Collections

The Library & Archives serves as repository for several types of historical and contemporary publications and records, with emphasis on aviation and space flight history. The main focus of the collection is aviation-related materials with an emphasis on those aerospace vehicles, events, and individuals associated with the geographical area of San Diego, California. The major collections are described below.

Books: The Library contains more than 20,000 books in its collection. The books are arranged according to Library of Congress classification numbers. Click here to search AeroCat, the Library & Archives new online catalog.

Special Collections: The Archives also has many collections of documents devoted to particular subjects, organizations or persons. Click here to view information on some of them.

• Organizational Papers: Documents created for corporations or groups such as Ryan Aeronautical (Ryan, 1922-1969 and Teledyne Ryan, 1969-1999) and Convair (Consolidated Aircraft, 1923-1942; Consolidated Vultee (Convair), 1942-1956; General Dynamics, Convair Division, 1956-1996).
• Personal Papers: Documents created and accumulated by individuals and groups, including Charles A. Lindbergh, T. Claude Ryan, Reuben H. Fleet, Admiral Marc Mitscher, John Montgomery, Ed Heinemann, the Ninety-Nines, Oscar Perdomo, T.P. Hall, and Waldo Waterman.

Manuals: Manuals are publications on the technical aspects of an aircraft that have been prepared for pilots and personnel. The Library & Archives currently holds more than 3000 manuals, encompassing commercial, civil and military, foreign and domestic aircraft.

Drawings: The Archives has various types of drawings, including blueprints, vellums, and line art, of aircraft, power plants, and related items. Indexes to the drawings can be viewed in PDF format by clicking here.

Log Books: The Archives has more than 200 flight log books from 1902 to today, including logs of some of history's most noted aviators. A list of the log books can be viewed by clicking on Index of Log Book Collection (PDF)

Film and Audio Archives: The Archives has thousands of feet of never-before seen aviation footage from all over the world, as well as hundreds of commercial videos.

Still Images: The Archives has more than one million images of aircraft, aerospace personalities, events, equipment, and places of historical importance to aviation. Prints, negatives, and slides are included in the collection. Approximately 2 percent of the collection has been digitized. For further information concerning the Museum's image collection, click on Still Images.