Wright Brothers Collection (MS-1)

When Orville Wright passed away on Jan. 30, 1948, his will stated that the executors should select which institution or institutions they deemed appropriate to receive the papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Library of Congress was chosen to receive a major portion of the collection. They examined the material, selecting approximately 100 printed items to supplement their own holdings in aeronautics, 303 glass plate negatives of photographs documenting the Brothers' aeronautical achievements, and correspondence between the Wrights and Octave Chanute, as well as other individuals involved in aeronautics at that time. The Library of Congress also selected additional photographs documenting the Wrights' family life and correspondence between family members.

The remaining books, journals, and pamphlets accumulated by the Wright Brothers remained with their estate. Thousands of positive prints, many made directly from the glass plates selected by the Library of Congress, along with other prints sent to the Wrights by other photographers, remained in Dayton, along with numerous albums, certificates and awards. The collection also included the papers of their father, Bishop Milton Wright, consisting of his diaries, correspondence, essays, church papers, and genealogical files. Also still in the estate were the financial records of the Wrights and a variety of family papers documenting the activities of Wright family members. After the removal of the materials to the Library of Congress, the four children of Lorin Wright, brother to Wilbur and Orville Wright, each made a token payment of $100 to purchase equal shares, settling the estate. Thus Milton Wright, Horace Wright, Ivonette Wright Miller, and Leontine Wright Jameson inherited the remaining Wright papers, as well as other property, such as the Wright mansion, Hawthorn Hill, in the Dayton suburb of Oakwood. The papers came into the possession of Ivonette Wright Miller, who served as semi-official Wright family historian, and whose husband, Harold S. Miller, was a co-executor of the estate.

The Millers, as well as the other Wright heirs, desired that the papers remain in the Dayton area in a repository conducive to research and exhibition. When Wright State University expressed interest in acquiring the papers, the family responded positively. On May 2, 1974, a preliminary deposit agreement between the heirs and the University was executed. The collection was loaned to the University and an appraisal was requested. On Dec. 19, 1975, a final deed of gift was signed by Ivonette Wright Miller, Leontine Wright Jameson, Horace A. Wright, Milton Wright, Jr., and Wilkinson Wright, making the Department of Special Collections and Archives in the Wright State University Libraries the permanent repository for the remainder of the papers from the Wright Family.