National Air and Space Museum Archives

Rudy Arnold Photo Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.XXXX.0356
Creators:
Arnold, Rudy, 1902-1966
Dates:
circa 1920s-1950s
bulk 1920-1940
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
10.91 Cubic feet
9,579 photographic items
25.37 Linear feet
38 boxes
Repository:
Rudy Arnold (1902-1966) was introduced to photography in 1918. After studying at the New York School of Photography, he worked at the New York Journal-American and the New York Graphic. During his stint at the latter he started to focus on aviation photography. In 1928, Arnold started his own aviation photography business and worked out of the following New York air fields and airports during his career: Roosevelt Field, the old Curtiss Airport, Floyd Bennett Field, and LaGuardia Airport His coverage of a wrecked airliner in upstate New York was the first photograph sent by wire to newspapers across the country. Arnold's work appeared in every aviation magazine, house organs (Douglas, Grumman), and mass circulation magazines as well as many newspapers. He also did motion-picture camera work for Universal and Paramount.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of Rudy Arnold's collection of negatives, glass plates and color transparencies, spanning his career as an aviation photographer. The following subjects are included in this collection: civilian and military aircraft; experimental aircraft; seaplanes; airliners; aerial images; helicopters; aviation events and personalities.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The Rudy Arnold Photo Collection consists of 25.37 linear feet (10.91 cubic feet) of original photographic material. It contains 9,579 original photographic items: Series I contains 5,303 black and white negatives, Series II contains 3,058 color transparencies, Series III contains 447 black and white glass plate negatives and Series IV contains 769 120 mm format negatives and two 8 x 10 inch color transparencies. Each series is organized alphabetically starting with the aircraft company name and designation followed by personalities and various other subjects. The last item is a 3-ring binder with 369 35mm copy slides of a variety of Arnold's images. While these copy slides are part this collection, they are not counted in the total number of items because they are copies of the Arnold originals.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Rudy Arnold (1902-1966) was a commercial aviation photographer. He began his career by studying at the New York School of Photography in New York City, New York. Arnold worked for both The New York Journal-American and The New York Graphic as a photographer. By 1928 he had developed an interest in aviation photography and started his photography business. He primarily worked out of Floyd Bennett Field, Roosevelt Field and LaGuardia Airport in New York for aviation magazines and newspapers and aviation industry house organs. Arnold photographed both civil and military aircraft, including airplanes, airships, and helicopters. While Arnold took images on the ground, he used air-to-air photography extensively. Rudy Arnold's photography was and still is considered to be artistic as well as a great documentary source. His photography was widely published during his career and still is today. Rudy Arnold's aviation photography career is documented in the book
Images of Flight: The Aviation Photography of Rudy Arnold
by E.T. Woodridge (Smithsonian Institution, 1986).
The bulk of the images were taken between circa 1920 through 1940 on Long Island, New York. The majority of these images are of American aircraft. Some of the represented manufacturers are Grumman, Douglas, Lockheed and Curtiss. In addition, the collection contains images Arnold took of aviation personalities including Douglas Corrigan, Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and Howard Hughes. There are also images of United States military personal, armaments and vehicles, Atlantic coastal defense, as well as aircraft models and civilian vehicles, among other topics.
The collection was held by the Arnold family for many years. It suffered water damage prior to being accessioned by the Archives Division. The damage is more noticeable in the color material where there are color variations. However, in most cases the aircraft in the image is not disfigured. This collection was housed in the Aeronautics Division of the National Air and Space Museum for several years before being transferred the Archives Division. Prior to the Archives Division rehousing the collection, the materials were in acidic paper envelopes and boxes. These envelopes had Arnold's original caption and negative number (when assigned). Most of the envelopes were intact but a few were missing or had been damaged by moisture. After capturing the information on these envelopes, the Archives Division has rehoused the collection and the individual items are now in Mylar enclosures in acid free envelopes and boxes.

Administration

Author
Kristine L. Kaske; revised 2008 by Melissa A. N. Keiser
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Dagmar Arnold-Wahlforss, gift, 1980-1990
Processing Information note
All of the 9,579 original photographic items in this collection are cataloged in the NASM photographic database. Researchers need to contact the Archives Division for access to the information contained in this database. Limited access to the database can be provided to researchers. Please note that 30 of the original glass plate negatives are broken; only digital scans of these are available for research. Each Rudy Arnold database entry contains a section title, subject, original Rudy Arnold negative number when available, format and condition information, Arnold's original description when available, and the NASM caption. Original Rudy Arnold negative numbers and descriptions are provided when they are known.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access note
No restrictions on access
Preferred Citation
Rudy Arnold Photo Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0356, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautics -- Exhibitions Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Helicopters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Research aircraft Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics, Military Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aerial photography Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York Journal-American Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York Graphic Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
New York School of Photography Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arnold, Rudy, 1902-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

National Air and Space Museum Archives
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA 20151
NASMRefDesk@si.edu