SEATTLE — The Museum of Flight has launched a new online resource for images and research papers that document the growth of the model rocketry industry and other research and developments on rocketry in the latter half of the twentieth century.
The “archival finding aid” is the result of a 14-month effort by museum staffers, who organized its collection of the personal papers, technical drawings and images of rocket engineer, aviator and early model rocket pioneer George Harry Stine, who was essential to the development of the model rocketry industry in the U.S.
Stine’s collection, donated to the museum in 2013, is one of the world’s largest collections of rocketry and associated materials, according to museum officials.
The online resource is a roadmap to this collection, providing detailed information about its organization, the types of materials it contains, and its subject matters.
“Although Harry Stine’s name may not be recognizable to most people, for some he’s known as the father of model rocketry, a technology writer, and a talented science fiction author,” said Museum Senior Curator Matthew Burchette. “The Museum of Flight’s G. Harry Stine Collection is a treasure trove of archival materials that covers a diverse range of topics, including Boeing and early aviation. Stine enabled millions of kids around the world to enjoy the thrill of rocketry and ignited a passion in them for science and engineering that they developed into careers in the spaceflight industry.”
The new online resource also provides access to the Henri Coanda Archives, a resource covering early aeronautics and rocketry from 1914-1965.
The G. Harry Stine Collection
The papers document the personal and professional career of Stine, as well as the founding of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), the growth of the model rocketry industry, and other research and developments on rocketry in the latter half of the twentieth century.
The collection has been organized in six series: I. Model Rocketry, 1957-2008; II. Writings, 1957-1994; III. Aeronautical Research Files, 1918-1994; IV. Personal and Other Professional Work, 1955-1997; V. Slides and Audiovisual Materials, 1946-1992; and VI. Henri Coanda Archives, 1914-1965.
The $100,000 project is funded by the NAR and The Museum of Flight via donations from both NAR and TMOF members and other interested people.
The collection is comprised of three major components: Objects (mostly model rockets, assembled and in kit form), library materials (books, periodicals, and newsletters), and archival materials (research files, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, slides, and oversize materials such as blueprints and original scale drawings). Cataloging and preservation of the objects and library materials is still ongoing and will be completed in 2020.
To view materials from the collection, researchers can make an appointment to come to the museum’s Dahlberg Research Center or request scans of items via MuseumOfFlight.org.
Wow, this brings back so many memories. Back in the ‘60s, Myself and my grade school buddies were totally absorbed by model rocketry and the Space Race. We bought every rocket we could afford from Estes and Centuri, built them and flew them from our “Cape Canaveral” which was a huge field a couple miles from where we lived. Between us we had so many rockets we had to build a wood cart that we attached to my bicycle so we could take everything to the field. We progressed to the point that we designed a rocket around the centuri minimax engines for our 8th grade science fair. We launched a pet mouse in it, filmed it, provided some medical data on the mouse before and after flight from a local vet and won the best project award! Good times!
Mr. Stine was the original co-founder of the NAR, which to me, is one of the cornerstone’s of the hobby. He wrote an IMPRESSIVE handbook, “ The Handbook Of Model Rocketry”, now in it’s 7th Edition (2004). If Mr. Stine is NAR #2, then Vernon D. Estes should be NAR #3. Just my 2 cents.
heh. Vern is actually #380, as he was introduced to the hobby some time after Harry’s company Model Missiles had started selling model rockets. Their motors were originally made by a fireworks manufacturer, and were unreliable. Harry found Vern’s parents in the phone book (they ran a fireworks distributorship) and they referred him to Vern. Harry gave Vern the task of making the motors reliably, and within a few months, he did. So well, in fact, that he could make many more motors than Model Missiles could use, so he went into the model rocket business himself!
Many of the early NAR numbers were assigned as tributes to space program pioneers such as Willy Lea and Wernher Von Braun. Robert Heinlein, the SF author, I believe, has one of the early numbers, as he was Harry’s mentor and good friend, and helped Harry and Barbara when they got married. Of course, the early model rocket flyers got low numbers as well. Harry’s son Bill, now general manager of Estes Industries, was given #24 when he was born!
I’ve been a model rocketeer for 56 years and never knew all that wonderful trivia! We’re in good company, methinks!
Thanks for the info, Roy. I had no clue.
Note that I’m not disagreeing with your assertion that Vern should be, and *is* #3 in the triumvirate that founded the hobby (#1 is Orville Carlisle for inventing the system, #2 is G. Harry for organizing and codifying the hobby, and #3 is Vern for bringing it to the masses.)
That brings back fond memories of looking for my lost Estes rockets! Sure was fun building them and then losing them!