GUIDE TO THE LIEUTENANT THEODORE G. ELLYSON PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM
[REPRODUCTION]
GUIDE TO THE LIEUTENANT THEODORE G. ELLYSON PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM [REPRODUCTION]
San Diego Historical Society
Booth Historical Photograph Archives
COLLECTION TITLE:
Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson Photograph Album [Reproduction].
COLLECTION NUMBER:
C045.
CREATOR(S):
Theodore G. Ellyson.
DATES OF MATERIAL:
1909-1912.
EXTENT:
2 v. (80 photographic prints); 29 x 45 cm.
LOCAL CONTROL NUMBERS:
Photographic prints: OP14235/0-77.
REPOSITORY:
San Diego Historical Society
Booth Historical Photograph Archives
P.O. Box 81825
San Diego, CA 92138
1-619-232-6203
ACQUISITION INFORMATION:
Loan for copy from the Smithsonian Institution, the Alfred Victor Verville Collection in the National Air and Space Museum, [1980?].
RESTRICTIONS:
Open for research.
GENERAL NOTES:
This collection consists of photographic prints made from copy negatives of pages in the original photograph album, arranged in original order, attached to hinges, and bound in two volumes. Volume one includes part of a typed manuscript, “T.G. Ellyson and the First Navy Wings” (author unknown). Typed captions are on most pages. The original photograph album is in the Alfred Victor Verville Collection in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
BIOGRAPHICAL OR HISTORICAL NOTE:
Pioneer Naval aviator, Theodore Gordon Ellyson was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1885. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1905 and then served at sea aboard several ships, including the USS Pennsylvania , until late 1910. After promotion to Lieutenant and a brief assignment commanding the submarine USS Seal , he was ordered to report to Glenn Curtiss's flight training school at North Island in San Diego, California. From 1911-1912, Ellyson devoted all his time to active flying and experimental aviation while training with Curtiss at North Island and Hammondsport, New York. Some years later, he was officially designated as the U.S. Navy's first aviator. Commander Ellyson was killed in an airplane crash in 1928.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:
This is a reproduction of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson's photograph album documenting his flight training with Glenn Curtiss from 1911-1912 and the early years of aviation. It includes photographs of Ellyson and pioneer aviators Glenn Curtiss, Eugene Ely, Lincoln Beachey, Charles Witmer, Robert St. Henry, and others; Curtiss's flying schools at North Island and Hammondsport; Curtiss airplanes on the ground, on the water, and in flight, including the “Grass Cutter” used for training, the hydroplane or seaplane, and the A-1, the U.S. Navy's first airplane; the USS Pennsylania in San Diego Bay hoisting Curtiss's seaplane aboard ship; airplane engines, airplane crashes, and air meets. It also includes images of the submarine USS Seal and Chief Iodine posing with Glenn Curtiss.
SUBJECTS INDEXED:
Ellyson, Theodore Gordon, 1885-1928.
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878-1930.
Aeronautics – California – San Diego.
Airplanes – California – San Diego.
Air pilots – California – San Diego.
Flight training – California – San Diego.
Naval aviation.
CONTENTS LIST:
Box 1
Volume One
Photocopy of typed manuscript, “Part II- T.G. Ellyson and the First Navy Wings” (author unknown).
OP 14235/0-36
Curtiss biplane on the San Diego Aviation Field; Curtiss hydroplane on the ground, at sea, in flight; Captain Pond and Eugene Ely; Aviation Meet at the Coronado Polo Grounds, 1911; North Island hangars; four cylinder practice machine; Lincoln Beachey; D.C. Collier and Harry Harkness; Williard and Lt. Fickel; Glen Curtiss at the San Diego Aviation Field; airplane hoisted aboard USS Pennsylvania ; “Grass Cutter” plane; Charles Witmer; Theodore G. Ellyson; Mimic Fort, San Diego, 1911; testing wireless receiving set; Curtiss engine; Curtiss' First Army and Navy School students; Harness' “Antoinette” airplane.
Volume Two
OP 14235/37-77
Ellyson, Towers, McClaskey in Hammondsport, 1911; Navy hydroplane, Hammondsport, 1911; hydroplane on water; Miss Vera Benn and Ellyson aboard a hydroplane; airplane engines; airplane crashes; Ellyson launching airplane from a wire; Curtiss and Ellyson with a dual controlled plane; flying planes in Los Angeles, 1911; St. Henry in his airplane, North Dakota, 1911; several aviators with their planes; Willoughby hydroplane; USS Seal ; Chief Iodine at the wheel of a plane.
