Historic Photographs

Students moving Wright B flyer at Huffman Prairie Flying Field.  c.1910.
(Click for a larger image).

NPS Photo

The park has a collection of over 3,000 photographs; many copies were acquired to support museum operations, while others were donated to be preserved by the National Park Service. The bulk of original photographs document the development of Dayton's national park, park events, the rehabilitation of the park's historic structures, and the west Dayton community.

Galleries

 

Wright Family photographs dona...

6 Images

In 1996, Marianne Miller Hudec, Lorin Wright’s granddaughter and grandniece of the Wright brothers, and the last surviving Wright family member to personally know Orville, donated these family photographs to the park.

Photos of Dayton Aviation Heri...

4 Images

Photographs from an envelope sent from Brad Tillson to Jerry Sharkey, postmarked on August 22, 1990 in Dayton, Ohio. Black and white photographs of Dayton Aviation’s four original sites, c. 1990. Jerry Sharkey Papers, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. These hi-resolution photos relating to the park are for the public and the public media. All photos are in the public domain. Citation "NPS Photo" should be used if if photos are downloaded and used elsewhere.

Wright Company student pilots ...

26 Images

These photographs, taken by Dayton native Harvey Gaylord Kittredge about 1910, document Wright Company flying school students and a Wright B flyer at Huffman Prairie Flying Field, the primary base of operations for the Wright brothers' flight school from 1910 to 1916. Born in 1878, Kittredge spent a lengthy career with the Kay and Ess Company, a Dayton based paint and varnish manufacturer. He died in 1948 and is buried at Woodland Cemetery. The photographs were donated to the park by his son John B. Kittredge in 2005.