Bendix Air Races Collection
Bendix Aviation Corp
bulk 1931-1939
bulk 1946-1962
7.66 Linear feet
The Bendix Corporation (1924-1983), manufacturers of devices for the automotive and aviation industries, sponsored the Bendix Trophy Race—a transcontinental speed competition for aircraft—annually from 1931-1939, then sporadically from 1946-1962. This collection includes race-related materials from the Bendix Advertising and Publicity department, along with materials from other aviation events for which Bendix was a sponsor. Approximately a third of the collection relates to the corporation's activities from circa 1960 to 1983, including military and commercial avionics and communications systems, and support for the Unites States space program, particularly the construction of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex 39.
A. Scott Crossfield Papers
This collection consists of over nine cubic feet of material documenting Scott Crossfield's aviation career, with emphasis on his involvement with the North American X-15. The following types of material are included: correspondence; reel to reel tapes; papers, manuscripts; newspaper and magazine clippings; aviation manuals; photographs; film; and Crossfield's notes and reports.
Robert C. Truax Collection
bulk 1980-2000
12.95 Linear feet (21 Legal Size Boxes, 1 Slim Legal Size, 3 Shoe Boxes, 1 Flat Box)
Robert Truax was one of the great originals of American rocketry and a major proponent and inventor of ultra-low-cost rocket engine and vehicle concepts.
Exhibition Records
This accession consists of records documenting exhibitions at the National Air and Space Museum as well as aeronautics and space exhibits at the Arts and Industries Building. Many of the records were created by John R. Clendening and Lucius E. Lomax, both designers for the Office of Exhibits Programs through …
Willy Ley Papers
bulk 1930-1969
This collection consists of Willey Ley's personal files, including his business correspondence, book contracts, and galley proofs, as well as publicity concerning Dr. Ley and his activities, and inquiries and comments from Ley's readership during his tenure as columnist for Galaxy Magazine (1952-1969). The material also includes articles gathered by Ley on topics ranging from astronomy and space travel to biology and natural parks to mythology, psychic phenomena, and UFOs.
Frank Stella papers
bulk 1978-1989
The Frank Stella papers measure 12.4 linear feet and date from 1941 to 1993, with the bulk of the records spanning the period 1978 to 1989. The collection documents the professional and personal life of abstract artist, Frank Stella. Among the papers are correspondence, a small cache of records from his years as an undergraduate at Princeton University, writings by and about Stella, interview transcripts, sketchbooks, registers and inventories, financial records, printed matter, and photographs.
Growing Up With Rockets Collection
Yasecko, Nancy
bulk 1980-1990
86 Sound tape reels (5" Open Reels)
2 Videodiscs (DVD) (Total runtime of 1:13:21)
43 Video recordings (Total runtime of 33:14:55)
1 Electronic discs (CD)
25 Sound cassettes
145 Film reels (143 16mm film reels - runtime of 40:24:65 2 35mm film reels - runtime of 58:23)
The documentary film Growing Up With Rockets, produced by Vanguard Productions and Nancy Yasecko and released in 1984, is the story and personal reminiscences of the children, now grown, of those who worked at Cape Canaveral. The film discusses the Bumper Project (using captured V-2 missiles after World War II); Sputnik; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs; and ends with the first flight of Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) in 1981. Nancy Yasecko offers first person commentary with rare archival film, newsreels, excerpts from NASA promotional films, home movies and contemporary footage. In 1990, under the auspices of Citizen Exchange Council (CEC), a NY-based Soviet-American exchange organization, Growing Up With Rockets was included in the American Documentary Showcase. The Showcase was the first uncensored collection of American documentary films ever to reach general audiences across the USSR.
Diana Fuller papers and gallery records
The Diana Fuller papers and gallery records measure 67.9 linear feet and date from 1958 to 2004. The records shed light on the operations of Hansen-Fuller Gallery, Hansen-Fuller-Goldeen Gallery, Fuller-Goldeen Gallery, and Fuller-Gross Gallery through administrative files, correspondence files, artists' files, dealer and institution files, exhibition and event files, financial records, printed materials, photographic materials, as well as some audiovisual and born digital materials. Diana Fuller's papers concern her work with the Bay Area Consortium for the Visual Arts, her book, Art/Women/California, 1950-2000: Parallels and Intersections (2002), and include scattered project files, photographic materials, and more. Also present are correspondence files, artists' files, exhibition material, and financial records generated by Arts Unlimited and Hansen Galleries.
Space Surveillance Fence Program Collection
The Navy Space Surveillance System (NavSpaSur) was developed between 1958 and 1964 by the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the detection and tracking of foreign satellites. Operated by the United States Navy from 1961-2004 and thereafter by the US Air Force until its decommissioning in 2013, the system (known as the Space Fence) had three transmitting sites and six receiving stations across the southern United States. Its radar signals detected active satellites and larger pieces of space debris passing through them at altitudes up to 15,000 miles and helped determine their orbital elements. An improved space surveillance radar on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific entered service in 2020.
Records
This record unit consists of administrative records maintained by Charles A. Lundquist as assistant director (Science), which primarily concern SAO scientific projects. Projects represented in the records include the Satellite Tracking Program, Celescope Project, Gravitational Redshift Space Probe Experiment, Hydrogen Maser Program, Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI), Earth Albedo Project …
