Grover Cleveland Loening Papers (Library of Congress)

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Grover Cleveland Loening

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Revised and expanded from the published register of 1959 by Margaret McAleer

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2007

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2007

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007101

General Correspondence, 1900-1942

Title: Grover Cleveland Loening Papers
Span Dates: 1900-1975
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1913-1962)
ID No.: MSS30437
Creator: Loening, Grover Cleveland, 1888-1976
Extent: 25,800 items; 72 containers; 34.6 linear feet
Language: Collection material in English
Repository: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Businessman, engineer, airplane manufacturer, and author. Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, plans and drawings, notes, photographs, patents, legal documents, speeches and writings, scrapbooks, clippings, and printed matter documenting Loening's career in aviation.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Personal Names
Aldrich, Winthrop W. (Winthrop William), b. 1885--Correspondence.
Astor, Vincent, 1891-1959--Correspondence.
Byrd, Richard Evelyn, 1888-1957--Correspondence.
Eaker, Ira, 1896-1987--Correspondence.
Hopkins, Harry Lloyd, 1890-1946--Correspondence.
Kennedy, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1888-1969--Correspondence.
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974.
Loening, Grover Cleveland, 1888-
Mellon, Andrew W. (Andrew William), 1855-1937--Correspondence.
Mitchell, William, 1879-1936--Correspondence.
Rickenbacker, Eddie, 1890-1973--Correspondence.
Rockefeller, Winthrop, 1912-1973--Correspondence.
Sikorsky, Igor Ivan, 1889-1972--Correspondence.
Vanderbilt, Harold S. (Harold Stirling), 1884-1970--Correspondence.
Wright, Orville, 1871-1948--Correspondence.
Wright, Wilbur, 1867-1912--Correspondence.

Organizations
All American Aviation (Firm)
Columbia University--Students.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation.
Grover Loening Aircraft Company.
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.
National Air Museum (U.S.)
New York Airways, Inc.
Pan American Airways Corporation.
Platt-LePage Aircraft Corporation.
Sturtevant Aeroplane Company.
United States. Army. Signal Corps. Aviation Section.
United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
United States. President's Air Policy Commission.
United States. War Production Board.
Wright Aeronautical Corporation.

Subjects
Aeronautics.
Aircraft industry--United States.
Flight.
Helicopters.

Locations
Antarctica--Discovery and exploration.

Occupations
Aircraft manufacturers.
Authors.
Aviation consultants.
Engineers.

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of Grover Cleveland Loening, businessman, engineer, airplane manufacturer, and author, were given to the Library of Congress by Loening between 1956 and 1975.

Processing History:

The papers of Grover Cleveland Loening were arranged and described in 1959. The collection was expanded and revised in 1996 and this register revised in 2007. A description of the Loening Papers appears in the Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, 14 (May 1957): 123.

Transfers:

A sound recording of a speech on aviation delivered by Loening in 1961 has been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where it is identified as part of the Grover Cleveland Loening Papers. Duplicate photographs were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1959.

Copyright Status:

Copyright in the unpublished writings of Grover Cleveland Loening in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Grover Cleveland Loening Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Date	Event
1888, Sept. 12	Born, Bremen, Germany
1908	B.S., Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1910	M.A., Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1911	Published Monoplanes and Biplanes: Their Design, Construction and Operation (New York: Munn & Co. 331pp.)
1911-1912	Chief engineer, Queen Aeroplane Co.
1913-1914	Chief engineer and general manager, Wright Aeronautical Co.
1914-1916	Chief aeronautical engineer, United States Army Signal Corps, Aviation Section
1915	Published Military Aeroplanes (San Diego: Frye & Smith. 17 pp.)
1916-1917	Vice president and general manager, Sturtevant Aeroplane Co.
1917-1918	President, Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corp.
1919	Awarded Distinguished Service Award by the War Department for the design of a two-seater fighting plane
1921	Awarded Wright and Collier trophies for the Loening Monoplane Flying Yacht
1922	Founder and president, Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America
1923	Designed the Loening Cabin Amphibian airplane
1928	Designed the Loening Air Yacht, a six-passenger amphibian airplane Merger, Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corp. and Curtiss-Wright Corp.
1928-1929	Director and consulting engineer, Curtiss-Wright Corp.
1929	Director, Roosevelt Field, Mineola, N.Y.
1930	Married Marka Truesdale (divorced 1940)
1930-1938	President, Grover Loening Aircraft Co.
1935	Published Our Wings Grow Faster (Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday, Doran & Co. 203 pp.)
1937-1938	Aeronautical advisor, United States Maritime Commission
1938-1975	Consulting engineer for the United States government and private industries after retiring from aircraft manufacturing
1939	Director and consulting engineer, All American Aviation
1942-1945	Aircraft consultant, War Production Board
1942-1943	Technical consultant and coordinator, British Aircraft Engineering Mission headed by Roy Fedden
1945	Appointed to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Consultant for the United States Navy on experimental aircraft
1947	Chief of research, President's Air Policy Commission
1948	Awarded Medal for Merit
1948-1970	Member, National Air Museum Advisory Board
1950	Awarded Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy
1951-1969	Director and consultant, New York Airways
1955	Published Fifty Years of Flying Progress (Washington, D.C. 216 pp.)
1960	Awarded Daniel Guggenheim Medal, Society of Automotive Engineers
1966	Published Takeoff Into Greatness: How American Aviation Grew So Big So Fast (New York: Putnam. 256 pp.)
1970	Published The Conquering Wing (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co. 196 pp.)
1973	Published Amphibian: The Story of the Loening Biplane (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society. 196 pp.)
1976, Apr. 30	Died, Miami, Fla.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Grover Cleveland Loening (1888-1976) span the years 1900-1975, with the bulk of material dating from 1913 to 1962. The collection documents Loening's career as an aircraft engineer, manufacturer, businessman, and consultant. The papers are arranged in seven series: General Correspondence, Subject File, Clippings, Photographs, Scrapbooks, 1957 Addition, and 1996 Addition.

The General Correspondence series documents the development of Loening's interest in aviation while a student at Columbia University; his early employment with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, the Aviation Section of the United States Army Signal Corps, and the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company; and the subsequent establishment of his own aircraft companies. The series includes letters from Wilbur and Orville Wright as well as Loening's correspondence as chief engineer for the Wright Aeronautical Corporation which discusses many aspects of the company's work from 1913 to 1914. There are numerous letters to and from Richard Evelyn Byrd between 1925 and 1930, many regarding Byrd's first Antarctic expedition. Other correspondents include Winthrop W. Aldrich, Vincent Astor, Ira Eaker, Harry Hopkins, Joseph P. Kennedy, Andrew W. Mellon, William Mitchell, Eddie Rickenbacker, Winthrop Rockefeller, Igor Ivan Sikorsky, and Harold S. Vanderbilt.

The Subject File contains patents, drawings, reports, and promotional literature pertaining to a number of Loening's aircraft designs, most notably his amphibian planes. The series also includes material relating to various consulting contracts following his retirement as president of the Grover Loening Aircraft Company in 1938. Many of Loening's articles and speeches are included in the Subject File, along with drafts and related correspondence concerning Monoplanes and Biplanes, Loening's master's thesis; Military Aeroplanes, a military training manual; and Our Wings Grow Faster. Additional speeches and writings can be found in the 1957 Addition and the 1996 Addition.

The collection includes a large Photograph series depicting the construction and testing of aircraft designed by Loening and others. A Clippings file, dating primarily from the mid-1920s, and twenty-five scrapbooks deal with almost every aspect of aeronautical interest as well as Loening's own company. The scrapbooks cover the years 1918-1920, 1928-1930, and 1939-1941 and include clippings on Richard Evelyn Byrd's expedition and material on Charles A. Lindbergh.

The 1996 Addition largely concerns Loening's career after 1942. The bulk of the addition consists of a chronological file containing correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, photographs, clippings, and other printed matter. Much of this material concerns Loening's activities as a consultant for the United States government and private industry. His appointments to the War Production Board, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, President's Air Policy Commission, and the National Air Museum Advisory Board are well documented. Significant amounts of material concern Loening's involvement with All American Aviation, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, New York Airways, Pan American Airways Corporation, and Platt-LePage Aircraft Corporation. A small subject file relates to a number of these activities in addition to Loening's investigation of early helicopter design and production.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged in seven series:

General Correspondence, 1900-1942
Subject File, circa 1910-1942
Clippings, circa 1910-1942
Photographs, circa 1914-1954
Scrapbooks, 1918-1941
1957 Addition, 1907-1956
1996 Addition, 1903-1975

Description of Series

Container	Series


BOX 1-13	General Correspondence, 1900-1942
		Letters sent and received.
		Arranged chronologically by month.

BOX 14-19	Subject File, circa 1910-1942
		Correspondence, reports, drawings, notes, patents, speeches, drafts of books, and printed matter.
		Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material.

BOX 20-40	Clippings, circa 1910-1942
		Clippings.
		Arranged alphabetically by subject. Miscellaneous clippings are filed at the end.

BOX 34-40	Photographs, circa 1914-1954
		Photographs.
		Arranged in a chronological file, a topical file, an unorganized grouping, and oversize material.

BOX 41-54	Scrapbooks, 1918-1941
		Clippings from newspapers and magazines mounted in twenty-five scrapbooks.
		Arranged chronologically in each volume.

BOX 55-58	1957 Addition, 1907-1956
		Correspondence, reports, speeches, articles, patents, legal documents, and printed matter.
		Arranged by topic or type of material.

BOX 59-72	1996 Addition, 1903-1975
		Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, notes, photographs, plans, patents, drafts of speeches and articles, and printed matter.
		Arranged in a chonological file, a subject file, and writings and speeches.

Container List

Container	Contents


BOX 1-13	General Correspondence, 1900-1942
		Letters sent and received.
		Arranged chronologically by month.

BOX 1		1900-1914

BOX 2		1915-1916

BOX 3		1917-1918

BOX 4		1919-1922

BOX 5		1923-1924

BOX 6		1925, Jan.-1926, Apr.

BOX 7		1926, May-1927, Apr.

BOX 8		1927, May-1928, Aug.

BOX 9		1928, Sept.-1930, Dec.

BOX 10		1931-1934

BOX 11		1935, Jan.-1936, May

BOX 12		1936, June-1938, Dec.

BOX 13		1939-1942, n.d.

BOX 14-19	Subject File, circa 1910-1942
		Correspondence, reports, drawings, notes, patents, speeches, drafts of books, and printed matter.
		Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material.

BOX 14		Aeroplane Design Study, circa 1913-1914

BOX 14		Air Youth of America, 1938

BOX 14		Alaskan Aerial Survey Expedition, 1927

BOX 14		American Society of Aeronautic Engineers, 1915-1917

BOX 14		Articles, 1927-1930

BOX 14		Bermuda

BOX 14		Blueprints

BOX 14		Brochures

BOX 14		Cabin Amphibian

BOX 14		Civil Aeronautics Board

BOX 14		Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corp., landing gear patent

BOX 14		Design for the Russian Navy's hydroaeroplane competition, 1915

BOX 14		Drawings, Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corp., 1923-1924

BOX 14		Electric Boat Co.

BOX 14		European trip, 1929-1930

BOX 14		Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corp.

BOX 14		Guggenheim-Lindbergh investigation for the Commerce Department

BOX 14		Harriman (W. A.) & Co.

BOX 15		Joanass Plum

BOX 15		Loening Air Yacht

BOX 15		McSwain, John Jackson, House of Representatives Military Affairs Committee

BOX 15		Military Aeroplanes, financial papers See also Container 19, same heading

BOX 15		National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, "Jet Propulsion For Airplanes"

BOX 15		National Intercollegiate Flying Club

BOX 15		Navy Department

BOX 15			Contracts

BOX 15			Moffett, W. A.

BOX 15		New York, N.Y., sea plane ramp

BOX 15		New York-Newport Air Service

BOX 15		New York University, New York, N.Y.

BOX 15		Our Wings Grow Faster, draft

BOX 15		Palm Beach Airport, Palm Beach, Fla.

BOX 15		Pan American Airways Corp.

BOX 15		Patents

BOX 15		Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Co.

BOX 15		President's Board of Aircraft Inquiry, 1925

BOX 16		Queen Aeroplane Co., experiments and notes

BOX 16		Racketeer (yacht)

BOX 16		Reports

BOX 16		Rifflard, George, airplane frame patent

BOX 16		Roosevelt, Franklin D., and aviation, 1938-1940 See also Container 19, Presidential campaign, and Container 71, Roosevelt, Franklin D.

BOX 16		San Diego, Calif., United States Army Signal Corps, Aviation Section, drawings, 1914-1915

BOX 16		Schedule 900-735, Eberhart Aeroplane and Motor Co.

BOX 16		Schneider Trophy Race

BOX 16		Spear, L. Y., re arming amphibians, 1925

BOX 17		Speeches

BOX 17		Sturtevant Aeroplane Co. See also Container 19, same heading

BOX 17		Submarine plane

BOX 17		Tests

BOX 17		Thesis, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.

BOX 17		Trippe, J. T., statement

BOX 17		Vanderbilt, Harold S.

BOX 17		W. A. Harriman & Co. See Container 14, Harriman (W. A.) & Co.

BOX 17		Wright Aeronautical Co.

BOX 18		Miscellany

BOX 19		Oversize material

BOX 19			Collier Trophy

BOX 19			Military Aeroplanes, manuscripts and drawings See also Container 15, same heading

BOX 19			Presidential campaign, 1940 See also Container 16, Roosevelt, Franklin D.

BOX 19			Sturtevant Aeroplane Co. See also Container 17, same heading

BOX 20-40	Clippings, circa 1910-1942
		Clippings.
		Arranged alphabetically by subject. Miscellaneous clippings are filed at the end.

BOX 20		A

BOX 21		B

BOX 22		C

BOX 23		D-G

BOX 24		I-L

BOX 25		M-New York, N.Y.

BOX 26		New York, N.Y.-O

BOX 27		P-R

BOX 28		S-Transoceanic

BOX 29		T-Z

BOX 30		Miscellany

BOX 31		Miscellany

BOX 32		Miscellany

BOX 33		Miscellany

BOX 34-40	Photographs, circa 1914-1954
		Photographs.
		Arranged in a chronological file, a topical file, an unorganized grouping, and oversize material.

BOX 34		Circa 1914-1927

BOX 35		1928-1954

BOX 36		Our Wings Grow Faster

BOX 36		Military Aeroplanes

BOX 37		Various amphibians

BOX 37		Loening Air Yacht

BOX 37		Loening Cabin Amphibian

BOX 37		Loening Commuter

BOX 37		Single-wheel amphibian

BOX 38		Non-amphibian type planes

BOX 38		Mapping of Raining Lake district

BOX 38		Alaskan Aerial Survey Expedition, 1927

BOX 38		Davison, Frederick Trubee, flight to Panama

BOX 38		Various negatives

BOX 39		Miscellany

BOX 40		Oversize

BOX 41-54	Scrapbooks, 1918-1941
		Clippings from newspapers and magazines mounted in twenty-five scrapbooks.
		Arranged chronologically in each volume.

BOX 41		1918-1920

BOX 42		1932-1933

BOX 43		1929

BOX 43			Jan.-June

BOX 44			June-Nov.

BOX 45		1928-1930, Charles A. Lindberg, Richard Evelyn Byrd, and aircraft advertisements

BOX 46		1929-1930

BOX 47		1937, Dec.-1938, Dec.

BOX 48		1941, Feb.-Mar.

BOX 49		1940, Aug.-1941, Apr.

BOX 50		1940, Nov.-1941, Feb.

BOX 51		1939, Jan.-Mar.

BOX 52		1939, Apr.-Nov

BOX 53		1939, Dec.-1940, July

BOX 54		1940-1941

BOX 55-58	1957 Addition, 1907-1956
		Correspondence, reports, speeches, articles, patents, legal documents, and printed matter.
		Arranged by topic or type of material.

BOX 55		General correspondence, 1938-1942

BOX 55			"A-P"
				(14 folders)

BOX 56			"R-Z"
				(7 folders)

BOX 56		All American Aviation, 1938-1942

BOX 56		Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp., 1932-1936

BOX 56		Our Wings Grow Faster, correspondence, 1935-1936

BOX 56		Railroad and air freight operations, 1937-1941

BOX 56		Speeches

BOX 56			"Air Cargo Shipping," 1942

BOX 56			"The Development of Amphibian Airplanes," 1926

BOX 57		Speeches, articles, and reports, 1919-1956

BOX 58		Patents, legal documents, and printed matter, 1907-1953, n.d.

BOX 59-72	1996 Addition, 1903-1975
		Correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, notes, photographs, plans, patents, drafts of speeches and articles, and printed matter.
		Arranged in a chonological file, a subject file, and writings and speeches.

BOX 59		Chronological file

BOX 59			1903-1941, Mar.
				(8 folders)

BOX 60			1941, Apr.-1943, July
				(7 folders)

BOX 61			1943, Aug.-1946
				(8 folders)

BOX 62			1947-1949
				(9 folders)

BOX 63			1950-1952
				(7 folders)

BOX 64			1953-1955
				(7 folders)

BOX 65			1956-1959
				(8 folders)

BOX 66			1960-1962
				(7 folders)

BOX 67			1963-1973
				(10 folders)

BOX 68			1974-1975, Apr., and undated
				(2 folders)

BOX 68		Subject file

BOX 68			All American Aviation, 1945-1947

BOX 68			Biographical information, n.d.

BOX 68			British Aircraft Engineering Mission, 1942-1943
				(2 folders)

BOX 68			Hall of Fame, New York University, New York, N.Y., Wright brothers installation, 1967-1968
				(2 folders)

BOX 68			Harding, William Barclay, memorial fund, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1968-1969
				(2 folders)

BOX 69			Helicopters

BOX 69				Clippings, 1941-1945, n.d.

BOX 69				National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Subcommittee on Helicopters, 1938-1946, n.d.
					(3 folders)

BOX 69				Photographs, 1942-1964, n.d.

BOX 69				War Production Board, 1943-1944, n.d.
					(2 folders)

BOX 69				Writings and statements by others, 1944-1947, n.d.

BOX 69			Monoduck amphibian plane, 1933-1937

BOX 70			National Teenage Air Derby, Deland, Fla., 1968-1969

BOX 70			New York Airways, 1950-1967, n.d.
				(5 folders)

BOX 70			Patents and related legal documents, 1919-1939, n.d.
				(1 folder)
BOX 71				(4 folders)

BOX 71			President's Air Policy Commission, 1946-1947, n.d.
				(3 folders)

BOX 71			Roosevelt, Franklin D., Loening's critique of Roosevelt's air program, 1940-1944, n.d. See also Container 16, same heading

BOX 72			United States Navy, 1943-1945, n.d.
				(2 folders)

BOX 72		Writings and speeches

BOX 72			Articles, 1912-1974

BOX 72			Books

BOX 72				Our Wings Grow Faster, 1934-1937
					(3 folders)

BOX 72				Takeoff Into Greatness, 1966-1967

BOX 72			Speeches, 1927-1974
				(2 folders)

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The Library of Congress >> Especially for Researchers >> Research Centers
January 17, 2008

Grover Cleveland Loening

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Revised and expanded from the published register of 1959 by Margaret McAleer

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2007

General Correspondence, 1900-1942

Subject File, circa 1910-1942

Clippings, circa 1910-1942

Photographs, circa 1914-1954

Scrapbooks, 1918-1941

1957 Addition, 1907-1956

1996 Addition, 1903-1975