Melvin Vaniman was an aviator and photographer best known for his aerial photography. This guide provides access to materials related to “Melvin Vaniman” in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
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About Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Introduction
After failed attempts to cross the Atlantic as a part of other crews, Melvin Vaniman engineers his own dirigible with the knowledge of his previous experiences. As the nation anticipates news and crowds gather, the Akron explodes killing the entire crew and casting doubt about the possibility of airships crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
Timeline
October 18, 1910
Walter Wellman’s attempt to cross the Atlantic ends with crew rescued by steamship.
September 29, 1911
Vaniman plans trip for the following month.
November 4, 1911
Vaniman’s airship experiences a mishap during testing, crashing into the water as the airship turns vertically.
June 1, 1912
Trial testing for upcoming trip just avoids near disaster.