Willy Ley Papers
The Willy Ley Collection reflects Ley's broad, restless curiosity about the world around him. However, the main thrust of this material emphasizes his intense interest in the aerospace field. Ley's significant contributions as a great proponent, theorist and historian of rocketry and space travel are quite evident in this collection.
For the most part, the collection encompasses the years Ley spent in the U.S., roughly, from the mid 1930s to his death in 1969. Accordingly, very little pertaining to Ley's time in the VfR is found here. This wide array of materials was sold to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) by Ley's widow, Olga, in 1970.(1) Later that year, NASM personnel traveled to Ley's home in New York to transfer this collection to the museum. They were careful to maintain the overall order of the collection which reflects its original organizational structure, as well as the research techniques and thinking processes of Ley himself.
The collection of materials listed in the finding aid is arranged into four series. The first series is composed of personal materials that include correspondence, book and article contract materials, galley proofs, manuscript and article drafts, notes, articles, lecture invitations and brochures, photographs, drawings, travel and war-time memorabilia, newspaper and press clippings, book reviews, personal bills and receipts, business cards, children's' report cards and Christmas cards. The materials of this series range in date from the early 1930s to 1969. Except for moving this series to the beginning of the collection, original order was maintained. Additionally, original folder titles were retained (as they were for the rest of the collection). Correspondence, book/article contracts materials, research notes, articles, newspaper and press clippings and miscellaneous personal materials are arranged chronologically while the manuscript drafts, galley proofs and book reviews are organized alphabetically by title.
The second series comprises the bulk --about two-thirds, of the Willy Ley Collection. This series, the aerospace subject files, ranges in date from the late 1800s to 1969, and covers the following topics: biography (Ley and others), aviation, inventions, astronomy, space travel, rockets, artificial satellites, manned space flight, ground support and rocket test centers. The folders include correspondence, photographs, notes, reports, brochures, pamphlets, magazines, articles and newspaper clippings. Original order was maintained for this series. The materials are organized by subject.
The third series consists of printed materials. This series ranges in date from the early 1950s to 1970 and includes various publications (newsletters, pamphlets, journals, reports, directories, magazines and books). Also included are article and newspaper clippings. Ley organized the newsletters by title and then chronologically.
The fourth and final series of this collection contains non-aerospace subject files. Ley's certificates, citations and a scrapbook are found in this series. The certificates and citations are for Ley's civic and professional achievements. The scrapbook contains miscellaneous newspaper clippings regarding rocketry and space travel (in English and German) from the 1930s and 1940s. However, this series, ranging in date from the early 1900s to 1969, mainly encompasses materials not directly related to aviation, rocketry or space travel. Original order was maintained for this series. The materials are organized by subject.
The researcher should note that all the folders (except for those of Series 4) are numbered. This numbering system reflects an effort by NASM's Department of Space History in 1970 to create a rough catalog of the Willy Ley Collection as it was being moved to the museum. Though now obsolete as an index, these penciled numbers were retained and are written in the upper right corner of the folders.
Endnotes: 1. That same year, Mrs. Ley also sold her husband's collection of books and journals to the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Currently, it is known as the Willy Ley Memorial Collection and resides at the University's library. Wernher von Braun and NASA Saturn launch vehicle program manager Arthur Rudolph participated in the dedication ceremony in 1971.
Willy Ley was a world-renown expert in and proponent of rocketry and space travel. Born in Berlin, Germany on October 2, 1906, Ley attended the Universities of Berlin and Konigsberg and studied astronomy, paleontology, zoology and physics. Beyond these studies however, he developed a passionate interest in rocketry and its potential applications for space travel. Accordingly, he wrote and published his first book, Die Fahrt in den Weltraum (Travel in Outer Space) in 1926 and helped found Germany's early rocketry and spaceflight club, Verein fur Raumschiffahrt or VfR (Society for Space Travel) the following year. In 1929, Ley, along with well-known rocketry theorist Hermann Oberth, acted as a technical consultant on Fritz Lang's film, Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon). Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, he continued to write books, as well as numerous articles in German and foreign publications, on the subject of rockets and spaceflight. Once Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, the Nazis pressured Ley to cease publishing his articles in foreign journals and magazines due to rocketry's potential as a weapon in Germany's arsenal. Also, the VfR disbanded during the Nazis' first year in power amid concerns among the membership regarding the interest the German military was taking in their activities. These factors compelled Ley to leave Germany for Britain briefly and then to the U.S. in 1935. He became an American citizen in 1944.
Until World War II, Ley focused his writing career on topics unrelated to rocketry and space travel. He discovered little interest in these fields among the U.S. public. He was successful though, with a number of non-space publications such as Salamanders and Other Wonders and The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn. From 1940-44, Ley was science editor of the New York newspaper, PM and later lectured as a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He was also a regular contributor to a myriad of magazines, encyclopedias and digests such as Popular Mechanics, Cowles Encyclopedia and Galaxy. However, once World War II began and especially after Germany launched V-2 missile attacks on Britain in 1944, Ley found himself in great demand as an expert in rocketry. Following the end of the war, his writings, lectures and newspaper, radio and television interviews helped to spur even greater public interest in rockets and their potential for space flight. Additionally, his books on this subject were widely read in the U.S. and around the world. First published in 1944, Ley's Rockets, Missiles, & Space Travel enjoyed a great deal of popularity and justified numerous printings of revised editions. Other highly successful titles that Ley produced during the 1950s and 1960s included The Conquest of Space, The Conquest of the Moon (written with Wernher von Braun and astronomer Fred Whipple) and Beyond the Solar System. Ley, along with von Braun, artist Chesley Bonestell and others, collaborated on a series of space-themed issues of Collier's (1952-54) that helped to foster popular support for future U.S. missions to earth orbit, the moon and the planets.
Aside from his busy career as a prolific author and populizer of rockets and space travel, Ley was also a husband and father of two children. His wife, Olga, was an accomplished ballet dancer, model and author in her own right. The couple had to two daughters, Sandra and Xenia. Ley had hoped to attend the Apollo 11 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but died of a heart attack at his home in Jackson Heights, New York, on June 24, 1969. His death came only four weeks before the launch of mankind's first landing on the moon's surface.
Other material: Skin sample from Echo-series satellites.
No restrictions on access
Willy Ley Estate, Purchase, unknown, XXXX-0098, not NASM
This series includes personal and business correspondence, book and article contract materials, galley proofs, manuscript and article drafts, notes, articles, lecture invitations and brochures, photographs, drawings, travel and war-time memorabilia, newspaper clippings, book reviews, personal bills and receipts, business cards, report cards from his children and Christmas cards. Correspondence, book/article contracts materials, research notes, articles, newspaper and press clippings and miscellaneous personal materials are arranged chronologically while the manuscript drafts, galley proofs and book reviews are organized alphabetically by title.
Correspondence
Correspondence from aerospace and science fiction notables
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Personal and Business Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Correspondence
Miscellaneous personal bills, receipts, correspondence, business and address cards are arranged chronologically
Miscellaneous personal materials regarding Ley's wife (Olga), two daughters (Sandra and Xenia) and his wife's mother (Dr. Maria Feldman) are arranged chronologically. This material includes correspondence, articles and newspaper clippings, photographs, Christmas cards, the children's report cards, articles and brochures.
This series, ranging in date from the late 1800s to 1969, includes all of Ley's subject files relating to the fields of rocketry and space travel. Topics include biography (includes Ley and others), inventions, aviation, astronomy, space travel, rockets, artificial satellites, manned space flight, ground support and rocket test centers. The folders include correspondence, photographs, notes, reports, brochures, pamphlets, magazines, articles and newspaper clippings. The materials are organized by subject. Original order for the folders was maintained throughout this series.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Space travel, general articles
Space travel, miscellaneous
Space travel, miscellaneous
Space travel, miscellaneous
Space travel, opposing voices
Space travel, Dr. Walter Dornberger
Space travel, R. Esnault-Pelterie
Space travel, Robert H. Goddard, miscellaneous
Space travel, Robert H. Goddard, biography
Space travel, Walter Hohmann
Space travel, Hermann Oberth
Space travel, Wernher von Braun
Space travel, Wernher von Braun, miscellaneous writings
Space travel, Johannes Winkler
Space travel, K.E. Tsiolkovsky
Space travel, Russian Group (Rynin, Perelman, etc.)
Space travel, Vienna Group (von Hoefft, von Pirquet)
Space travel, Verein fur Raumschiffahrt [Society for Space Travel]
Space travel, VfR, Raketenflugplatz, photographs
Space travel, NASA, general
Space travel, organizations (ELDO, etc.)
Space travel, formation of international agency
Space travel, U.S. civilian space agency, formation of
Space travel, other nations, general
Space travel, East Germany (special issue W.F.)
Space travel, Soviet Union, general
Space travel, Soviet Union, miscellaneous
Space travel, Soviet space developments
Space travel, Russian developments
Space travel, Russian (rumors)
Space travel, Russian space feats
Space travel, navigation
Space travel, NACA TN 4276 (entry into planetary atmosphere)
Space travel, reentry (unmanned)
Space travel, orbits to Mars
Space travel, professor H.F. MacNeish, Elementary Mathematical Theory of Exterior Ballistics
Space travel, clock paradox
Space travel, interstellar flight
Space travel, planetary travel
Space travel, planetary orbits and methods of computation
Space travel, early history
Space travel, Mars Project (W.v.B.), [Wernher von Braun] 1952-63
Space travel, moon trip (W.v.B.), [Wernher von Braun] 1950-53
Space travel, early fiction (reviews)
Space travel, Walt Disney's Man in Space
Space travel, Destination Moon
Space travel, Frau im Mond
Space travel, 2001
Space travel, science fiction, miscellaneous
Space travel, science fiction, Star Trek
Space travel, UFOs
Space travel, space law, John Cobb Cooper
Space travel, space law, Andrew G. Haley
Space travel, space law, politics, public opinion and education
Space travel, space law, public opinion, politics and finance
Space travel, space law, cooperation
Space travel, space law, various authors
Space travel, vocational
Space travel, female astronauts
Space travel, space medicine
Space travel, space medicine, general
Space travel, space medicine, general
Space travel, space medicine, early work
Space travel, space medicine, Able and Baker
Space travel, space medicine, cabin oxygen supply
Space travel, space medicine, decompression and related facts
Space travel, space medicine, high "g" tests
Space travel, space medicine, zero-g research
Space travel, space medicine, prediction of radiation dosage
Space travel, space medicine, radiation hazard
Space travel, space medicine, space foods
Space travel, space medicine, the environment of space
Space travel, space medicine, cabin simulator
Space travel, space medicine, Project Man High
Space travel, space medicine, Project Mia
Space travel, space medicine, space suits
Space travel, space medicine, space suits
Space travel, space medicine, reclamation of human waste
Space travel, space medicine, psychology
Space travel, space medicine, illumination and seeing in space
Space travel, space medicine, Hubertus Strughold
Space travel, space medicine, bibliography
Space travel, space rescue
Space travel, cyborgs
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
Materials are arranged in the original order.
This series, ranging in date from the early 1950s to 1970, includes various publications (newsletters, pamphlets, journals, reports, directories, magazines and books). Also included are article and newspaper clippings. Ley organized the newsletters by title and then chronologically.
Various Publications (Newsletters, Pamphlets, Journals, Reports, Directories, Magazines, Books, Articles And Newspaper Clippings)
This series, ranging in date from the early 1900s to 1969, encompasses materials not directly related to aviation, rocketry or space travel. Original order was maintained for this series. The materials are organized by subject. Ley's certificates, citations and a scrapbook are also found in this series. The certificates and citations are for Ley's civic and professional achievements. The scrapbook contains miscellaneous newspaper clippings regarding rocketry and space travel (in English and German) from the 1930s and 1940s.
Arranged by: Inventions, Miscellaneous, Biology, Natural History, Atomic Energy, Geology, Cendrillon (Footware), Mythology, Assorted Single Subject Files, Geography