For those balloonists and LTA enthusiasts who need access to more extensive material than is to be found at the local library, there are a number of major research centers and libraries around the US that may be of help. Access to library materials is generally available, though quite often check-outs are not allowed. Access to archive materials will often require the researcher to demonstrate a need to see the material and requests may have to be filed well in advance of the actual date you plan to visit the facility.
Perhaps the best known of the Smithsonian museums. Called NASM for short, it houses a library and archives on its third floor. The library is open to the public by prior arrangements, though the stacks (shelves) are not. In other words, you look through the catalog, let them know what you want, and the staff will bring the material to you. The library and archives hold 1,100,000 items or more, although only a portion of it is LTA material. They have, amongst other items, probably the largest collection of balloonists' scrapbooks extant, along with one of the largest print collection on ballooning.
The library is open from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday or can be reach at (202) 381-6591 or 357-3133.
Located in Alabama, the base is home to the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center which holds of 16,600 cubic feet of aviation records, going back to 1907. Of special interest here are WWI observation balloon materials, Signal Corps records, etc.
The museum is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be phoned at (205) 293-5958 or 5962.
Home of the Air Force Museum and its accompanying Research Division. The center houses over 1,500 feet of linear records dating from 1900 on.
The museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and is reached at (513) 255-3284.
One of the richest collections of material. In its Manuscript Division are housed such treasures as T.S.C. Lowe's papers, including his unpublished autobiography, the Piccard family papers (45 linear feet, containing an estimated 37,000 items), the Gaeton Tissandier collection (15 linear feet, with an estimated 6,000 items covering the years 1776-1914), and quite possibly best of all, the collection of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences archives from 1783-1962. The original organization disbanded its archives in 1962 and parts of the collection went to the Connecticut Historical Society and some to the Smithsonian. However, it's likely the largest portion is held at the Library of Congress. Taking up some 80 linear feet, or some 30,000 items, this collection has papers and correspondence, scrapbooks, photos, blueprints and plans, etc., from such aviation figures as James A. Allen, Griffith Brewer, Richard Byrd, Ann and Charles Lindbergh, Octave Chanute, Glenn Curtiss, Samuel P. Langley, Thaddeus Lowe, Wiley Post, A. Leo Stevens, E. P. Warner, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, and more.
It is the catalog of their holdings on aeronautics which is one of the standard bibliographies on aeronautics in EnglishWilliam Gamlle's History of Aeronautics, published in 1938. Among other important holdings, this library has the scrapbooks of Charles Ferson Durant, America's first native balloonist.
Housed at the University of Texas at Dallas this is one of the most complete research archives in the world relating to balloons and dirigibles. This is also the research/archive arm of the Frontiers of flight Museum in Dallas. The collection's archives contain more than 20,000 volumes, 200,000 journals and 250,000 photographs plus thousands of technical reports and periodicals. Among the volumes found here are first edition books relating to the first Montgolfier flight in 1783. The collection is an incomparable source for the serious historian, researcher or author.
The History of Aviation Collection is open to the public 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through Thursday, 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. Fridays. Materials are not allowed to leave the library and access to archive materials may require advance requests. For information, call (972) 690-2570.
A special feature of this library is the Gimbel Aeronautical Collection, originally gathered by Colonel Richard Gimbel who served with the Army Air Force and was professor of aeronautical science at Yale University. The collection was given to the Air force in 1971. The collection incudes more than 20,000 items total, including 7,500 books and some 5,000 prints, all concentrated on the history of early aeronautics, relating to the period before powered flight. The collection does include some artifacts and these are on display in the richly decorated Gimbel room.
The University's Wilson Library includes a very respectable collection of 1,000 titles most concentrating on free ballooning. The collection was founded in the late 1960's with the purchase of an English aviator's collection but it has been augmented by donations from the Piccard family and Otto Winzen, a manufacturer of high altitude plastic balloons. The collection includes a few artifacts, including some components of the 1933 Century of Progress/Piccard Stratosphere balloon.
For the researcher looking for material on a particular subject, or a particular collection, the best reference is the National Union Catalog for Manuscript Collections. This reference can be found in any university or state library as well as some larger public libraries. Updated every year or two, this reference has an index which allows the researcher to find archival materials, either by personal name or subject matter. Larger libraries also have access to computerized database search services, and these can also point the way to finding needed materials.
>