Conquest of the Skies Wright Brothers Portfolio is the commemorative portfolio compiled by the Franklin Institute in 1978 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first flight by the Wright Brothers. The portfolio contains one 12 by 15 inch photograph of the first flight, seven 8 by 10 inch photographs of Wright gliders and flyers, two photographs of the lift balance in the wind tunnel, a 20 page historical booklet, "First Flight: the Story of Wilbur and Orville Wright's Invention of the Airplane," and reproductions of the following: May 1900 five-page letter from Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute detailing his plans to build a flying machine; Wright's calculations made on the back of scraps of wallpaper; Wright Brothers' first patent (with drawings); telegram announcing the first flight; and the first published account of the Wrights' successful development of the airplane from "Gleanings in Bee Culture."
No arrangement.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at
No restrictions on access
Leonard C. Bruno, Gift, 2019, NASM.2019.0042
Conquest of the Skies Wright Brothers Portfolio [75th Anniversary of First Flight], NASM.2019.0042, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Arranged, described, and encoded by Patti Williams, 2020.