Wright Company Glass Plate Negative Collection

Series I, The Wright Company Factory, consists of 19 glass plate 5”x7” negatives and 1 nitrate film negative of different departments in the factory, with employees at work. Most of the images are from the Wright Company’s Home Road location in Dayton, Ohio. Frank Quinn, James Davis, Dan Farrell, Bill Conover, and Ida Holdgreve are identified in this series. Series II, Wright School of Aviation, contains many posed photographs of men either standing next to or sitting in a Wright airplane. There are also images of Wright airplanes in flight. The following men are found in this series: Steinway, Harry Harold, Arthur L. Welsh, Ralph Johnstone, Archibald Hoxsey, Frank Coffyn, Walter Brookins, and James Davis. Series III, Early Flight, consists of ten images of the first flight, other Kitty Hawk images, and the Wright Flyer in flight.

Series IV, Celebrations and Aviation Events, consists of five images, including Claude Grahame’s landing on Executive Avenue in Washington D.C., and the Wright Homecoming Celebration of 1909, as well as a few other unidentified events. There are also images of Max Morehouse and Roy Knabenshue.

Series V, Children, consists of images of a few children. The majority of the images are studio images, but a few appear less formal. The children are unidentified; however, the name Hermes is written on a few of the glass plates.

Series VI, Reference Prints of Negatives, consists of 8”x10” prints of the negatives in the collection. They are arranged in order of Series I through V and are numbered on the reverse of the photograph. Researchers are encouraged to use the prints in this series in place of the fragile negatives.