The Archives Reference Collection in the NASA Ames History Office provides a sampling of materials that span the history of the Center from its origins in December 1939 through 2005. This collection presents the best general overview of the activities, people, research and development, and organization of the NASA Ames Research Center. Emphasized are photographs, news clippings, brochures, and administrative reports that provide the level of detail needed to answer a query about some subject in Ames history.

The Ames Aeronautical Laboratory was the second laboratory of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA). It was located in Mountain View, California, adjacent to the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field. Construction began on December 20, 1939, starting with the flight research building, various wind tunnels, technical services facilities, and an administration building. The center was christened Ames Aeronautical Laboratory to honor Dr. Joseph Sweetman Ames, the chairman of NACA from 1927 to 1939 and a staunch advocate for basic scientific research and the responsibility of the federal government in training people for it. Responsibility for organizing the center rested with Smith J. DeFrance, who served as Center Director from 1940 to 1965, and Jack Parsons, who served as his assistant director for those years. DeFrance attracted to Ames some the brightest aeronautical engineers, encouraged them to build test facilities to prove their ideas, and then gave them freedom to pursue useful and exciting work.

Number of containers: 3 filing cabinets

Volume: approximately 30 cubic feet

Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-government material, researcher must contact the original creator.

Collection is open for research.