Descriptive Summary
Scope and Contents of Collection
Organization and Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Phillip H. Ault Aviation Collection
Dates: 1898-1992 and undated
Collection number: H.Mss.0046
Creator:
Ault, Phillip H.
Extent:
1.4 Linear Feet
(1 document box, 1 flat box)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges 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.
Language of Material:
Languages represented in the collection: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special
Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Phillip H. Ault Aviation Collection (H.Mss.0046). Special
Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services,
Claremont, CA.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
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.
Accruals
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, June 2004.
Biography / Administrative History
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 Contents 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.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has been organized into the following series:
- Series 1: Lindbergh Photographs, 1927-1992
- Series 2: Photographs and other materials to illustrate
By the Seat of Their
Pants
, 1898-1977 and undated
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Aeronautical sports -- History
Aeronautics -- History
Aeronautics -- History -- Juvenile literature
Air mail service -- United States
Airplane racing -- History
Ault, Phillip H.
Corrigan, Douglas
Earhart, Amelia
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus)
Spirit of St. Louis (Airplane)
Genre and Form of Materials
Drawing
Prints