The Descriptive Finding Guide to the Wheels to Wings Book Collection SDASM.SC.10190
AR
San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives
10/2016
2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park
San Diego 92101
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
San Diego Air and Space Museum Library and Archives
Title: Wheels to Wings Book Collection
Identifier/Call Number: SDASM.SC.10190
Physical Description:
1.2 Cubic Feet
Source materials used for creation of book..
Three boxes: 10.5x12.5x5 inches each.
Date (bulk): bulk
Abstract: The materials were collected, acquired, and donated to the San Diego Air & Space Museum over a long period of time and used
as background material to create the book Wheels to Wings, in preparation for the Ford Building's 75th anniversary in 2010.
Biographical / Historical
San Diego’s Ford building was constructed in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition and housed the Ford
Motor Company’s industrial and automotive display. Henry Ford invested $2 million to build a showcase for Ford Motor Company’s
1935 line and the V-8 engine. The building was designed by the noted industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague and was a masterpiece
of “Streamline Moderne” architecture. One of the major highlights of the exposition was the Ford “Roads of the Pacific.”
Visitors could take a tour around different Pacific roads in a new Ford V-8 model.
The Ford exhibit closed in 1936 and the building was renamed the Palace of Transportation. While not as successful as the
Ford exhibit, it still remained a popular attraction in 1936.
The San Diego Aerospace Museum, now known as the San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) opened on February 13, 1963 in Balboa
Park’s Food & Beverage Building. It quickly ran out of space and in June of 1965 it moved into the Electric Building. With
the growing collection of airplanes and memorabilia in the Museum and its Library and Archives, the building became overcrowded
and SDASM again needed to move. While plans were underway, on February 22, 1978, the Electric Building burned to the ground
by an arson-caused fire. The Museum staff moved into the basement of the Ford Building. The building was completely renovated
and, on June 28, 1980, it opened its doors as the San Diego Aerospace Museum, exhibiting a growing number of donated and newly
acquired artifacts.
San Diego’s Ford building was one of five buildings designed for the Ford Motor Company to be used as exposition halls during
the 1930s. San Diego is the only Ford building still in existence. The building is registered on the San Diego City Historical
Site Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to research by appointment.
Scope and Contents
Description: Three boxes: 10.5x12.5x5 inches each.
Content notes: Source materials used for creation of book..
Related Materials
San Diego Air and Space Historic Collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ford Building (San Diego)
Balboa Park (San Diego, Calif.)
San Diego Air and Space Museum
Folder 1-- History of Ford Bldg/SDASM, 1935-2011
Physical Description: 1. Citizens Committee Board of Directors.
2. Annual Report, San Diego Aerospace Museum, 1963-64.
3. San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce Annual Yearbook, 1962-1963.
4. Historic Map of Balbo Park.
5. Historical Map of the Aerospace Museum, 1980.
6. Article, “Ford at San Diego,” by David Lewis, 1974.
7. Statement of Edsel Ford.
8. Article, "Ford at the California-Pacific International Exhibition, San Diego, 1935.
9. Balboa Park History, 1979, notes from Richard Amero.
10. Article, “The On-Again Off-Again History of the Ford Building in Balboa Park.
Series II: Research Articles
Folder 2 -- Research and Background Articles for Wheels to Wings (folder 1 of 5)
Physical Description: 1. Article, “1935 California Pacific International Exposition,” David Marshal, 2009. 2. Port Talks, San Diego Unified Port
District, 1978. 3. Article, “Treasure Island: The Magic City," 1939-1940; the story of the Golden Gate International Exposition,
pages 1-136 of 303. 4. Article, “Art: Pacific Pageant,” 1939. 5. Article, “Airways: The history of Commercial Aviation in
the United States,” by Henry Ladd Smith, 1965. 6. V-8 Times July/August 1985 edition.
Folder 3 -- Research and Background Articles for Wheels to Wings (folder 2 of 5)
Physical Description: 1. Article, “Ford at the Fair: Albert Kahn, Walter Teague & the Ford Motor Company Pavilions of the 1930s,” by Rick Soloway.
2. Article, “The Designers Go to the Fair: Walter Dorwin and the Professionalization of Corporate Industrial Exhibits, 1933-1940,”
Roland Marchand.
3. Article, “ ’Streamlining America,’ An Exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan,” by Charles K. Hyde.
4. Article, “Streamlining and American Industrial Design,” by Donald J. Bush, 1974.
5. Article, “The Designers Go to the Fair II: Norman Bel Geddes, The General Motors ‘Futurama,’ and the Visit to the Factory
Transformed,” by Roland Marchand, 1992.
6. Copy of chapter 15 “The On-Again, Off-Again History of the Ford Building in Balboa Park.”
7. Essay, “San Diego’s 1935-1936 Exposition: A Pictorial Essay,” By David Marshall and Irish Engstrand.
8. Copy of chapter 13, “1935-1936 San Diego Invites the World to Balboa Park a Second Time.”
Folder 4 -- Research and Background Articles for Wheels to Wings (folder 3 of 5)
Physical Description: 1. Albert Kahn Papers - photo index from Bentley Historical Library.
2. Walter Dorwin Teague Collection Inventory at Syracuse University.
3. Copies of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone from Firestone website.
4. “Science and Service to Man.”
5. “Frank Sessions’ Performing Steers,” by Earle H. Bowersock.
6. Dick Whittington Studio Collection of Negatives and Photographs Index at the Huntington Library.
7. Foundation News: News of the Early Ford V-8, March/April 2009 edition.
8. Article, “Museum Lights Are Back and Blue All Over.”
9. Article, “Preservationists Sue City Over Ford Dealership,” by Rodger Showley, 2010.
Series II: Research Articles (continued)
Folder 1 -- Research and Background Articles for Wheels to Wings (folder 4 of 5) 1. “The Ford Shows,” by Lorin Sorensen.
Folder 2 -- Research and Background Articles for Wheels to Wings (folder 5 of 5) 1. Biographical Information.
Series III: Research Notes
Folder 3 -- Research Notes for Wheels to Wings 1. Research Notes compiled for the writing of the history of the Ford Building
- Wheels to Wings.
Series IV: Drafts -- Wheels to Wings
Folder 4 -- Drafts -- Wheels to Wings (folder 1 of 2) 1. Tasks and timeline for book. 2. Draft copies, with edits and notes,
of Wheels to Wings: San Diego’s Ford Building.
Folder 5 -- Drafts -- Wheels to Wings (folder 2 of 2) 1. Draft copies, with edits and notes, of Wheels to Wings: San Diego's
Ford Building.
Folder 1 -- Correspondence, Contacts, Printing Prices, and Photo Requests for Wheels to Wings (folder 1 of 2).
Folder 2 -- Correspondence, Contacts, Printing Prices, and Photo Requests for Wheels to Wings (folder 2 of 2).
Folder 3 -- Images Contact Sheet and Postcard -- Wheels to Wings
Series VII: Courtyard Cover
Folder 4 -- Courtyard Cover
Series VII: Courtyard Cover
Folder 5 -- Wheels to Wings Picture Disks
Series IX: Finished Book -- Wheels to Wings