Important correspondents include Paul E. Garber, Esther Goddard, Philip S. Hopkins, and S. Paul Johnson. Institutions collaborating with NASM include the United States
Army, Navy, and Air Force, NASA, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Historical Note:
The National Air Museum (NAM) was created as a separate bureau of the Smithsonian Institution by Act of Congress in 1946. Twenty years later its name was changed to
the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) as part of the Congressional Act authorizing construction of a separate building to house its collections.
Previous to 1946 the NASM collections were under the custodial care of the Department of Anthropology, Division of Mechanical Technology, 1887-1919, and the Department
of Arts and Industries, Division of Mechanical Technology, 1919-1931, then the Division of Engineering, 1931-1946.
With the creation of NAM, Carl W. Mitman, head curator of the Division of Engineering, became Assistant to the Secretary for NAM. Mitman retired from the Smithsonian in
1952 and Philip S. Hopkins was appointed as the Museum's first director in 1958. Hopkins was succeeded by S. Paul Johnson, 1964-1969, Frank A. Taylor, acting director, 1969-1971,
and Michael Collins, 1971 to the present.
Though the first accessioned artifact in the collection was the John F. Stringfellow engine in 1889, the NASM collection dates back to the close of the 1876 Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia when the Smithsonian received a group of kites from the Chinese Imperial Commission.
Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence, 1934-1960. Arranged alphabetically.
Type:
Archival materials
Note:
Before 1958, most of the correspondence was written and received by the appropriate curator. Beginning in 1958, the director of the Museum signed almost all outgoing
correspondence.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 162, National Air and Space Museum, Records
