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WRIGHT BROTHERS PROCEEDINGS/OHIO HUMANITIES GRANT



HERE IS A PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

PRESS RELEASE
"Preserving the Wright Brothers' Legacy: Proceedings of the Symposium,
                October 22, 1999
With a Guide to Resources on the Wright Brothers."

        In the long history of invention, there is probably no parallel to the
quiet manner in which the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio ushered into the
world their epoch-making invention of the first successful manned powered
flying machine.  Documents dealing with early "air operations in the field of
aviation" as well asseveral public and the activities of subsequent aeronautical agencies, are preserved in
several dzen public and private repositories throughout the world.  They
include not onl offirivate repositories throught the world.  They include not
only official documents on aviation but also personal papers of the
Wrigand those who helped develop aviation.
As the year 2003 approaches, which will mark both Ohio's bicentennial and the
centennial of the Wright brothers'organized last Fall entitled "Preserving the
Wright Brothers' Legacy."  It was held State of Ohio's Archives Week,and was
sponsored by the  Ohio Humanities Council and many other organizations.  This  The Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library (DMCPL), aided by a
y aided by a second grant from The Ohio Humanities Council, will publish the proceedings of
this syposium.  It will include a Guide to Resources on the Wright Brothers.
The proposed publication will be of great importance since our Library is
closely affiliated with the Wright family.  It is the only library that has
copies of all newspapers published by the Wright brothers since 1883 (including The
Weekly Midet and West Sides News).  It also has the Wright family genealogy
and all the srapbooks of the Wright brothers.  It owns many books, journals,
and technical reports, photographs and posters that were donated by the Wright family after
the death of Orville Wright in 1948.  These materials have been processed,
preserve and published both online and in book form.
This publication will seek to aid scholars and researchers in locating
collections of primary and secondary documents on the Wright brothers.  The
first it will deal with the proceedings of the highly successful symposium which
drwe more than 200 participants and was well covered by local media with the
font page article in the Dayton newspaper.  These proceedings will be essential
to the historian writing about preservation activities in this area.  The
second part will describe the equally important collections, including personal
papers of all the repositories -federal, state, and local- plus other collections of
primary and secondary materials, which have direct relevance to the Wright
brothers.  The third part will include a chronology of major events, a
bibliography of rare and valuable books, and a listing of Web sites where
collections from all the world can be accessed.   No other such guide is currently
available, and both researchers and lay scholars interested in the subject will
find it of value. The book will realize the objectives expressed in the
previous proposal to the Ohio Humanities Council, where it was stated:
1.Experts, from both local and out-of-state institutions, specializing
in archives and preservation of paper and will stress the importance of preserving
our written historical records, indicate here rare artifacts from the early
years of powered flight are on display in Ohio and elsewhere, and describe the methods by which they have been
preserved.
In this way artifacts will be more accessible to all Americans now and in the future.
2.      As a by-product of this symposium, a Guide to the Wright Brothers
Holdings will be developed and made available to institutions and the general
public.  This guide will incorporate holdings from the home institutions
throuhgt of the speackers the panelists as well from institutions throughout the country,
providing a valuable resource to all citizens.

This project is important for Ohio's bicentennial and the centennial of
powerflight, both to be celebrated in 2003.  The Dayton community is preparing
for the formation of the"Inventing Flight, 2003"committee.  This organization
has a program of upcoming events  which will begin on Dec.17, 2001,the same day that our guide will
appear. A publication of this type has never been published by any institution.  In addition to including all the
proceedings as well as the holdings of the participating institutions at the
symposium, it ill include holdings from other institutions and a chronology of
major events surrounding the Wright brothers compiled by Dr. Tom Crouch.  Dr.
Crouch and Dr. Carl Becker are the members of the Evaluation Committee.  Also, Dr. Pat Nolan
is he consultant of the project and Dr. Peter Jakab will be writing the
introducton.

The goal is to produce an affordable, quality volume.  The anticipated number of pages will be
between 200 and 250.
Authors of the presented papers are:
(       Dr. Peter Jakab - Smithsonian Institution (keynote speaker)
(       John Alviti -The Franklin Institute
(       Dr. Leonardo Bruno - The Library of Congress
(       Bob Casey -Henry Ford Museum
(       Jeff Duford - WPAFB Museum
(       Darrell Collins -(      Cynthia McLaughlin - The State Librarian of
Ohio
(       Dawn Dewey - Wright State
 (      Brian Hackett - Montgomery County
Historical Society
(       Jeanne Palermo - Carillon Historical Park
Two hundred fifty copies will be published and fifty of them will be
distribute free to local schools in Dayton and to the institutions
participating in the smposium.  The remaining copies will be sold at cost
(approximately $20).




Elli Bambakidis,  Archivist/Conservator
Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library
215 East Third St.
Dayton, OHIO  45402             (937)227-9500 ext. 323
                                 ADS_Elli@dayton.lib.oh.us

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