Daniel Egger papers

Finding aid prepared and updated by Gina C Giang.
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© Finding aid last updated June 2019.
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.


Descriptive Summary

Title: Daniel Egger papers
Inclusive Dates: 1927-2019
Collection Number: mssEgger
Collector: Egger, Daniel Frederic
Extent: 3 boxes, 1 oversize folder, 1 flash drive, and 1 tube (1.04 linear feet)
Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The Daniel Egger papers include correspondence, printed matter, and photographs related to Daniel Egger’s career in the aerospace industry.
Language of Material: The records are in English and Spanish.

Administration Information

Access

Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following web site .
NOT AVAILABLE: The collection contains one flash drive, which is unavailable until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.
RESTRICTED: Tube 1 (previously housed in Box 1, folder 1). Due to size of original, original will be available only with curatorial permission.

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

Daniel Egger papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Deborah Egger Giese and Douglas Giese, September 2017 and May 2019.

Processing Information

Collection was processed by Gina C Giang in October 2017. In June 2019, Box 3 and a flash drive was added to the collection and the finding aid updated by Giang.

Biography

Daniel Egger was a Swiss-born engineer who worked for John Knudsen "Jack" Northrop at Lockheed on the Vega, at Avion and, when Avion was bought by United Aircraft & Transport Corporation (UATC), at Northrop Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California. Due to circumstances beyond his control and not of his fault, he and his family were deported back to Switzerland in 1930. He maintained a correspondence with Jack Northrop throughout and, with Northrop's help, came back to the United States in 1938/39, eventually working for the Vega Airplane Company, Garret AiResearch and Northrop Aircraft Inc.

Scope and Content

The Daniel Egger papers include correspondence, printed matter, and photographs related to Daniel Egger’s career in the aerospace industry. The letters that may prove to be the most interesting in this collection are between John Knudsen Northrop and Egger regarding his immigration status. In a letter dated January 4, 1934, Northrop makes an effort to find Egger a position in Germany. He writes, “It occurs to me that with the tremendous outpouring of Jews from Germany there should be good positions for men with aeronautical experience in that country considering the large number of Jews with technical experience who were deported.” Other correspondence includes letters from Northrop's wife, Inez Northrop, and her helper, Emma Nuila, to Alexander Egger. There is also some material in Spanish where Egger spent some time in El Salvador in 1922 and 1926. The early photographs in this collection include Lockheed Aircraft Company during the Vega, Air Express, and Alpha period. Other photographs include Egger’s involvement in the Snark missile program and images of other pilots. There are also some personal photographs related to Northrop’s home, children, and Big Bear cabin. There is one large blueprint of either the Northrop Aircraft Corporation Alpha or Beta wing. Other material found scattered throughout the collection consists of newspaper clippings, greeting cards, invitations, negatives, and postcards.
The oversize folder includes ten images and photographs removed from glass frames.
Box 3 includes one address book, certificates, correspondence, ephemera, negatives, and photographs. Included is Albert Einsten's signature on a piece of paper from a conference in France, dated March 20, 1922. The flash drive contains approximately 85 GB of data and includes a detailed Excel guide, high resolution .tiff and .jpg scans of each item in the collection; including fronts and backs where necessary. The scans and information were provided by Tony Chong, Historian Emeritus, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Sector in 2019.
Cataloger's note: The EC-# was an original numbering system that was retained when the collection arrived. The EC-#s mirror the EC-#s found on the flash drive.

Indexing Terms

Personal Names

Egger, Daniel Frederic
Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955 -- Signer
Heinemann, Edward H., 1908-1991
Humberstone, Harry
Northrop, John Knudsen, 1895-1981
Vultee, Jerry, 1900-1938

Corporate Names

Douglas Aircraft Corporation
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Northrop Aircraft Corporation
Vega Aircraft Corporation

Subjects

Aerospace engineering -- California, Southern -- History
Aerospace engineers -- California, Southern -- History
Aerospace industries -- California, Southern -- History
Airplanes -- Design and construction
Engineers

Geographic Areas

Burbank (Los Angeles County, Calif.)

Genre

Clippings (information artifacts)
Letters (correspondence)
Personnel records
Photographs


Box 1

Blueprints - Printed ephemera

Folder 1

Blueprints, (1930)

Northrop Aircraft Corporation [Alpha] wing assembly.
Relocated to Tube 1.
Folder 2

EC-12 -- Letters (correspondence), (1930-1952)

Related to Daniel Egger; United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service; and employment at Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
Included: Daniel Egger and Alice Egger passports; and John Knudsen Northrop, 1895-1981 retirement announcement.
Folder 3

EC-13 -- Letters (correspondence), (1940-1985)

Primarily letters from Inez Northrop to Alexander and Daniel Egger
Included: Greeting cards; invitations; and postcards.
Folder 4

EC-14 -- Letters (correspondence), (1935-1961)

Miscellaneous.
Included: C.J. Dunn; Cliff Garrett; Igor Sikorsky; Jack Seiter; negative; Northrop Aircraft Corporation; postcards; T.H. Quayle; and W.E. Luff.
Folder 5

EC-15 -- Letters (correspondence), (1935-1960)

Joe G. Rosales and Edward H. Heinemann, 1908-1991.
Included: Invitations; newspaper clippings; photographs; and postcards.
Folder 6

Letters (correspondence), (1952-1970)

Emma Nuila: Inez Northrop's companion / helper.
Folder 7

Personnel records, (1945-1967)

Daniel Egger
Included: AiResearch Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles (Calif.) agreement; certificates; letters; Northrop Aircraft Corporation receipts, reviews and statements; and resumes.
Folder 8

EC-16 -- Printed ephemera, (1944-1963)

Miscellaneous
Included: Business cards; certificates; directories; greeting card; invitations; Los Angeles International Airport plan; newspaper clippings; Northrop Flying Wing [report]; ration books; and sketches.
Box 2

Photographs

Folder 1

EC-01 -- Photographs, (1927-1950)

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
Included: Antony Stadelman; Charles A. (Charles Augustus) Lindbergh, 1902-1974; Daniel Egger; Frank Hawks, 1897-1938; Harold Bromley, 1898-1998; Herd Fay; Jerry Vultee, 1900-1938; Lockheed Air Express; [Lockheed Model 8 Sirius]; Lockheed Vega; Oscar Grubb; negatives; Sir George H. (George Hubert) Wilkins, 1888-1958 ship; United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; Woody Deeds; and Yankee Doodle monoplane.
Folder 2

EC-02 -- Photographs, (1929)

Flying Wing "Avion."
Included: Negatives.
Folder 3

EC-03 -- Photographs, (1929-1930)

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
Included: Edward Antoine Bellande; Harold Bromley, 1898-1998; John Knudsen Northrop, 1895-1981; K. Jay; negatives; Northrop Alpha; Northrop Model 2 [blueprint]; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; T. Hamilton; and William Edward Boeing, 1881-1956.
Folder 4

EC-04 -- Photographs, (1932-1933)

Douglas Aircraft Corporation.
Included: Bernt Balchen, 1899-1973; John Knudsen Northrop, 1895-1981 [clipping]; Northrop Delta; and Northrop Gamma.
Folder 5

EC-05 -- Photographs, (1937-1938)

Vega Aircraft Corporation.
Included: AiRover Company.
Folder 6

EC-06 -- Photographs, (1940-1943)

Northrop Aircraft Corporation.
Included: Turbodyne.
Folder 7

EC-07 -- Photographs, (1947-1954)

Northrop Aircraft Corporation.
Included: Northrop YB-49; Northrop launching sled; and Snark missile program [cartoons (humorous images)].
Folder 8

EC-08 -- Photographs, (1927-1930)

Miscellaneous.
Included: Lockheed Aircraft Corporation; Phoenix Arizona Area; United Airport Burbank Airshow, 1929; and United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Folder 9

EC-09 -- Photographs, (1945-1961)

Miscellaneous.
Included: Northrop Aircraft Corporation company dinners and reunions; and letter from Paul Buckner to Daniel Egger.
Folder 10

EC-10 -- Photographs, (1948-1953)

Northrop Aircraft Corporation family.
Included: Harry R. Cerny; Inez Northrop; John Knudsen Northrop, 1895-1981's children; and Northrop Aircraft Corporation cabin, Lake Arrowhead (Calif.).
Folder 11

EC-11 -- Photographs, (1940)

Egger family.
Included: 1124 Norton Ave. Glendale (Calif.); 818 N. Tejunga Ave. [Burbank (Calif.)]; Alice Egger; Daniel Egger; and Progressa-Jurigoz S.A. Lausanne ventilator.
Box 3

Photographs - Signatures (name)

Folder 1

EC-18 -- Photographs, (1929-1965)

Northrop reunion, Northrop family Christmas card, Northrop Alpha 2, and YB-49.
Included: Negatives.
Folder 2

EC-19 -- Miscellaneous, (1929-1968)

Daniel Egger's address book, Certificate of Death and The National Geographic Society.
Included: Newspaper clipping and pages from an address book.
Folder 3

EC-20 -- Letters (correspondence), (1925-1969, undated)

Folder 4

EC-21 -- Signatures (name), (1922)

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955.
Oversize folder 1

Oversize photographs, (1930-1955)

Previously framed.
Included: C.W. Davies; Douglas BT-2B; Edward H. Heinemann, 1908-1991; Flower Robert; Inez Northrop; John Knudsen Northrop, 1895-1981; and Northrop Aircraft Corporation, division of United Aircraft & Transport Corporation and 1st Flying Wing "The Jeep" engineers.
Envelope 1

NOT AVAILABLE: Flash drive, (2019)

Digital resources are unavailable until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.
Please see Scope and Content note for more detailed information about the contents on the flash drive.
Tube 1

RESTRICTED: Blueprints, (1930)

Northrop Aircraft Corporation [Alpha] wing assembly.
Previously housed in Box 1, folder 1.
Due to size of original, original will be available only with curatorial permission. Please view digital surrogate.