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Catalog Data

Creator:
Means, James, 1853-1920  Search this
Names:
Aerial Experiment Association  Search this
Aero Club of America  Search this
Aero Club of Washington  Search this
Aeronautic Society of New York  Search this
United States. Army. Signal Corps  Search this
Chanute, Octave, 1832-1910  Search this
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878-1930  Search this
Jones, Ernest La Rue, 1883-1955  Search this
Langley, S. P. (Samuel Pierpont), 1834-1906  Search this
Lilienthal, Otto  Search this
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924  Search this
Maxim, Hiram S., 1840-1916  Search this
Means, James, 1853-1920  Search this
Zahm, Albert Francis, 1862-  Search this
Extent:
1.8 Cubic feet ((4 legal document boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Publications
Photographs
Manuscripts
Correspondence
Date:
1892-1913
bulk 1895-1897
Summary:
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:
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:
The James Means Collection is arranged by content type.
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).
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
James H. Means, gift, unknown, XXXX-0394, unknown
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
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
Topic:
Aeronautics, Military  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial  Search this
Aeronautics -- pre-1903  Search this
Aeronautics  Search this
Airships  Search this
Balloons  Search this
Kites  Search this
Gliding and soaring  Search this
Periodicals  Search this
Genre/Form:
Scrapbooks
Publications
Photographs
Manuscripts
Correspondence
Citation:
James Means Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0394, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.XXXX.0394
See more items in:
James Means Collection
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2002eaa1c-093c-4c78-bcfe-f05adedc536b
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-xxxx-0394