Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82021360
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Charles Stark Draper, engineer, inventor, and educator, were given to the Library of Congress by Draper in 1973 and 1979.
The papers of C. S. Draper were processed in 1998. The finding aid was revised in 2012.
Audiotapes have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, where they are identified as part of these papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Charles Stark Draper is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of C. S. Draper are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, C. S. Draper Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Charles Stark Draper (1901-1987) span the years 1773-1978, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1939-1973. Draper was an aeronautical engineer and has been called the father of inertial guidance. The technology of gyroscopic inertial guidance, by which vehicles are kept on course independent of outside navigational aids such as radio signals, radar, and celestial sightings, is the basis of the "automatic pilot" in commercial and military aircraft and of the navigational systems of submarines, missiles, and spacecraft. The Draper Papers are organized into five series: Family and Personal Papers , Professional File , Speeches and Writings , Miscellany , and Oversize .
The largest file in the Family and Personal Papers was created by Draper's mother, Martha Stark Draper ("Dada"), a founder of the Missouri chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It relates mostly to the history and genealogy of the Stark and Draper families, Missouri state and local history, family memorabilia, and the accomplishments of her son. Martha Stark Draper's interest in genealogy may account for the presence of the oldest document in the papers, a ledger and commonplace book kept by father and son commission merchants John Francis Lucas Jacoby and Ralph Jacoby during 1773-1833. Correspondents in the Family and Personal Papers include Martha Stark Draper, Thomas Benson Whitledge, and C. S. Draper's brother, Ralph Clayton Draper.
The Professional File is organized into consultant, correspondence, and organizations files. As a consultant to airplane manufacturers, such as the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, and to instrument makers, such as the Sperry Gyroscope Company and the Waltham Watch Company, C. S. Draper worked on problems of aircraft navigation, blind flying, and the monitoring and measuring through improved instrumentation of in-flight conditions such as engine combustion and vibration. Most of the Professional File dates from C. S. Draper's long association with the Instrumentation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Correspondence in the Professional File is divided into fan mail, general, and seventieth birthday greetings, according to an arrangement established by Draper or his secretarial staff. Substantive issues, such as the divestiture of the Instrumentation Laboratory by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970, are addressed in some of the fan letters, while some of the general correspondence is obviously fan mail. On his seventieth birthday in 1971, Draper received congratulatory letters from political figures such as Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, from former students by then highly placed in the aerospace industry, the military, and civilian agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and from colleagues. Correspondents in the Professional File include Holt Ashley, Sir Leon Bagrit, Raymond L. Bisplinghoff, Benjamin P. Blasingame, Secor D. Browne, Richard H. Frazier, Howard Wesley Johnson, I. J. Galantin, J. Francis Reintjes, Robert C. Seamans Jr., and Martin Summerfield.
The Organizations file documents Draper's attendance at the meetings of professional associations and his consulting relationships with government agencies.
The Speeches and Writings series includes articles and scientific papers, monographs, and speeches. One of the monographs is a three-volume, multipart report,
The Miscellany series contains albums of awards and certificates documenting the course of Draper's career. The Miscellany also includes a catalog and inventory of his papers prepared by a member of Draper's staff. The introduction to the catalog provides a good general overview of the Draper Papers, and additional information about particular documents can sometimes be obtained through referencing the catalog.
This collection is arranged in five series:
Correspondence, scrapbooks, printed matter, photographs, military personnel records, genealogical material, ledgers, and miscellaneous material.
Organized alphabetically by type of material, subject, or name of person.
Correspondence, project files, printed and near-print matter, notebooks and notes, reports, and miscellaneous material.
Organized into consultant file, correspondence, and organizations groupings and thereunder alphabetically by type of material or subject. United States government files are located at the end of the organizations grouping.
Scientific papers, drafts and published articles, drafts and published book chapters, speeches, technical publications, notes, and miscellaneous material.
Organized alphabetically by type of material and thereunder chronologically or alphabetically by title.
Awards, citations, scrapbooks, photographs, catalogs, scientific papers, invitations, greeting cards and postcards, subject files, and other miscellaneous material.
Organized alphabetically by type of material, organization, or subject.
Blueprints related to Curtiss-Wright Corp. consultant project.
Organized and described according to the series from which the items were removed.