SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



been suggested that you might be willing to deposit one of your 

 machines, or a model thereof, for exhibition purposes. 



The great public interest manifested in this science and the 

 numerous inquiries from visitors for the Wright machine make it 

 manifest that if one were placed on exhibition here it would form 

 one of the most interesting specimens in the national collections. 

 It is sincerely hoped that you may find it possible to accede to this 

 request. 



With kindest regards, I am 



Very truly yours, 



Charles D. Walcott, 

 Mr. Wilbur Wright, Secretary. 



Dayton, Ohio. 



Dayton, Ohio, 

 March 26, 1910. 

 Mr. Charles D. Walcott, 

 Washington, D. C. 



My dear Dr. Walcott : 



Your letter of the 7th of this month has been received. If you 

 will inform us just what your preference would be in the matter of 

 a flier for the National Museum we will see what would be possible 

 in the way of meeting your wishes. At present nothing is in con- 

 dition for such use. But there are three possibilities. We might 

 construct a small model showing the general construction of the 

 airplane, but with a dummy power plant. Or we can reconstruct 

 the 1903 machine with which the first flights were made at Kitty 

 Hawk. Most of the parts are still in existence. This machine would 

 occupy a space 40 feet by 20 feet by 8 feet. Or a model showing 

 the general design of the latter machine could be constructed. 



Yours truly, 



Wilbur Wright. 



Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington, U. S. A., 



April II, 1910. 

 Dear Mr. Wright : 



Yours of March 26th came duly to hand, and the matter of the 

 representation of the Wright airplane has l)een very carefully con- 

 sidered by Mr. George C. Maynard, who has charge of the Division 

 of Technology in the National Museum. I told him to indicate 

 what he would like for the exhibit, in order that the matter might 



