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Finding aid of the Phillip H. Ault Aviation Collection
H19xx.0033
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Collection number: H19xx.0033
Title: Phillip H. Ault Aviation collection
Dates: 1783-1993
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1900-1950).
Creator:
Ault, Phillip H., 1914-2001
Collection Size:
1 archives carton + 1 oversize box
(0.4 linear foot).
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd
Library.
Claremont, CA 91711
Abstract: Photographs of Charles Lindbergh and the
Spirit of St. Louis in France at the conclusion of his
1927 trans-Atlantic flight, including photographs of Lindbergh with other famous
aviators and of the dismantling of the Spirit of St. Louis for inspection and
shipment back to the United States. Also materials, primarily reproductions of
prints, drawings, and photographs documenting the history of aviation from 1783 to
1978, collected by Ault to illustrate his book
By the Seat of
Their Pants
, published in 1978. These materials emphasize in particular
the history of aviation in the United States from 1900 to 1950, including the Wright
brothers, barnstormers, the first flight around the world in 1924, early air mail
carriers, Charles Lindbergh, the Dole Derby of 1927, Amelia Earhart, and Douglas
"Wrong-Way" Corrigan.
Physical location: Please consult repository.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special
Collections.
Box #, folder #, item #, Phillip H. Ault Aviation collection. Special Collections,
Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont University Consortium.
Series 1 (Lindbergh Photographs), gift to the Aviation Special Collection, Sprague
Library, by Phillip H. Ault, 1992.
Series 2 (Photographs for
By the Seat of Their
Pants
), gift to the Aviation Special Collection, Sprague Library, by Phillip
H. Ault, circa 1995.
Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, June 2004.
Phillip Halliday Ault was born in Maywood, Illinois, on April 26, 1914. He graduated
from DePauw University in 1935. From 1935 to 1937, he was a reporter for the
LaGrange (Illinois) Citizen. In 1938, he became a
corresponding editor for UPI, serving in Chicago, New York City, Iceland, North
Africa, and London, where he was bureau chief in 1944-1945. In 1948, he left UPI to
become assistant managing editor and director of the editorial page for the
Times-Mirror Company in Los Angeles. From 1948 to 1957, he was editorial page editor
of the
Los Angeles Mirror-News, and from 1958-1968,
executive editor and vice president of Associated Desert Newspapers, in Palm
Springs. In 1968, he returned to the Midwest as associate editor of the
South Bend (Indiana) Tribune. He retired in 1979, and
died in Sun City West, Arizona, on July 2, 2001.
In addition to his wire service and newspaper work, Ault was a prolific writer,
authoring or co-authoring 18 books:
Springboard to
Berlin
(1943);
This is the Desert (1959);
Reporting the News (1959, coauthor);
News Around the Clock (1960);
Introduction to Mass Communications (1960, co-author), used as a
textbook in over 400 colleges and universities;
How to Live
in California
(1961);
Home Book of Western
Humor
(1967);
Wonders of the Mosquito
World
(1970);
These Are the Great Lakes
(1972);
Wires West (1974);
All
Aboard
(1976);
By the Seat of Their Pants
(1978);
Perspectives on Mass Communications (1982,
co-author); Whistles Round the Bend (1982);
Reporting and
Writing the News
(1983, co-author);
Public
Relations: Strategies and Tactics
(1986, co-author);
Santa Maria Historical Photo Album (1987). Three of
these books were Junior Literary Guild selections, and All Aboard received a Spur
from the Western Writers of America for the best juvenile book of 1976. Ault also
contributed articles to the
Saturday Evening Post,
American Heritage,
American Legion,
Argosy,
Phil Delta Kappan,
The
Scroll
,
True West, and
Michiana.
Ault was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the
DePauw University Media Wall of Fame in October 2001.
Source:
Who Was Who in America, 14 (New Providence,
NJ: Marquis Who's Who, c2002), 11.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises photographs and other materials relating to the history of
aviation from the first balloon ascent in 1783 to 1978. It consists of two distinct
series:
The first series is a collection of photographs and other materials concerning the
reception of Charles Lindbergh upon his arrival in France at the conclusion of his
1927 trans-Atlantic flight. Those photographs documenting the dismantling, for
inspection and shipping back to the United States, of the "Spirit of St. Louis", are
of particular interest.
The second series consists of materials collected by Phillip Ault to illustrate his
book
By the Seat of Their Pants, published in 1978.
While the book covers the period 1783-1978, it concentrates on the history of
aviation in the United States from 1900 to 1950, with special emphasis on the Wright
brothers, barnstormers, the first flight around the world in 1924, early air mail
carriers, Charles Lindbergh, the Dole Derby of 1927, Amelia Earhart, and Douglas
"Wrong-Way" Corrigan. Although the great majority of the photographs are copies of
originals held elsewhere, the collection contains four original photographs from the
period 1910-1920. Ault makes particularly extensive use of the collections of
Lawrence Bell, founder of Bell Aircraft, one of the finest private collections of
material on the early history of aviation in the United States, but one that is
under-utilized by aviation historians.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Aeronautical sports--History
Aeronautics--History
Aeronautics--History--Juvenile literature
Air mail service--United States
Airplane racing--History
Ault, Phillip H.,
1914-2001
Corrigan, Douglas,
1907-1995
Drawing
Earhart, Amelia,
1897-1937
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles
Augustus), 1902-1974
Photographs
Prints
Spirit of St. Louis (Airplane)
Wright, Orville,
1871-1948
Wright, Wilbur,
1867-1912