Membership Card, Soaring Eagles, Undated

The collection contains a variety of materials documenting Victor Rickard’s aviation activities, including photographs, pilot’s licenses and identification cards, newspaper clippings, and video footage.

The collection includes several photographs, some original and some reproductions, and most dating from the 1920s through 1940s. The original photographs include one photo each of Victor Rickard during his World War I and World War II service, as well as several aircraft photographs. Of particular note is an oversize photo depicting a pilot (perhaps Rickard) in a biplane, surrounded by a crowd. The biplane has an advertisement for Hotpoint appliances on the side, and it appears to be carrying a 1930s era Hotpoint oven in the passenger seat of the plane. (Hotpoint was owned by General Electric at that time period.)

Pilot’s licenses and other identification cards (dated 1925-1956, 2003) provide additional photographs, as well as physical descriptions, fingerprints, and other identifying information about Victor Rickard. His original pilot’s license from 1925 is signed by Orville Wright.

Newspaper clippings dating from the mid-1920s until Rickard’s death in 2005 cover his various activities as a pilot, both in a contemporary reporting of events at the time, as well as in recollections via interviews with Rickard and in his obituary. Extensive biographical information can be found in these articles.

Articles and documents related to specific events or activities have in some cases been separated to their own folders, including Schenectady Rotary, the Aviation Pioneer Award (1991), and the dedication of a new kiosk about Rickard at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum at the Schenectady Airport (2007). The kiosk dedication file also includes a PowerPoint file of 50 slides presented at the event (see ms555_e0003).

The collection also contains video, with explanatory documentation from Clifford Sagendorf. One VHS labeled “Victor Rickard (Forstell Video Productions)” contains video from original home movie films captured by Victor Rickard, including construction of Schenectady Airport; footage of vacations (some by airplane) including Miami, Florida (beach and aerial footage); and stunt flying of various aircraft. This VHS was digitized by the family and is available in the collection as ms555_e0001. A second VHS tape is a mass-produced history of Vermont, which includes some footage of serious flooding in 1927, with which Victor Rickard assisted. And finally, a second DVD (ms555_e0002) contains a video history project created by Rickard’s great-niece Erika.