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Catalog Data

Creator:
Seymour, Lester D., 1892-  Search this
Names:
American Airlines  Search this
National Air Transport  Search this
United Air Lines, Inc.  Search this
Seymour, Lester D., 1892-  Search this
Extent:
1.13 Cubic feet ((1 slim legal document box) (2 legal document boxes))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuals
Reports
Newsletters
Motion pictures (visual works)
Date:
1928-1934
Summary:
Major Lester D. Seymour (1892-1976) was involved in both the military and commercial sides of aviation. After service in World War I, Seymour served as Chief Engineer of National Air Transport, and later become NAT's Vice President and General Manager. From 1933-1934 Seymour was appointed President of American Airlines. The collection includes airline newsletters, annual reports, photographs, and manuals.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of the following: copies of the National Air Transport Inc. (NAT) newsletter, "NAT Flypaper", 1928 - 1933; "Survey of Projected Airmail Routes" 1926; annual reports for both NAT and American Airways (later American Airlines); NAT photographs; NAT Regulations; "A Study of Transportation by Airway as related to Competition with Rail Carriers in Continental United States", 1932; NAT Bulletin Board; and the American Airlines Procedures Manual for 1934. In June of 1999, six films were found in the Film Archives that were part of this donation. The films, evidently taken by Seymour during his airline travels, have the following titles: West (Part 1 and 2); Phoenix to Los Angles; Flying Across America with United Airlines in 28 Hours; Memphis to Phoenix; and American Airways: Chicago - New York. 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 Lester D. Seymour Collection is arranged by content type.
Biographical / Historical:
Major Lester D. Seymour (1892-1976) was involved in both the military and commercial sides of aviation. Seymour rose to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, Aero Engineer-Officer, 85th Aero Squadron during World War I. After the war, he became involved in the Civilian Aero Engineer US Air Service and in the Air Corps Reserve. In 1926, Seymour became involved with the commercial airlines industry. He started as the Chief Engineer at National Air Transport, and later become NAT's Vice President and General Manager. He was also briefly the Vice President of United Air Lines after their 1933 takeover of NAT. From 1933-1934 Seymour was appointed President of American Airlines.
General:
NASMrev
Provenance:
Lester D. Seymour, Gift, unknown, XXXX-0455.
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, Commercial -- Passenger traffic  Search this
Air travel  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States  Search this
Aeronautics, Commercial  Search this
Aeronautics  Search this
Airlines  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuals
Reports
Newsletters
Motion pictures (visual works)
Citation:
Lester D. Seymour Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0455, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
NASM.XXXX.0455
See more items in:
Lester D. Seymour Collection
Archival Repository:
National Air and Space Museum Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/pg2c9896964-ecc3-49c8-9de6-c697e741a1d0
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nasm-xxxx-0455