National Air and Space Museum Archives

LZ 129 Hindenburg Disaster Letter

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2022.0013
Creators:
Laws, Roger
Dates:
1937
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.01 Cubic feet
1 folder
Repository:
This collection consists of one letter, dated May 7, 1937, from Roger Laws to his wife Mildred Laws describing his experience guarding the Zeppelin LZ 129
Hindenburg
crash site at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The collection also contains a photograph of Roger Laws, in uniform, and a photograph of Mildred Laws, both taken in the 1930s and both measuring 4 by 6 inches.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of one letter, dated May 7, 1937, from Roger Laws to his wife Mildred Laws describing his experience guarding the Zeppelin LZ 129
Hindenburg
crash site at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The collection also contains a photograph of Roger Laws, in uniform, and a photograph of Mildred Laws, both taken in the 1930s and both measuring 4 by 6 inches.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Collection is arranged by type of material.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
The Zeppelin LZ 129
Hindenburg
belonged to the longest class of flying machines and was one of the largest airships by envelope volume. It was able to carry 50 passengers plus crew members and made many transatlantic flights which took two to three days. The Zeppelin LZ 129
Hindenburg
flew from March 1936 until May 6, 1937 when a fire at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, destroyed the airship and killed 36 people. Roger Laws was stationed aboard the USS
Antares
in Philadelphia at the time of the disaster. Laws was rushed along with other personnel to Lakehurst Naval Air Station to act as a guard to prevent looters from combing over the crash site.

Administration

Author
Jessamyn Lloyd
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Daniel Bacigalupo, Gift, 2022, NASM.2022.0013, donated in honor of John Roger Laws-Bacigalupo.
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Jessamyn Lloyd, 2022.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
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.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Preferred Citation
LZ 129
Hindenburg
Disaster Letter, NASM.2022.0013, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographic prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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