Boyland Trail, 1930s

The Fred F. Marshall Papers document the life of a man who was a major contributor to aviation research and history in the 20th century. Through these papers, researchers may gain insight into photo journalism during World War I, aviation innovation and history, as well as community life and issues in Dayton, Ohio, during the 20th century.

Series I, Personal Papers, includes two subseries. The contents document Marshall's personal life, military career, and various activities. Subseries IA, General Papers, contains correspondence dealing with family and personal matters dating from 1940 to 1974. Materials are arranged chronologically by date. Subseries IB, Military Service, contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, and general information about Marshall's military service.

Series II, Writings and Publications, contains correspondence, rough drafts, final drafts, records, broadsides, magazines, posters, and a map. It is arranged primarily chronologically. Then, as the feature stories have no dates, each file contains one feature story. The stories are divided into: fiction, Indian stories, conservation activities, individual men of the Dayton area, and a variety of poems. Each file containing one story is arranged with correspondence in the beginning, then rough drafts, and final drafts at the end. This series also contains the rough and final drafts of The Wright Brothers Chronology, layouts, and the final story in the "Sunday Magazine", as well as the copyright claim of the Chronology.

Series III, General Aviation, contains correspondence, magazines, and newspaper clippings covering Fred Marshall's interest in aviation as well as his work with the Aviation Hall of Fame and McCook Field. Material is arranged chronologically.

Series IV, Slipstream, contains correspondence, telegrams, cards, membership applications for "Slipstream", broadsides, volumes of "Slipstream", and individual issues. Marshall's The Wright Brothers Chronology is serialized and published in three issues of "Slipstream". The volumes are cataloged and shelved with the aviation books.

Series V, PESCO, contains correspondence, certificates, blue books, address books, yearbooks, a wallet, receipts, and cards all dealing with Fred Marshall's work at the Pump Engineering Services Company. Complete information concerning the trial of Marshall in the Renegotiation Act, with exhibits and trial outcome is included.

Series VI, Audiovisual, contains four subseries. This series contains a number of photographs, negatives, records, and scrapbooks created by Fred Marshall during his lifetime and serves to document his various activities. This series should be cross-referenced with the other series in the collection.

Subseries VIA, Photographs, contain photographs that pertain to Marshall's life. Included are photographs of Fred F. Marshall, Faith Marshall, the Marshall home, the Marshall log cabin, photographs from Marshall's feature stories, World War I, aviation, the Wright brothers, and PESCO. Photographs are arranged by subject and are organized as chronologically as possible.

Subseries VIB, Negatives, contain negatives that belonged to Fred Marshall. Most of these negatives accompany prints that are housed in the collection. These negatives should be cross-referenced with subseries VIA and VIC.

Subseries VIC, Records, contains five records. Three are duplicates of the "Miami River Valley Songs".

Subseries VID, Scrapbooks, contains eight scrapbooks that document Marshall's personal life. Contents range from vacations to family life to poetry to articles about dogs, and also includes Marshall's writings. Scrapbooks are arranged chronologically and by subject. Items that have fallen out of the scrapbooks are separated and located in Box 14.

Series VII, Memorabilia contains three subseries. Subseries VIIA, General, Contains travel maps, vacation souvenirs, brochures, menus, postcards, and other memorabilia that Fred and other members of the Marshall family collected. Subseries VIIB, Rose Society contains ribbons, correspondence, and newspaper clippings relating to Fred Marshall's botanical hobby. Subseries VIIC, Artifacts, contains three items: Fred's Masonic Bible and two awards.