Instrument Flight Check, Aug. 1943

The Dr. Malcolm L. Ritchie Collection contains information pertaining to Dr. Ritchie's life as well as his career, information regarding his genealogy, service in WWII, books he has written, as well as reports and reference materials. The materials that pertain to his career deal with aeronautic and automobile engineering as well as information relating to psychology and the effects on the human body due to machines.

Series I, Personal, spans the years 1940 to 2006. It is made up of personal information relating to Dr. Ritchie. Personal items include 6 subseries. Subseries I A consists of two basic documents relating to Dr. Ritchie. Subseries I B: documents his undergraduate, graduate, and teaching career in the academic field. Subseries I C: contains notes of a religious theme. Subseries I D: contains information about Dr. Ritchie's career in the United States Military. Subseries I E: is a collection of awards won by Dr. Ritchie. The final section contains miscellaneous items that were in Dr. Ritchie's collection, all of them related to aviation..

Series II, Genealogy, spans the years 1970-2005. It is made up of genealogical research performed by Dr. Ritchie. The collection is divided into two subseries. Subseries A contains research information on particular surnames. Subseries B contains reference materials, such as books.

Series III, Family Photographs, spans the years 1940s to 1970s, and one file from 2008. The first two photographs in Box 8 Files 14 and 15 were loose photographs. Box 9 contains photographs from a family album and has retained the original order from the album.

Series IV, Family Slides, spans the years 1955 to 1972. The slides consist of family gatherings as well as vacations.

Series V, Correspondence, spans the years 1950 to 2002, and contains religion, professional, and personal topics. The series is arranged in chronological order.

Series VI, Job Applications, spans the years 1957 to 1981. It includes 7 job application forms for various positions.

Series VII, Ritchie Inc, spans the years 1956 to the dissolution of Ritchie Inc in 2001. The series consists of papers that document the financial, and day to day management of the company. Box 18 File 1 contains the seal press to make Ritchie Inc seals.

Series VIII, Ritchie Inc Research/Reference, spans the years 1954 to 1992. The series contains a variety of items relating to Ritchie Inc and its research. This also includes photographs of a leased 1956 Piper Apache (Box 19 File 2).

Series IX, Malcolm L. Ritchie Writings and Publications, spans the years 1952 to 1992. The bulk of the writings are from the 1970s. The series is a large collection of Dr. Ritchie's professional contributions to the engineering community. Also in the collection are two later books put out by Dr. Ritchie about Ray Cheville (Box 26 Files 1 and 2).

Series X, Ritchie Inc Publications and Reports, spans the years 1957 to 1983. The series is a collection of reports written and/or published by members of Ritchie Inc. Reports by members of Ritchie Inc also appear in

Series XI, however they are a part of different journals. Series XI, Reports, spans the years 1949 to 1990 with majority of the collection centered between the 1960s and 70s. The reports relate to Dr. Ritchie's career as an engineer and with psychological aspects of his research. The reports are broken into several subseries. The first four subseries are arranged by agency that created the records. They are chronologically arranged, and when dates are the same, they are further arranged alphabetically. Oversized reports are physically located in an oversized box, however, descriptions are found in the proper subseries.

Subseries II A, Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories, contains reports that were created in 1967 with the exception of the last report created in 1970. The reports subjects range from the affects diets have on the human body in different aeronautic situations to the ejection speeds effect on the human spinal column. The reports overall concern is with medical issues and the relationship to aeronautics. Subseries II B, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine Aerospace Medical Division, is centered on the year 1967. Similar to Subseries A, Subseries B deals with medical topics concerning aeronautics. The reports also deal with the psychological aspects of medical research. Topics such as the psychological effect of sleep deprivation as well as Human Physiologic Response to Prolonged Rotation and Angular Acceleration. Subseries II C, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contain reports spanning the years 1965 to 1976, with one report from 1991. The reports are concerned with the mechanical aspect of aeronautic travel. The reports are arranged in chronological order. Subseries II D, Wright Air Development Center, contains reports from 1959. The reports relate to the medical aspect of flight rather than a mechanical aspect. The reports are arranged in chronological order. Subseries II E, Other, is arranged in alphabetical order by the report number listed on the report. There is no particular theme to the reports. The reports span the period 1960s-1990s. There may be two or three reports produced by the same organization, however to have a separate subseries the number was set at four.

Series XII, Journals, Articles, Misc Papers, contains papers that Dr. Ritchie collected over his career. The articles are arranged in chronological order. The earliest is from 1958, while the bulk covers the 1960s, and one article from 1990. The series has no particular theme, but covers mechanical as well as medical and psychological themes. Several articles are located in an oversized box. These articles are listed in the finding aid with a reference to the oversized location.

Series XIII, Reference, contains reference materials used by Dr. Ritchie. The topics vary. The information is arranged chronologically. The time span is 1959-1990, with the bulk in the 1960s, and one item from 1990.

Series XIV, Microfilm and Slides, contains primarily technical reports on microfilm and a small collection of slides. The information on the microfilm has not been viewed; however, the technical report number is listed in the finding aid. The slides are also labeled.

Series XV, Audiovisual, contains a video recording of Dr. Ritchie giving a talk in 2014 about his World War II Nightfighter experiences.