National Air and Space Museum Archives

James Means Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.XXXX.0394
Creators:
Means, James, 1853-1920
Dates:
1892-1913
bulk 1895-1897
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1.8 Cubic feet
(4 legal document boxes)
Repository:
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

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

Arrangement
The James Means Collection is arranged by content type.

Biographical / Historical

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).

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
James H. Means, gift, unknown, XXXX-0394, unknown
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Liz Dawson, 1992." Revised by Jessamyn Lloyd, 2012. Revised and digital assets attached by Allan Janus, 2020.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
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
Preferred Citation
James Means Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0394, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

More Information

General

General
NASMrev


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Aeronautical Annuals (annual) Title Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics, Military Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics, Commercial Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics -- pre-1903 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Airships Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Balloons Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kites Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gliding and soaring Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Periodicals Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Means, James, 1853-1920 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lilienthal, Otto Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Maxim, Hiram S., 1840-1916 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chanute, Octave, 1832-1910 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878-1930 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jones, Ernest La Rue, 1883-1955 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Zahm, Albert Francis, 1862- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Langley, S. P. (Samuel Pierpont), 1834-1906 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Army. Signal Corps Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aerial Experiment Association Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aero Club of America Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aero Club of Washington Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautic Society of New York Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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