The Wrights
In 1900, Wilbur Wright wrote to Chanute that
he had long "been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible
to man." Wilbur and his brother Orville devoted the next three
years to scientific and engineering experiments regarding flight.
Wilbur achieved a critical insight while he absent-mindedly twisted
a bicycle tube box--that to control flight, the wings must torque.
After two seasons of experimental glides, they would eventually
disprove the effectiveness of Lilienthal's data on wing design,
leading them to develop the breakthrough 1902 glider. The brothers
later spent months doing calculations on propeller designs. In
the end, they even built their own engine for the 1903 flyer. Using
merely wood, cloth, and steel, the Wrights transformed an age-old
dream into a reality.
S.T. Wiggins, photographer.
Orville Wright,
1881.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (40.1)
|
YOUNG ORVILLE
Taken when Orville was eight-years old,
this photograph shows a neatly dressed, serious boy and only
hints at his outgoing and often mischievous nature. Orville
was drawn to the technical side of things and proved to have
an exceptional aptitude for mechanics. He also took up track
racing with some success when the bicycle craze, that swept
the U.S. in the late nineteenth century, reached Dayton,
Ohio. But by the eleventh grade, Orville, having already
spent two summers in a print shop, knew he would work in
the printing trade.
|
YOUNG WILBUR
Here the twelve-year-old Wilbur already
appears as "the silent type," being described by one of his
teachers as "less communicative" than Orville, his younger
brother. A fine athlete like Orville, Wilbur was also such
a good student and so obviously bright that his parents considered
sending him to Yale University. Although mechanically inclined
like Orville, Wilbur was always more studious and once wrote
his father that "intellectual effort is a pleasure to me."
|
Wilbur Wright,
ca. 1880.
Copyprint.
Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.2)
|
THE WRIGHT FAMILY
Milton Wright (1828-1917), father of Wilbur
and Orville, was a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren
in Christ and was frequently away from home. His wife, Susan
Koerner Wright (1831-1889), who died when Orville was a teenager,
was always challenging her sons to tinker and build things.
Since neither Wilbur nor Orville married, and their only
sister Katharine (1874-1929) married late in life, the Wright
heirs descend from their two older brothers, Reuchlin and
Lorin.
|
Milton Wright,
ca. 1883
Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40)
|
Susan Koerner Wright,
1876
Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio ( 40.4)
|
S.T. Wiggins,
Katharine Wright,
1879
Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.5)
|
WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT
Orville Wright (1871-1948) was always
the more dapper dresser, and his socks seem to prove the
point. Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) was the quieter, more intellectual
of the brothers. When this picture was taken, the Wrights
may have been near the height of their celebrity. Having
just dazzled the Europeans with their long, high flights,
they returned home as true American heroes, especially after
Orville broke flying records at Fort Meyer in July, and Wilbur
flew over New York in September.
|
Wilbur and Orville on
porch in Dayton, 1909.
Copyprint.
Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.3)
|
Orville Wright to Milton Wright,
April 1881.
Postcard.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (41)
|
EARLY EXPERIMENTS
It is probably no coincidence that the
earliest surviving document from Wilbur or Orville in the
Library's collection of Wright materials is this postcard
from nine-year-old Orville to his father in which a typical
Wright trait is demonstrated--natural curiosity about a technical
phenomenon followed by an experiment to learn more about
it. In this case, young Orville recounts his simple experiment
with boiling water and steam.
|
WRIGHT FAMILY HOME
The Wright family lived first in Indiana,
where Wilbur was born, but they moved to Dayton, Ohio, in
1869. In April 1871, they purchased this new home where Orville
was born later that year. In June 1878, the family moved
to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they remained for three years,
moving to Indiana for another three years until they returned
to Dayton for good in 1884. From then on, this modest house
in a working-class section of Dayton would be home for Wilbur
and Orville, who eventually added shutters and built the
wraparound porch.
|
Front view of 7 Hawthorn
Street with bicycle,
Dayton, Ohio, ca. 1900.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (44)
|
Orville Wright, publisher, and Wilbur Wright, editor.
The West Side News, 1889.
Dayton, Ohio.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (45)
|
WRIGHT PRINTING BUSINESS
After working in a print shop, Orville
eventually designed and built his own press. In March 1889,
Orville began publishing The West Side News, a weekly
paper for the residents of West Dayton. By April, Wilbur
had become involved in the venture and was soon listed on
the masthead as editor, with Orville as printer and publisher.
The News lasted until April 1890, to be succeeded
by The Evening Item, which was published only until
August 1890. The brothers' newspaper collaborations mark
the beginning of their lifelong partnership.
|
WRIGHT BICYCLE SHOP
The Wrights started a bicycle business
in 1892. Their talent for mechanical innovation led them
to design and build their own models. The business gave them
hands-on experience with precision crafting and lightweight
structures and an acute appreciation for the necessity of
control to an unstable machine. The brothers were sufficiently
successful as small businessmen to fund all of their Kitty
Hawk-related travel, supplies, and other expenses. The brothers
took great pride in never having to accept money from anyone
for their experiments.
|
Wilbur Wright working
in the bicycle shop, 1897.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (46)
|
Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright,
September 12, 1894.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Holograph letter on Wright Cycle Company stationery.
Manuscript Division (47)
|
Inspiration and Experiments
AERONAUTICAL INSPIRATION
In 1901 Wilbur said that his interest
in aeronautics dated back to Otto Lilienthal's death in 1896.
Lilienthal was the first to demonstrate that air could support
a man in flight. Images from this McClure's Magazine article
about Lilienthal are among the Wrights' glass-plate negatives.
Orville stated that the brothers' interest in flight "began
when . . . Father brought home . . . a small toy actuated
by a rubber spring which would lift itself into the air." The
toy was based on the design of the French aeronautical pioneer
Alphonse Pénaud.
|
Vernon.
" The Flying Man: Otto Lilienthal's Flying Machine"
in McClure's Magazine. September 1894.
General Collections (49)
|
Orville Wright.
Pénaud-style ornithopter.
Drawn from memory, ca. 1929.
Carbon copy.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (51)
|
FINDING KITTY HAWK
Wilbur searched for a windy, but sandy
test site for their experiments and decided on Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina. Through correspondence with local inhabitants,
he learned that its wide beach was clear of trees and had
good winds. During the first season there, they flew their
glider mostly as a kite and used a grocer's scale to measure
the combined lift-and-drag force. Although the wing-warping
system worked well enough, they did not get the lift expected,
especially when Wilbur tried his first manned glide.
|
W.J. Tate to Wilbur Wright,
August 18, 1900.
Page 2
Holograph letter
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (55)
|
Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 9, 1900.
Holograph letter
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (57)
|
Wright kite being flown by tethers,
1900.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (61)
|
Wrights' 1899 Kite, 1920.
Defense evidence from trial.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (56)
|
WING-WARPING
The discovery of wing-warping was one
of the Wrights' truly original contributions to aeronautics.
The principle was discovered by Wilbur one day in 1899 as
he idly twisted an empty bicycle inner-tube box. If he twisted
one side, the other side would twist in the opposite direction.
He and Orville soon realized that by rigging a double-deck
kite with wires looped through pulleys to the wingtips, they
could warp the wings just as they had seen birds doing as
a means of control.
|
BIRD FLIGHT AS INSPIRATION
This is the earliest of the extant Wright
notebooks and diaries. In it Wilbur appropriately begins
his work at Kitty Hawk with simple observations of birds.
Written in a straightforward, descriptive manner and often
punctuated with little sketches, it includes a variety of
large generalizations, such as Wilbur's "No bird soars in
a calm." In his long and careful observations of bird flight,
Wilbur participates in a great tradition dating at least
as far back as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied birds to learn
their flight secrets.
|
Wilbur Wright notebook, September-October
1900.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4 - Page
5
Page 6 - Page
7 - Page 8 - Page
9
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (58)
|
Glider being flown as a
kite by Wilbur Wright (left)
and Orville Wright (right), 1901.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (62)
|
DIFFICULTIES WITH CONTROL
The Wrights returned to Kitty Hawk for
the 1901 season with a much larger glider. Although the brothers
did not keep detailed records of their 1901 glides, it is
believed that they numbered fifty to one hundred. The experimental
glides seemed to go well enough, but both brothers realized
that their machine was still difficult to control. Even more
troubling was that it was delivering much less lift than
had been predicted by their calculations. The brothers ended
their 1901 season feeling that perhaps they had reached a
final dead end.
|
DOMESTICITY ON THE DUNES
After living in a tent for their first
Kitty Hawk season, in 1901 the Wrights built a sixteen by
twenty-five-foot wooden shed for themselves and their new
glider. They located it four miles south of Kitty Hawk near
the largest sand dune--Big Kill Devil Hill. When they returned
in 1902, they found the shed had been battered by severe
weather. Their repairs included adding a kitchen and living
quarters. This view of the kitchen shows their typically
ordered way of doing things--with a place for everything
and everything in its place.
|
Kitchen at Kitty Hawk,
1902.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (63.1)
|
CHALLENGING LILIENTHAL
Their disappointing 1901 gliding season
at Kitty Hawk pointed the brothers in a new direction. Although
the Wrights had used the legendary Otto Lilienthal's tables
of lift and drag to build their 1901 glider, they concluded
that the data were inaccurate. Using materials at hand, they
built a wind tunnel to test model wing shapes. Confident
of their new data, Wilbur wrote to Octave Chanute, enclosing
sketches on wallpaper scraps. In the letter he stated, "I
am now absolutely certain that Lilienthal's table is very
seriously in error."
|
Wilbur Wright to Octave
Chanute, October 6, 1901,
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Page 5 - Page
6 - Page 7
Chanute
Papers,
Manuscript Division (64)
|
with enclosed sketches on wallpaper
scraps.
Scrap 2 - Scrap
3
Holograph letter.
Chanute Papers,
Manuscript Division (65a,b)
|
CONTROLLED FLIGHT
The 1902 glider was the result of two
seasons at Kitty Hawk and several weeks of experimentation
with their wind tunnel. The sophistication and complexity
of this page of figures is clear proof that the Wrights were
not just lucky, trial-and-error mechanics. Everything came
together in the 1902 glider--a moveable rear rudder connected
to the wing-warping system and controlled by a hip cradle.
The brothers ended 1902 knowing that the problem of control
had been solved and that the next flyer would be powered.
|
Sheets with tables of wind tunnel
data.
Enclosed in a letter from Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute,
January 5, 1902.
Manuscript pages.
Chanute Papers,
Manuscript Division (69)
|
Wright glider in flight,
1902.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (68)
|
Wrights in Flight
Wilbur Wright to Katharine
Wright,
December 14, 1903.
Page 1 - Page
2 - Page 3
Holograph letter.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (72)
|
"NO QUESTION"
The 1903 machine contained not only a
200-pound aluminum, 4-cylinder, water-cooled gasoline engine
that the Wrights had designed and built, but also two propellers,
all mounted on a controllable airframe. The Wrights designed
the propellers from scratch, having deduced that each could
be seen as a rotating wing the lift of which is translated
into thrust to move the craft forward. On December 14, a
confident Wilbur wrote to his father and sister, "There is
now no question of final success."
|
FIRST FLIGHT PHOTOGRAPH
Because both brothers would be busy trying
to get their machine off the ground, Orville set the camera
on a tripod, focused on the spot where the machine would
take off and showed John Daniels how to snap the shutter.
Because of a coin toss, Orville is the one at the controls.
Wilbur is to the side having steadied the machine as it went
down the runway track and just released the upright strut.
This first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.
Each of the next three flights was longer than the last.
|
John T. Daniels.
First flight, 120 feet in 12
seconds, 10:35 a.m.,
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (74)
|
Orville piloting the third flight
of December 17, 1903,
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (76)
|
Distant view of the Wright
airplane just after landing. . . . This flight, the fourth
and final of December 17, 1903, was the longest: 852 feet
covered in 59 seconds.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (77)
|
WRECKED PLANE
The fourth and longest flight--a spectacular
852 feet--was far less undulating than the others, as Wilbur
became more familiar with the machine's controls. After this
last flight, a sudden, gust of wind flipped the machine.
Both Wilbur and Orville knew enough to let go when they could
not hold it down, but John Daniels held on firmly and ended
up dangerously tangled in the wires and rigging. When it
finally came to rest, the machine was a broken heap of spars,
ribs, and uprights. The 1903 machine would never fly again.
|
PHOTO ALBUM
All of the photographs in this album were
taken by the Wrights themselves. This opening contains images
from Kitty Hawk during October 1902. Besides the excellent
photos of their 1902 glider in flight, the brothers included
a close-up of the new larder or storeroom they had just built
and an image of the proud men of the Kills Devil Hills Lifesaving
Station, who had befriended them. This album was produced
after 1913, when many of the glass-plate negatives were damaged
in a flood while stored in the Wrights' house.
|
[Photo album belonging to
Orville Wright].
Page 2
Wright Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division. (113)
|
" Airship that Flew in North Carolina, and its
Inventors."
Chicago Sunday Tribune, December 20, 1903.
Newspaper clipping.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division.
(80)
|
MISLEADING COVERAGE
On December 20, 1903, this image appeared
in the Chicago Sunday Tribune. The drawing and the
caption are a mixture of fact and fancy. Described as an "airship," the
machine's structure looks like a box kite kept aloft by two
boat propellers. The caption erroneously states that the
Wrights flew three miles, and the drawing shows an upright
pilot flying at a high altitude. Although the telegram that
Orville sent his father from Kitty Hawk said, "inform Press," the
Wrights had an ongoing love-hate relationship with the press.
|
REPORTING TO CHANUTE
Eleven days after their success at Kitty
Hawk, Wilbur wrote an account of the first flights to his
friend and mentor, Octave Chanute. Chanute had visited Kitty
Hawk in early November but missed witnessing the first flight
when broken propeller shafts forced a month's delay. Wilbur
assesses the events saying, "Those who understand the real
significance of the conditions under which we worked will
be surprised rather at the length than the shortness of the
flights made with an unfamiliar machine after less than one
minute's practice."
|
Orville Wright to Octave
Chanute, December 28, 1903.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3
Page 4 - Page
5
Chanute Papers,
Manuscript Division (81)
|
First Flight
Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute,
May 13, 1900.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3
Page 4 - Page
5
Chanute Papers,
Manuscript Division (52)
|
A REMARKABLE LETTER
On May 13, 1900, Wilbur Wright wrote one
of the most remarkable letters in the history of science
and invention. Writing to Octave Chanute, a wealthy businessman
and successful engineer, Wilbur plunged directly to the point
on what he saw as the core of the flight problem--"skill
rather than machinery." Combining a direct, practical approach
with an almost philosophical style, Wilbur spells out to
Chanute a systematic plan for solving the problem of manned
flight. Chanute, wisely recognizing that Wilbur was both
genuine and serious, replied four days later stating he was, "quite
in sympathy with your proposal to experiment."
|
ORVILLE'S ACCOUNT
In his pocket diary, Orville provides
a characteristically matter-of-fact account packed with details
of the first four flights. His retelling of the day's events
contains not a hint of emotion. The only suggestion of drama
is when Orville describes how the wind-tossed machine nearly
killed John Daniels, who became tangled in its engine and
chains.
Shortly after the first flights, Orville
sent this historic telegram from Kitty Hawk to his father
and sister who became the first non-Kitty Hawk residents
to learn about their success.
|
Orville Wright to Milton Wright,
December 17, 1903.
Telegram.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (73)
|
Orville Wright's diary entry of December 17, 1903.
Holograph manuscript.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (78)
|
SUCCESS!
One of the most widely recognized photographs
of all time, this is an original print of the Wright's first
flight of December 17, 1903. Because both brothers were involved
in getting the machine off the ground, Orville put the camera
on a tripod and instructed John T. Daniels of the local lifesaving
station on how and when to snap the shutter. This print,
made by the Wrights upon their return to Dayton, was given
to the Library of Congress by Orville's lifelong, loyal secretary,
Miss Mabel Beck. The wing fabric from the 1903 flyer was
presented by Ivonette Wright Miller, Orville and Wilbur's
niece. While earlier gliders were covered in French sateen
fabric, the Wrights used "Pride of the West" muslin.
|
John T. Daniels. The first
flight of December 17, 1903.
Photograph printed by Orville Wright.
Manuscript Division (75)
|
Fabric from the wing of the
1903 machine.
Muslin.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (79)
|
"CARRIED ON ALL FLIGHTS
. . ."
Orville's tiny note, taped to the front
of this journal, tells why he considered this item special
and distinct from all the other Wright journals, notebooks,
and diaries that he and Wilbur carried in their pockets over
the years. His note reads, "Carried on all flights recorded
in it. OW." In addition to all the abbreviated, important
flight data it contains, the journal is a singular treasure
and a unique historical artifact because it went up with
Orville on each and every one of the Huffman Prairie flights,
from 1904 to 1905, noted in it.
|
Orville Wright, 1904 diary.
Wright Papers.
Manuscript Division.
(92)
|
Showing the World
PRACTICAL FLYER IN 1905
Intent on building a practical machine,
the Wrights spent 1904 and 1905 flying and experimenting
at Huffman Prairie near Dayton, Ohio. By 1905, they had improved
their engine, propellers, and control system - with separate
pitch, roll, and yaw controls - making it the first fully
controllable aircraft. In its best performance, the 1905
model gave compelling evidence it was
capable of banking, turning, and making figure eights. It
could be called the world's first practical airplane.
|
Wilbur and Orville relaxing
at Huffman Prairie, 1904.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (82)
|
Wilbur's diary showing first circular flight, 1904.
Holograph manuscript.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (83)
|
Orville flying . . . Huffman
Prairie, 1905.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (85)
|
WING-WARPING PATENT
Following the advice of their experienced
patent attorney, Henry A. Toulmin of Springfield, Ohio, the
Wrights decided to patent not the mechanisms that allowed
them to control a wing, but, more importantly, to patent
the idea of warping itself. Obtaining a broad patent would
allow them to defeat all challenges in court. Toulmin also
advised that they not allow details of their machine to become
public until a patent was secured.
|
Patent for Wright Flying Machine.
May 22, 1906.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (86)
|
SELLING THE WRIGHT FLYER
In search of customers for their flyer,
the Wrights approached the U.S. War Department in 1905, only
to receive stock responses spurning their offers. They then
contacted foreign governments, writing to European nations
and also the Japanese Department of War. This response states
that the Japanese "are not in need of such a machine at present." By
1908, the U.S. government had realized the machine's value.
In February 1908, the U.S. Signal Corps agreed to purchase
the Wright Flyer for $25,000 if it met certain specifications.
|
J.C. Bates, U.S. War Department,
to Wilbur and Orville Wright, October 16, 1905
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (88)
|
K. Tachibana, War Department
of Japan, to Wright Cycle Company, July 18, 1906
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (90)
|
U.S. Signal Corps. War Department
Purchase Order,
February 10, 1908
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (93)
|
"GLINT OF GENIUS"
Orville stayed in the U.S. to perform
trials to satisfy the Signal Corps requirements. The Wrights
hired a business agent to help Wilbur sell their machine
during a tour of Europe. Recounting his first encounter with
Wilbur at a London railroad station, Hart O. Berg, their
business agent wrote, "Wright has that peculiar glint of
genius in his eye which left no doubt in my mind as to who
he was."
|
L'Aviation en 1908. Mr.
O. Berg
with Mr. Wilbur Wright.
Postcard.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (91a)
|
Admission tickets for demonstration
flights by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans, France, 1908.
Reverse side of ticket
Manuscript Division,
Wright Papers (94)
|
TICKETS TO SEE WILBUR FLY
When Wilbur arrived in France at the end
of May 1908, he and Orville were considered simply talented
acrobats who performed daring feats because few had ever
seen them fly. Wilbur completed some sixty-four flights in
France, often with a passenger, and astounded and delighted
all who witnessed his mastery of the air. At times, Hart
O. Berg, the Wright's business agent, issued tickets to control
the crowds. The French "carte postale," which became popular
around the turn of the century, increased Wilbur's celebrity
status.
|
Wilbur Wright flying Wright
Model A over an ox-drawn cart in Pau, France, 1909.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (95)
|
MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
In this photograph, Wilbur flies with
Capt. Paul N. Lucas-Girardville over an ox-drawn hay cart
at Pau, France, in 1909. With incongruous sights such as
this, it is no wonder that Wilbur became an overnight celebrity
in France and eventually in all of Europe. Wilbur flew before
the kings of England, Spain, and Italy, and the German emperor
and crown prince, as well as many of Europe's titled, rich,
and famous.
|
FASHION IN FLIGHT
Katharine, Wilbur and Orville's sister,
made her first flight as a passenger on February 15, 1909,
at Pau, France. Here she sits, her face veiled, next to Wilbur
at the controls, with Orville standing on the left. After
the siblings met each other in France, all three went to
Rome and London. As the first great celebrities of the new
century, the Wrights were photographed everywhere they went.
When Katharine tied her skirt with string to prevent an immodest
display while she flew, it gave rise to a new fashion called
the "hobble skirt."
|
First flight for Katharine
Wright, seated in plane with Wilbur; Orville standing to
left, in Pau France, 1909.
Photograph.
Mabel Beck Collection,
Prints and Photographs Division (96)
|
CASUALTY AT FORT MEYER
A propeller failure caused the flyer to
crash at Fort Meyer, severely injuring Orville and killing
his passenger, Lt. Selfridge, the first person to die in
a powered aircraft. Orville recovered and successfully completed
the flight requirements in 1909. After Orville's accident,
Wilbur sent him this "carte postale" in which Wilbur is caricatured
flying a kite. Although his message sounds lighthearted,
he was devastated by the accident and cancelled his flights
for a week until he knew Orville was out of danger.
|
Orville's crash which
killed Selfridge, September 1908.
Copyprint.
Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives,
Wright State University (99)
|
Orville Wright flying
a successful flight at Fort Meyer, 1909.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs Division (101.1)
|
Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright,
September 28, 1908.
Postcard.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (101)
|
Homecoming
FLYING OVER NEW YORK
Following his celebrity tour of Europe,
Wilbur was invited to fly at New York's Hudson-Fulton Celebration
honoring the centennial of Robert Fulton's steamboat and
the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's entry into New York
Harbor. In the Wrights' first flight over American waters,
Wilbur took off from Governor's Island with a canoe strapped
underneath his machine and flew around the Statue of Liberty
as hundreds of ships tooted in the harbor.
|
" A New Kind of Gull in New York Harbor" in Harper's
Weekly, October 9, 1909.
Copyprint.
Courtesy of Harpweek LLC (104)
|
DAYTON'S NATIVE SONS
The Dayton Daily News headline
read, "Dayton's Sons Have Shown The Way; All Nations Bow
In Acknowledgment" as the city gave tribute to the Wrights.
During two days of festivities, the Wrights received medals
from the city, the state, and the U.S. Congress. While their
work was in no way finished by 1909--they would do more flying
and design more planes, go into business, engage in legal
challenges, and endure their share of sadness and tragedy--the
Wrights finally had achieved mankind's long-held aspiration.
|
Dayton Homecoming Celebration
Pennant.
Felt with printing, 1909.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (105)
|
Poster from Dayton Homecoming,
June 17-18, 1909.
Wright Papers,
Manuscript Division (106)
|
|