued by: U.S. Army
Issued for: Signal Corps
Artist(s): Welsh, H. Devitt
Locale:
1493 Broadway, [New York]
Printing Info:
Printer: Latham Litho & Ptg. Co., New York
RECRUITING OFFICE 1493 BROADWAY
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Issued by: Produced by Signal Corps U.S.A. and Committee on Public Information
Issued for: Official United States War Films
Artist(s): Welsh, H. Devitt
Printing Info:
Printer: The Morgan Litho Co., Cleveland, Ohio
Related Materials:
Duplicates: 646, 715
Condition differs: Yes
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Pershing's Crusaders Auspices of the United States Government the First Official American War Picture Taken by U.S. Signal Corps and Navy Photographers
Sponsor:
Committee on Public Information.. Division of Film Search this
Main Image: Pershing on horse leading infantry troops and ghosts of crusaders in background
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 1378
General:
Issued by: COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION - George Creel, Chairman
Issued for: PERSHING'S CRUSADERS
Artist(s): Anon
Related Materials:
Duplicates: 1378, 1488
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Motion pictures (visual works) -- 1910-1920
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Pershing's Cursaders Auspices of the United States Government the First Official American War Picture Taken by U.S. Signal Corps and Navy Photographers
Main Image: Pershing on horse, leading army with ghosts of crusaders in sky beside him.
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 1488
General:
Issued by: Committee on Public Information
Artist(s): Anon
Printing Info:
Printer: The H.C. Miner Litho. Co., NY
Other Printing Info: 20530
Related Materials:
Duplicates: 1378, 1488
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
1 Poster (4 pieces, Oversize; Multi-color, 275 x 209 cm)
Container:
Map-folder 583
Type:
Archival materials
Posters
Place:
United States
Image:
Main Image: A ship being constructed in a shipyard
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 10591
General:
Issued by: U.S. Army Signal Corps & the Committee on Public Information
Artist(s): Joseph Pennell
Series:
War Film 8
Printing Info:
Printer: Ketterlinus, Philadelphia
Related Materials:
Duplicates: 10591a, 10591b, 10591c, 10591d, 645
Condition differs: Yes
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Posters -- United States Search this
Genre/Form:
Posters
Posters -- World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
Collection Citation:
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
Issued by: Produced by Signal Corps U.S.A. and Committee on Public Information
Issued for: Official United States War Film
Artist(s): Joseph Pennell
Printing Info:
Printer: Ketterlinus Philada Imp., Philadelphia
Related Materials:
Duplicates: 10591a, 10591b, 10591c, 10591d, 645
Condition differs: Yes
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
James Means (1855-1920) was an American industrialist who sacrificed his business to devote himself to the promotion of aviation. The collection consists of correspondence, publications, photographs, and scrapbooks.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of correspondence and scrapbooks. The correspondence is arranged into 15 sub-series: Aerial Experiment Association, Aero Club of America, Aero Club of Washington, Aeronautic Society of New York, Aeronautical Annuals, Octave Chanute and his daughters, Glenn Curtiss, House Resolution #7653, Ernest Jones, Otto Lilienthal, Henry Cabot Lodge, Hiram Maxim, Technical Matters, U.S. Signal Corps, and Albert Zahm. Of the three scrapbooks, one is a photograph album containing early glider photos and travel postcards. The second contains photos and news clippings regarding aviation in the 1890's, especially the work of Langley and Maxim with kites, balloons, and aerial bicycles. Clippings are in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch. The third scrapbook is labeled 'James Means 1892' and consists of photos, letters, manuscripts, clippings in English and German, copies of legislation, and book excerpts.
Note: The digital images shown for this collection were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product which did not reproduce all materials found in this collection; some items have not been scanned.
Arrangement:
The James Means Collection is arranged by content type.
Biographical / Historical:
James Means (1855-1920) was an American industrialist who sacrificed his business to devote himself to the promotion of aviation. Determined to disseminate information on flying, he collected and edited the most significant works of Otto Lilienthal, Octave Chanute, Samuel Langley and others, producing the 'Aeronautical Annuals' which appeared in 3 volumes in 1895, 1896 and 1897. Dr. Means studied bird-flight, kites and gliders, and designed model gliders in the early 1890s. He was awarded patents for his aircraft smoke signal device (1909), his aircraft launcher (1909), and his simplified control column for airplanes (1909-1911).
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
James H. Means, gift, unknown, XXXX-0394, unknown
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.
Two Men in Costume with Machine Guns, Gunbelts, Sheathed Saber, and Dagger (Members of King Ibn Saudi's Entourage Aboard U S Warship During Conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt)
