Cadets researching in the Colonel Richard Gimbel Aeronautical Library
In 1915, Dr. John Victory was hired as the first employee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization to today's NASA. In a storied career that stretched into the 1960s, Victory witnessed the development of the aviation industry, from the Wright Brother's first application of powered flight to the Cold War-era space race. While neither an engineer nor pilot, Victory played a crucial role as a liaison between NACA, Congress, and other important government agencies. For his achievements, his adherents nicknamed him "Mr. Aviation." Victory's papers represent one of the most comprehensive collections documenting how the federal government adapted to, supported, and expanded developments in aviation and astronautics.
This collection can support research in the development and evolution of the NACA, as well as the organization of NASA; the history of the Collier Flight Trophy; the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, etc.
Major Alan Osur served as a Reconnaissance Intelligence Officer in the Vietnam War and later taught in the History Department at USAFA. He also famously coached the Academy's men's rugby team. Based on his PhD dissertation, Osur published Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II: The Problem of Race Relations, which detailed how the Army Air Forces responded to racial tensions during wartime. The Alan Osur collections represents years of painstaking research on the subject that could be easily adapted into a capstone project.
This collection can support research on the integration of Black airmen in World War II; the organization and implementation of Black units; flight training; War Department policy; the Tuskegee airmen; USAFA's Tuskegee memorial
In 1929, Amelia Earhart and Ruth Nichols organized a women's flying club that earned its name because of its exclusive membership of only 99 women. Members of the group were handpicked by Earhart and Nichols. During World War II, aviation pioneer Jacqueline Cochrane selected members of the Ninety-Nines to join the Women's Air Service Pilots (WASP) where they provided essential support to the war effort by ferrying supplies across battle zones.
Marjorie Browne Davis, the creator of this collection, was a nurse, educator, pilot, and held a doctorate in Sociology from New York University. Davis was an accomplished pilot who served in the Revere-Burton Squadron 144-2 of the Civil Air Patrol and instructed other pilots in meteorology. Davis's papers are a goldmine for historical research on the key contribution of women to the development of aviation.
This collection can support research in women's aviation; test piloting; Amelia Earhart; Jacqueline Cochran; Women Air Service Pilots (WASP); air shows; the Ninety-Nines; women's education
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) provided critical services to the Army Air Forces in World War II. As the result of a merger between Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron of the Army, the WASP became operational in 1943. Women pilots were trained to fly every type of military aircraft in the Army Air Forces' arsenal, and the WASP flew about 80% of US military ferrying missions, delivering 12,652 aircraft of 78 different kinds.
In Clark Special Collections, the Yvonne "Pat" Pateman papers are a key resource on the history of women's contributions to aviation and American warfighting. They represent one of the best collections on the WASP available to the public. The contents cover everything from the organization and development of the WASP to the efforts of WASP veterans in the 1970s to lobbying of Congress for official recognition of their wartime service.
This collection can support research on women's integration into the armed forces; test piloting; aviation law; home front initiatives; Congressional recognition efforts, etc.
Ever wonder about the Academy's history? You live, work, and study every day in a National Historic Landmark.
For anyone interested in the monumental history of this institution, Clark Special Collections has rich materials that document the engineering feat of constructing a state-of-the-art university at the base of the Front Range in the 1950s. For example, the papers of George Hennrikus and Richard Coffee document the workings of the Air Force Academy Construction Agency, a government agency that was stood up to oversee the construction of the Academy. Our Record Groups tell the history of the site selection process that brought the Academy to Colorado Springs. If you're interested in sports, you could also focus a capstone project on the construction of the stadium.
Using a variety of materials in Clark Special Collections, researchers could generate a unique capstone project on why Colorado Springs was picked over other bidding cities to host the Air Force Academy; the construction of the Academy in the 1950s; the construction of the stadium in the early 1960s, etc.
Other resources: Speak to a member of Special Collections staff for information on more exciting collections, including official government records, engineering schematics, architectural plans, etc.
Reade Tilley was a wildly successful American ace who flew with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II as part of the Eagle Squadrons. For men like Tilley who wanted to contribute to the aerial war effort, this was the most popular route to service before the United States entered the war. Tilley lived his life in the fast lane and was eventually awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his success during the war. A car racing enthusiast, Tilley later worked with General Curtis LeMay to establish the Strategic Air Command Automobile Racing Program. He would go on to work in military intelligence as Director of Information in Europe during the Berlin Airlift. He also served as Director of Information for Pacific Air Forces during the Vietnam War. Later in life, Tilley maintained his interest in cars and developed an ear for music.
This collection can support research on the Eagle Squadron, including first-hand accounts of aerial combat operations; the Berlin Airlift; military intelligence; automobile racing and its connection the Air Force; music history; the Pikes Peak Hill Climb; public affairs and communication, etc.
Major General Follett Bradley served in the officer corps of the Navy, Army, and Air Force and is one of the most highly decorated military officers with a collection in Clark Special Collections. In 1942, at the height of World War II, Bradley was sent to Russia on a special mission to open an airway from Alaska to Russia to deliver American-made aircraft to the US's ailing ally. Following some friction and confusion, the route was established, and an estimated 8,000 aircraft were ferried into Russia.
This collection can support research on World War II, including the American policy of lend-lease and the Russian theater of operations.
The Colonel Burton Andrus collection offers a unique look into the last moments of the lives of Nazi war criminals after World War II. Andrus commanded the detachment that oversaw the prison facilities at Nuremberg during the war crimes trials in 1946. His papers detail intense mental, medical, and spiritual observations of the accused while they awaited trial, from their psychological state of mind to the books they read and food they ate. Andrus's papers are one of the best surviving records of the Nuremberg trials, which took place at a key moment in the development of international justice and human rights law.
This collection supports research on the aftermath of World War II; international war crimes trials; psychology and mental health; prisoner oversight; military security; human rights, etc.
For over 50 years, Clark Special Collections has been home to the Richard Gimbel Aeronautical Collection, widely regarded as the best book collection on the history of early aviation. One of the unique aspects of the collection is its content on ballooning in the early modern world. The first balloon flights captivated France in 1783, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators. Soon, balloonists were making the first flights in nations across Europe, from Britain to Spain to Germany. Researchers travel from around the world to use these unique materials in the McDermott Library. Here at USAFA, they are at your fingertips.
Through the lens of ballooning, a researcher could use the Gimbel collection to craft a capstone project reflecting on wider themes of the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and the rivalry between Britain and France in the eighteenth century world, etc.
**Cadets with language skills in German or French will find a considerable amount of material available to them, though there are also plenty of ballooning sources in English.**
For a small sample of the types of materials available in the Gimbel collection, see the following examples:
One of the largest scientific collections at USAFA, the Rayleigh collection contains the scientific papers of John William Strutt and his son Robert John Strutt, both successively bearing the title Lord Rayleigh. Each was an accomplished scientist in their own right, and this collection documents their various scientific achievements, including the discovery of argon (for which John won the 1904 Nobel prize in Physics), notable studies on sound, water, and earthquake waves, and on the diffusion of light in the upper atmosphere. The Rayleigh collection includes the original scientific notebooks of both John and Robert, their correspondence, publications, and books. The collection was purchased by the Air Force due to Robert Strutt's extensive night sky observations, and the materials came to USAFA in the late 2000s. It is an extremely unique historical collection for anyone interested in the history of science.
This collection can support research on the history of scientific discovery and achievement; scientific experiments; nineteenth century science, etc.
Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian lawyer and anticolonial activist who was famous for his non-violent approach to protest, variously described as "satyagraha" and civil disobedience. Trained in law in London, Gandhi became disenchanted with the governing structures of the British Empire when he lived in South Africa for 21 years and witnessed the baked-in policies of racial discrimination there. Returning to his homeland, Gandhi took over the leadership of the Indian National Congress and set in train a series of non-violent protests against poverty, discrimination, and restrictive caste-law practices. At the time, Gandhi also edited an English-language newspaper Young India, in which he commented on political developments and refined his ideas of non-violent protest. Clark Special Collections has 13 volumes of Young India, which together represent an easily accessible source to unpack the political challenges to imperial authority in South Asia.
These newspapers could be used to underpin a capstone project on anticolonial activism in India and the wider British Empire. They could easily be paired with other primary sources available from the McDermott Library, including our bound collections of British Documents on Foreign Affairs, memoirs from other anticolonial activists, etc.
Clark Special Collections has a diverse range of rare books from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries focusing on European exploration and scientific expeditions in the age of empires. One or more of these books could form the bedrock of a capstone project. Here are two examples:
Research using these and other rare books might focus on European imperialism; arctic exploration; the histories of ethnography, sociology, and botany, etc.
A USAFA graduate from the class of 1962, John Guilmartin served multiple tours in Vietnam flying HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" and HH-53C "Super Jolly Green Giant" helicopters on rescue missions in Thailand and Laos to recover American aviators downed in hostile territory. As a pararescue jumper or "PJ", he was credited with rescuing more than 500 evacuees and airmen. Guilmartin eventually returned to USAFA as an instructor of military and space history. Much of this collection represents his painstaking efforts to document the history of PJ operations. It consists of reference materials, correspondence with downed airmen and their rescuers, oral histories, and other unique sources that could easily form the basis for a capstone project.
This collection can support research on Vietnam; search and rescue operations; the Tet Offensive; helicopters and combat piloting, etc.
During World War II, Albert Patton Clark was shot down on 26 July 1942 over Abbeville, France. He was immediately captured and wouldn't know life outside of the prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III for 33 months. Adapting to his confinement, then Lieutenant Colonel Clark took to leadership positions within the camps, overseeing security and helping to facilitate escapes. Following his liberation and the formal organization of the United States Air Force, Clark's career blossomed, and he eventually became the sixth Superintendent of USAFA. His papers in Clark Special Collections (our facility is named for him) cover the breadth of his career but are most notable for their content on his time as a POW in Stalag Luft III, famously the site of the "Great Escape."
This collection supports research on Prisoner of War (POW) camps; the treatment of prisoners; the Royal Air Force (RAF); Allied troop movement and maps; home front movements; repatriation; art and theater; mental health; Saudi Arabia; Okinawa; Vietnam; USAFA.
During World War II, Swedish lawyer Henry Soderberg, a representative of the International YMCA., was one of 7 foreigners allowed to observe Nazi prisoner of war camps to ensure compliance with Germany's international obligations. He visited camps across Germany and occupied Poland frequently and went to great efforts to procure and deliver items requested by the various camps. As a result, each compound was supplied with musical instruments, books, and sports equipment. Soderberg also helped chaplains to receive the necessary religious items to enable them to hold regular services. Due to Soderberg's remarkable freedom of movement within Germany, his collection records a rare picture of the conditions of prisoners of war and of the German population more widely.
This collection can support research on Nazi prisoner of war camps; the Geneva conventions and the international oversight of POWs; POW culture, etc.
The War in Vietnam became the first active conflict in which USAFA graduates were mobilized. 151 graduates were killed in action, and 33 more were taken prisoner in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. In the early 1990s, the Class of 1965 and the Association of Graduates undertook a project to interview all 33 USAFA prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict. These oral histories tell their harrowing stories, from the moment they were shot down to their torture and mistreatment, to their return home. Many of the interviewees comment extensively on their time at the Academy and how their military training at USAFA prepared them for their darkest hours.
While the interviewing project was ongoing, the First Gulf War broke out in 1990-91 between the United States and its allies and Iraq. Four USAFA graduates were take prisoner during Operation Desert Storm, and the Class of 1965 resolved to interview them, as well. The collection thus contains a comprehensive record of all Air Force Academy POWs from the classes of 1959 to 1988.
This collection of interviews offers a powerful research opportunity to analyze the experiences of prisoners of war in Vietnam and/or Desert Storm, or in a comparative framework. Researchers might also be interested in analyzing the role of the Academy in producing resilient airmen who overcame horrendous conditions and treatment.
Clark Special Collections holds the papers of many World War II-era prisoners of war, especially of downed airmen, who found themselves incarcerated by the Nazis. Many of these POWs, including Lt. Walter Steck, were accomplished artists, and they spent their substantial free time in the camps applying their creative energies to the world around them. The highlight of the Steck collection is the lieutenant's 60-page journal, which includes illustrations, poems, and songs written by Steck himself.
This collection could be paired with others to form the basis for a capstone project on POW artists; the culture of POW camps; music and theater performed in the camps, etc.
A scanned illustration from Walter Steck's journal.
During World War II, a classified section of the War Department, codenamed MIS-X, was stood up to assist American prisoners of war in their attempts to evade capture in enemy territory or, later, to escape from prison camps. The MIS-X section operated in all theaters of war and is credited with assisting over 16,000 U.S. personnel with their return to Allied territories.
Our robust collection of MIS-X intelligence reports detail the stories of American POWs who evaded capture, escaped imprisonment, or were liberated from camps--mostly in Europe. Information gained from these interviews was used to ascertain the value of the training and tools that American soldiers and airmen were provided, for the training of additional forces, and to help plan future rescue missions in enemy territory. These reports provide names, squadron information, assignments, crash locations, prison camp locations, and methods of escape. They also give much more detailed information regarding enemy transportation, prison camp conditions, procedures for searching prisoners, access to parcels, and other information.
This collection can support research on prisoner of war experiences; military intelligence operations; escape and evasion techniques; the Geneva Conventions, etc.
Contact the Humanities Librarian, Perri Moreno, for help finding primary sources using other library resources, including through our electronic databases.
