The San Diego Air & Space Museum’s Library & Archives has received over one hundred donations of archival material in the past couple of years. Many of these items are significant to aerospace history. Items are integrated into the Museum’s collection in various ways depending on the creator, historical context, and preservation requirements.

Our extensive Library & Archives collection is a treasure trove that we continually enrich by adding to our diverse subject files. These files cover a broad spectrum of topics related to aerospace history and technology, and, unlike archival Special Collections, they can accommodate new material at any time. The items in our subject files are a fascinating mix of content and format, often including unique and rare material.

For example, in 2022, we received a donation of early Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) books, documents, drawings, and ephemera related to airships. A private collector assembled this impressive collection over the past few decades, acquiring many items at private auctions and other retail outlets. The donation included letters from Ferdinand von Zeppelin with his original signature, large-scale blueprints for the metal framework of a French rigid airship from 1913, and documents from the early commercialization of dirigible services, such as the Graf Zeppelin.

A selection of images from this donation can be viewed below and on our Flickr page. 

Valuable documents and ephemera from donation items such as this don’t just sit idly in our subject files; they are used to supplement exhibits, for research and education, and reproduced in publication. Rare archival material, such as in this donation, has transformed our subject files from general reference repositories into unparalleled archival collections, thanks to the generosity of our donors.

If you would like to donate an item to the Museum, please fill out the inquiry form on our website. Please note that the Museum is not equipped to accept walk-in donations of collection materials.