Archives of American Aerospace Exploration: Online Resources

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The Products of John T. Parsons

The Parsons Corporation, established in Michigan by Carl Parsons, produced a wide variety of goods under the direction of his son, John T. Parsons. Beginning in World War II, the company had a hand in making bombs, planes, helicopters, boats, and other materials for the war effort. Subsequently, Parsons took advantage of the increased automation in manufacturing brought about by his own invention of Numerical Control to branch out into household items, other vehicles, keyboards, and a number of other different avenues.

This exhibit was created as part of the project, "Piercing the Veil: Creating Access to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech," funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) from 2022 to 2024.

Shooting for the Stars: A Survey of the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration

In 1986, the University Libraries at Virginia Tech established the AAAE as one of the core collecting areas for Special Collections and University Archives. Its purpose is to preserve and provide access to published and unpublished materials that document American aeronautical and space history, as well as related sciences. The AAAE includes books, articles, notes, photographs, reminiscences, memorabilia, oral histories, patents, drawings, and schematics. Current holdings comprise more than three dozen collections of papers from pilots, astronauts, physicists, chemists, engineers, NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) administrators and project managers, writers, illustrators, and researchers in industry and academia.

This exhibit contains a selection of materials from just eight AAAE collections, chosen for their unique perspectives on the subject.

This exhibit was created as part of the project, "Piercing the Veil: Creating Access to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech," funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) from 2022 to 2024.

Michael Collins Papers

The collection includes the papers of Michael Collins--pilot, astronaut, assistant secretary of state, director of the National Air and Space Museum and author, dating from 1907-2004. Materials include reports, instruction manuals, personal notes, printed materials, audio recordings, photographs, awards and memorabilia associated with Collins' Air Force, NASA, State Department and NASM careers. There are also papers and research relating to Collins' writings; materials from public speaking engagements and board and club memberships; and small sets of personal correspondence and biographical material.

Robert E. Marshak Papers

The collection consist of Marshak's professional and personal papers, detailing his career as university professor in physics at the University of Rochester and Virginia Tech, member and leader in several scientific institutions, and president of the City College of New York.

John T. Parsons Papers

The John T. Papers include correspondence, memoranda, financial records, engineering drawings and specifications, files about civic affairs in Traverse City, Michigan, reading files and other materials.

Marjorie Rhodes Townsend Papers

 Townsend's papers focus on her professional career in aerospace engineering at NASA and include some of her later consulting work, mainly consisting of correspondence, meeting notes, project documents, and publications that Townsend wrote or that relate to her work. There are also materials about her numerous speaking engagements and articles about Townsend's professional accomplishments.

Donald K. "Deke" Slayton Collection

This collection contains materials belonging to American astronaut, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (1924-1993). This collection contains materials about the Apollo-Soyuz Program, programs and invitations to events, photographs, a map of Moscow, and newspaper clippings. Slayton was one of the first seven American astronauts, selected by NASA as part of the Mercury 7. He flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Program mission, where American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts docked together and completed several scientific experiments in July 1975.

James Dean Collection

The collection consists of reference material NASA artist James Dean used in producing the artwork for Michael Collins' book Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space. The bulk of the contents include NASA file photos, files from the twelve Gemini missions, the majority of Apollo missions (mostly Apollo 11), the Spacelab project, the Hubble telescope, space shuttle missions, the Challenger accident, and many other NASA related subjects. Also included are photos from the Project Mercury missions, images of NASA aircraft, NASA promotional material, and photos of U.S. officials and NASA personnel. An original rough draft copy of Liftoff, divided by chapter, is included. The additional materials added to this collection include magazines, posters, and notes on NASA missions. The additional materials primarily include materials relating to the book Journey into Space by James Dean.

James J. Avitabile Papers

This collection contains materials related to the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space exploration programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Containing mostly technical data on spacecraft systems design and operation, the collection provides a detailed look at NASA systems engineering during the early to mid 1960s.

Melvin N. Gough Papers

The Melvin N. Gough Papers span from 1919 to 1971 and include a wide variety of materials reflecting Gough's career as a test pilot, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) administrator, and flight safety investigator. Types of materials include NACA and Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) reports and documents, articles, correspondence, notes and speeches, and newspaper and magazine clippings.

Samuel Herrick Papers

Samuel Herrick was an astronomer who specialized in celestial mechanics, generally recognized as the founder of the field of astrodynamics. His papers consist of correspondence, notes, drafts of publications, files relating to students and courses, and reprints of the works of others in astronomy and space sciences. Other highlights include Herrick's consulting files for projects such as NASA's Project Mercury, the film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), and private industry. This collection is part of the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech.

Archival Adventures is a weekly stream where our community collections archivist shares materials from SCUA. The series is filmed live and unscripted with live chat interaction. Many of the episodes focus on AAAE collections, such as the one below. You can find past episodes on the library's YouTube channel.

If you're looking for materials outside of Virginia Tech, these tools may be able to help.

• ArchiveGrid

  ArchiveGrid includes over four million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums, and historical societies. It is voluntary and not all-encompassing.

• ARVAS

  Archival Resources of the Virginias (ARVAS) is a consolidated database of more than 12,000 finding aids which provide information about the vast array of manuscripts and archival materials housed in historical societies, libraries, museums, colleges, and universities across Virginia and West Virginia. The continuous addition of new and updated finding aids makes this a great tool for discovering primary sources.

• WorldCat

  With an index of hundreds of millions of bibliographic records which represent several billion resources in libraries worldwide, WorldCat is the world's most comprehensive database of information about library collections.