Glenn Curtiss Early Aviation Photography Collection

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of fifty-four images, predominantly photographs printed as postcards. The postcard images feature the following subjects relating to Glenn Curtiss and his aviation career: early Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) and Curtiss aircraft predominantly at Hammondsport, New York (H. M. Benner photographs) but also elsewhere (including one image of flight at Atlantic City dated 1920); International Air Meet (Los Angeles, 1910); US Army airship Signal Corps No. 1 (Baldwin); Gordon Bennett Aviation Trophy; ice boats on Lake Keuka, Curtiss "wind-wagon;" Curtiss motorcycles (with G. H. C. team); Glenn Curtiss with others (including Mrs. Curtiss, Louis Paulhan); group photographs which probably show Curtiss employees; and informal Curtiss family photographs.

All images have received minimal subject headings, but only some have had additional captions added.

Note: The digital images in this finding aid were repurposed from scans made by an outside contractor for a commercial product and may show irregular cropping and orientation in addition to color variations resulting from damage to and deterioration of the original objects.

Arrangement

The fifty-four photographs have been assigned "7A" image numbers. They are arranged in numerical order (some images were assigned multiple numbers). Some photographs are in sleeves that hold two images.

Biographical / Historical

Glenn Hammond Curtiss (1878-1930) is best known as an aviation pioneer and inventor and founder of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. Initially a bicycle repairman and designer, by 1902 Curtiss had begun to manufacture motorcycles using a lightweight internal combustion engine of his own design and founded the Curtiss Manufacturing Co. By 1904, Curtiss' engine had been co-opted by Thomas Baldwin for his airship experiments. This activity led to a connection between Curtiss and Alexander Graham Bell and, in 1907, to the foundation of the Aerial Experiment Association. In 1909, Curtiss joined with Augustus M. Herring to form the Herring-Curtiss Co to manufacture powered vehicles, but Herring's unsubstantiated claims to priority over the Wright Brother's aeronautical patents led to the Wright and Curtiss patent suits which continued until the merger of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor with Wright Aeronautical in 1929. Curtiss and Herring split after the Wright's filed suit and Herring sued Curtiss, claiming that Curtiss had failed to turn his air race winnings over to the company. Despite these, and other, suits, Curtiss continued to advance the cause and technology of aviation, founding the first public flying school (1910) and later a chain of schools across the US, inventing the aileron (1909), the dual-control trainer (1911) and the hydroaeroplane (1911). In 1920, Curtiss retired from active aviation pursuits.