The Dream

Myth and Religion

• [Elijah in the flying chariot] in Biblia. Dordrecht: H. Keuer, 1702. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (1)
• Manuscript of talismans and tattoos from Burma. Nineteenth century. Steatite chalk on black paper. Asian Division, Library of Congress (2)
• Icarus at merito, cum petat alta, cadit, seventeenth century. Etching with engraving. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (5.1)
• Petrus Apianus. Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetvstatis. Ingolstadt: Petrus Apianus, 1534. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (6)

Winged Figures

• “E.D.Palmer's The Spirit's Flight,” 1854–1860. Daguerreotype. Gift of Henry K. Bush-Brown. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (7)
• Paul Albert Besnar. Souscrivez pour Hâter la Paix par la Victoire. 3e Emprunt de la Défense Nationale. Paris : Maquet Gr., 1917. Lithograph. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (9)
• Gramota—put' k kommunizmu (Literacy—the Path to Communism) USSR, 1920. Photo-mechanical print with halftone color. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (10)
• Marcia Brown. The Flying Carpet. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1956. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (11)
• [Phaeton in Chariot] in Dante Alighieri. La Commedia. Venice: Petrus de Plasis, 1491. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (12)
• Albrecht Dürer. [Winged Venus] in Sebastian Brant. Das Narrenschiff. Basel: Johann Bergmann, de Olpe, 1494. Woodcut. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (13.1)
• William Blake. [Winged Time] in Edward Young. The Complaint, and the Consolation, or, Night Thoughts. London: R. Noble for R. Edwards, 1797. Hand-colored engraving. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (21)

Early Science

• I Manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci Sul Volo degli Uccelli e Varie Altre Materie. Paris: E. Rouveyre, 1893. Facsimile folio. General Collections (22.1)
• Louis Guillaume de La Follie. La philosophe sans pretention. Paris: Clousier, 1775. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (19)
• Francesco Lana Terzi. Prodromo: Overo, Saggio di alcune inventioni nuove premesso all'Arte maestra. Brescia: Rizzardi, 1670. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (24)
• Exp[é]rience a[ë]rostatique faite Versailles le 19 sept. 1783. Hand-colored etching, 1783. Tissandier Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (29)

Ballooning Firsts

• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) to Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), November 21, 1783. Holograph letter. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9 Page 10 - Page 11 - Page 12. Tissandier Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (30)
• Premier Voyage Aerien . . . sous la direction de Mr. Montgolfier . . . , 1783. Hand-colored etching. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (108)
• Expérience du globe aerostatique du MM. Charles et Robert au Jardin des Thuileries le 1er décembre 1783. Paris: Chez Esnauts et Rapilly . . . , 1783. Hand-colored etching. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (31)
• J. A. C. Charles. “Memoire de M. Charles sur L'aerostatique,” ca. 1784. Holograph manuscript. Tissandier Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (32)
• Balloon fragment from first fatal balloon flight, June 15, 1785. Album. Tissandier Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (34)
• Mort de Pilâtre de Rosier [Rozier] et de Romain. . . . Boulogne, France: ca. 1785–1820. Stipple engraving. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (35)
• Premier descent en parachute, 1797. Gouache and watercolor. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (107)
• Mr. Blanchard . . . est parti de Douvres. . . , 1785. Hand-colored etching. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (109)
• W. Walton, printer. The First Carrieage, the “Ariel.” London: Ackerman & Co., 1843. Hand-colored lithograph. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (110)

Lighter Than Air

• Attributed to Albert Tissandier. [Lunar halo and luminescent cross observed during the balloon Zénith's long distance flight from Paris to Arcachon in March, 1875.] Drawing on blue paper: ink wash, lead white, and graphite. Tissandier Collection, Prints and Photographs Division. (115)
• [Collecting cards with pictures of events in ballooning history from 1783 to 1846.] Paris: Romanet & cie., imp. Edit [between 1890 and 1900]. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (116)
• J. Duruof. Le tricolore - Page 2. Paris: Imp. E. Hamelin rue Fontaine au roi 59, 1874. Lithograph. Landauer Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (117)

Dirigibles and Gliders

• “Sir George Cayley's Aerial Carriage,” in Mechanics' Magazine, April 8, 1843. General Collections (36)
• Aerostat a Vapeur de M. Giffard (Expérience de 25 septembre 1852) Lithograph. Giffard Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (37)
• |[Drawing of dirigibles]. Pencil on paper, ca. 1852. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4. Giffard Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (38)
• James Means. The Problem of Manflight. Boston, Massachusetts: W.B. Clark & Co., 1894. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (111)
• Otto Lilienthal. Der Vogelflug als Grundlage de Fliegekunst. Munich and Berlin: R. Oldenbourg, 1910. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (112a)
• Octave Chanute. Photographs of Chanute glider being flown over dunes on Lake Michigan, 1896. Photo album. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (39)

The Achievement

Wright Family

• S.T. Wiggins, photographer. Orville Wright, 1881. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (40.1)
• Wilbur Wright, ca. 1880. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.2)
• Milton Wright, ca. 1883. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40)
• Susan Koerner Wright, 1876. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio ( 40.4)
• S.T. Wiggins, Katharine Wright, 1879. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.5)
• Wilbur and Orville on porch in Dayton, 1909. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (40.3)
• Orville Wright to Milton Wright, April 1881. Postcard. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (41)
• Front view of 7 Hawthorn Street with bicycle, Dayton, Ohio, ca. 1900. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (44)
• Orville Wright, publisher, and Wilbur Wright, editor. The West Side News, 1889. Dayton, Ohio. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (45)
• Wilbur Wright working in the bicycle shop, 1897. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (46)
• Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 12, 1894. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4. Holograph letter on Wright Cycle Company stationery. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (47)

Inspiration and Experiments

• Vernon. “ The Flying Man: Otto Lilienthal's Flying Machine” in McClure's Magazine. September 1894. General Collections (49)
• Orville Wright. Pénaud-style ornithopter. Drawn from memory, ca. 1929. Carbon copy. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (51)
• W.J. Tate to Wilbur Wright, August 18, 1900. Page 2. Holograph letter Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (55)
• Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 9, 1900. Holograph letter Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (57)
• Wright kite being flown by tethers, 1900. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (61)
• Wrights' 1899 Kite, 1920. Defense evidence from trial. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (56)
• Wilbur Wright notebook, September—October 1900. Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (58)
• Glider being flown as a kite by Wilbur Wright (left) and Orville Wright (right), 1901. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (62)
• Kitchen at Kitty Hawk, 1902. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (63.1)
• Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, October 6, 1901, Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (64) with enclosed sketches on wallpaper scraps. Scrap 2 - Scrap 3. Holograph letter. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (65a,b)
• Sheets with tables of wind tunnel data. Enclosed in a letter from Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, January 5, 1902. Manuscript pages. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (69)
• Wright glider in flight, 1902. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (68)

Wrights in Flight

• Wilbur Wright to Katharine Wright, December 14, 1903. Holograph letter. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (72)
• John T. Daniels. First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m., Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 17, 1903. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (74)
• Orville piloting the third flight of December 17, 1903, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (76)
• Distant view of the Wright airplane just after landing. . . . This flight, the fourth and final of December 17, 1903, was the longest: 852 feet covered in 59 seconds. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (77)
• [Photo album belonging to Orville Wright]. Page 2. Wright Collection, Prints and Photographs Division. (113)
• “Airship that Flew in North Carolina, and its Inventors.” Chicago Sunday Tribune, December 20, 1903. Newspaper clipping. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division. (80)
• Orville Wright to Octave Chanute, December 28, 1903. Holograph letter. Page 2 - Page 3 Page 4 - Page 5. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (81)

First Flight

• Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 13, 1900. Holograph letter. Page 2 - Page 3 Page 4 - Page 5. Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (52)
• Orville Wright to Milton Wright, December 17, 1903. Telegram. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (73)
• Orville Wright's diary entry of December 17, 1903. Holograph manuscript. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (78)
• John T. Daniels. The first flight of December 17, 1903. Photograph printed by Orville Wright. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (75)
• Fabric from the wing of the 1903 machine. Muslin. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (79)
• Orville Wright, 1904 diary. Wright Papers. Manuscript Division. (92)

Showing the World

• Wilbur and Orville relaxing at Huffman Prairie, 1904. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (82)
• Wilbur's diary showing first circular flight, 1904. Holograph manuscript. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (83)
• Orville flying . . . Huffman Prairie, 1905. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (85)
• Patent for Wright Flying Machine. May 22, 1906. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (86)
• J.C. Bates, U.S. War Department, to Wilbur and Orville Wright, October 16, 1905. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (88)
• K. Tachibana, War Department of Japan, to Wright Cycle Company, July 18, 1906. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (90)
• U.S. Signal Corps. War Department Purchase Order, February 10, 1908. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (93)
• L'Aviation en 1908. Mr. O. Berg with Mr. Wilbur Wright. Postcard. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (91a)
• Admission tickets for demonstration flights by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans, France, 1908. Reverse side of ticket Manuscript Division, Wright Papers (94)
• [Wilbur Wright in Europe.] Postcards, ca. 1908–1909. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (94.1–9)s
• Wilbur Wright flying Wright Model A over an ox-drawn cart in Pau, France, 1909. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (95)
• First flight for Katharine Wright, seated in plane with Wilbur; Orville standing to left, in Pau France, 1909. Photograph. Mabel Beck Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (96)
• Orville's crash which killed Selfridge, September 1908. Copyprint. Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University (99)
• Orville Wright flying a successful flight at Fort Meyer, 1909. Copyprint. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (101.1)
• Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, September 28, 1908. Postcard. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (101)

Homecoming

• “A New Kind of Gull in New York Harbor” in Harper's Weekly, October 9, 1909. Copyprint. Courtesy of Harpweek LLC (104)
• Dayton Homecoming Celebration Pennant. Felt with printing, 1909. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (105)
• Poster from Dayton Homecoming, June 17–18, 1909. Wright Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (106)

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