History of science: Aerospace history to be archived in the USA

The National Science Foundation of the USA gave a grant to the Huntington Library over the next two years to archive the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California.

"This project is a great opportunity to capture a piece of history that's endangered," said Daniel Lewis, the Huntington's curator for the history of science.

One of the goals of the researchers is to understand why aerospace took off in Southern California and what that meant for the culture here. The grant will help researchers collect valuable documents such as the thousands of photos from Harvey Christen, one of the first employees of aerospace industry. It will also help them produce oral histories with those who were a part of the industry.

The project is announced to be completed by 2013 while today the Huntington has a temporary exhibit which sheds light on the history of an aerospace industry based on this project.