86 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



Wright brothers' aircraft, six of their engines, numerous scale models, 

 and other related specimens, an associated project to procure significant 

 pictorial material is well justified. Remarkable progress as been made 

 tliis year in acquiring and correlating photographs of the Wright 

 brothers, of historic events associated with their accomplislmients, 

 views of their aircraft in flight and on land or water, and technical de- 

 tails of their aircraft, engines, launching gear, instruments, and other 

 devices. Excellent cooperation has been received from Underwood & 

 Underwood, the New York Times, Culver Service, Frederick Lewis, 

 European Picture Service, Brown Brothers, and the Institute of Aero- 

 nautical Sciences. S. W. Dunham, of Bellbrook, Ohio, and M. W. 

 Todd, of Dayton, have been very cooperative, as have numerous other 

 collectors and historians throughout America and Europe. As a re- 

 sult of this widespread interest in assembling in one appropriate place 

 a complete record, the Museum's Wright brothers' pictorial collection 

 has tripled in size this year and may be said to be the largest of its 

 kind, although considered about tliree-fourths complete. It now 

 numbers about 2,500 prints. Many interesting facts about the Wright 

 brothers, biographical, technical, and historical, have come to light 

 through this research, and as one direct result the series of 25 scale 

 exhibition models of Wright types is nearing completion and becom- 

 ing a valuable accessory to the original aircraft, further expanding 

 public knowledge about the accomplishments of these famous pioneers 

 of the air. 



THE LINK FOUNDATION 



In January 1954 an announcement was made by Edwin A. Link, 

 chairman of the board of Link Aviation, Inc., Binghamton, N. Y., 

 that the Link Foundation had been established to advance training 

 and education in aeronautics. The Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution was appointed a member of the Technical Assistance Board, 

 and Miss Marilyn Link, sister of the founder, is executive secretary. 

 Her office is at the Smithsonian Institution. One of the first grants 

 by the Link Foundation was to the Smithsonian, to be applied to 

 the preparation and publication of a booklet describing 12 of the 

 famous aircraft in the collection. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN REFERENCE MATERIAL 



During the Secretaryship of Dr. Samuel P. Langley, third head of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1906, he began collecting aero- 

 nautical books and reference material. Later, extracts from periodi- 

 cals and newspaper articles collected during the first decade of this 

 century by Alexander Graham Bell were added. Thus the Smith- 

 sonian became rich in data pertaining to the early days of aviation. 

 This library is constantly expanding. During 1953 a number of cur- 

 rent books, as well as earlier editions, were added, and the periodical 



