Theodore von Kármán Papers

The Theodore von Kármán collection is organized into the following series: I. Personal Correspondence (Box 1 Folder 1 through Box 33 Folder 34); II. Correspondence and Documents: Professional Organization and Meetings (Box 34 Folder 1 through Box 55 Folder 7); III. Correspondence and Documents: Companies and Industry (Box 55 Folder 8 through Box 69 Folder 27); IV. Correspondence and Documents: Educational Institutions (Box 70 Folder 1 through Box 78 Folder 18); V. General Correspondence (Box 78 Folder 19 through Box 81 Folder 13); VI. United States Government Files (Box 81 Folder 14 through Box 96 Folder 4); VII. Technical Files (Box 96 Folder 5 through Box 114 Folder 12); VIII. Publication Correspondence (Box 115 Folder 1 through Box 116 Folder 14); IX. Manuscripts (Box 117 Folder 1 through Box 133 Folder 4); X. Biographical and Personal Material (Box 133 Folder 5 through Box 174); Supplementary Material (Box 175 through Box 189).

In the present finding aid, the folder index and the selective correspondent index complement each other. The folder index provides a complete listing of the contents of the von Kármán collection. It is arranged in filing order and gives the identification number, title, and inclusive dates for each folder in the collection. It also provides an organizational description of the collection.

The alphabetically arranged correspondent index (for folders 1.1 through 116.8) shows the correspondent's name and the folder numbers where such correspondence may be found. The index, which includes individuals only, makes no distinction between incoming and outgoing correspondence.

Documentation of von Kármán's involvement in education, national affairs, scientific organizations, and industrial firms is centered in Sections II through VIII of the collection and includes material from such prominent scientific and public figures as G. I. Taylor, George Gamow, Edward Teller, John von Neumann, Curtis LeMay, Enrico Fermi, Richard Courant, Vannevar Bush, and Stuart Symington. To see every item of correspondence with an individual, e.g., the English mathematician G. I. Taylor, each folder listed would have to be consulted. However, to find only that Taylor correspondence relating to a particular topic or subject area, compare the correspondent index entries with those in the folder index.

The index covers von Kármán's professional career. The remaining, unindexed folders are primarily personal and family material. Theodore had three brothers and a sister. There is considerable correspondence with each family member, including some correspondence between his mother and father, dating back to the 1880s. Transcriptions and English translations exist for some of this material. Theodore and Josephine, his sister, were very close. Her letters, in particular, are a rich source of information about Theodore's personal life. Of interest also in this section is the biographical material relating to his father, Maurice (Mór), who was a prominent Hungarian educator.

Von Kármán's papers encompass a broad spectrum of European and American intellectual, social, and political history. There is a good deal of information, for example, on international cooperation in science, on science and scientists in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, on technical matters, including airships, windmills and jet propellants, on the work of the NATO Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development, and the founding and development of the Institute for Applied Mathematics at Brown University, to name but some of the topics available for study in the collection.

Section II of the collection is a good starting point for investigating international scientific cooperation. The files of the International Congress for Applied Mechanics, the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and the Innsbruck Conference on Hydro- and Aerodynamics form one of the most interesting sections of the organizational correspondence, and should be used in conjunction with one another. The political chaos in Europe between the two World Wars is documented in many of the letters in Section I--e.g., Richard Courant's letter of November 12, 1933 to von Kármán describing conditions in Germany in 1933, is typical of the many letters received by von Kármán from prominent European scientists in the 1930s. The government files in Section VI of the collection focus on von Kármán's long and fruitful association with the military, particularly the Air Force. Section VII contains material relating to von Kármán's general interest in problems of lighter-than-air craft and his role as aerodynamics advisor in the Smith-Putnam wind turbine project. The windmill built in 1941 at Grandpa's Knob near Montpellier, Vermont, survives as an interesting case study in the history of technology. Students of American economic history will find his correspondence in the National Research Council files dealing with the problem of jet propellants and related material concerning the Aerojet Engineering Corporation, particularly useful.

Theodore von Kármán's published writings include five books and approximately 200 papers and articles which appeared between 1902 and 1963, now part of the five-volume Collected Works of Theodore von Kármán (London, 1956, vols. 1-4; Rhode-St-Genèse, 1975, vol. 5). A popular, semi-autobiographical account of his life is The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Kármán, Pioneer... in Space by von Kármán with Lee Edson (New York, 1967); Hugh L. Dryden's, "Theodore von Kármán, May 11, 1881-May 7, 1963," National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs, xxxviii (New York, 1965), pp. 345-384, considers in some detail his scientific work. Several oral histories of von Kármán also exist. The Sources for History of Quantum Physics interview with von Kármán deals with his scientific education and early work; Columbia University's Oral History Research Office von Kármán interview deals primarily with his World War II activities, and the formation of the Scientific Advisory Board.

The 1994 supplement ranges in date from 1909 to 1963, and includes manuscript and print material, as well as a large amount of memorabilia in the form of medals, degrees, citations, artwork, and photographs. The manuscript material includes files on the Josephine de Kármán memorial trust and foundation, as well as other family material. Several manuscripts and technical reports are present, including von Kármán's 1909 Göttingen dissertation. A small amount of correspondence, dating mostly from the late 1950s and early 1960s, includes letters to and from von Kármán's student and colleague, H. S. Tsien. Of special interest are the two bound volumes of congratulatory letters sent to von Kármán on his 75th birthday from a multitude of students and colleagues, including among many others Arthur H. Compton, Louis de Broglie, I. I. Rabi, Emilio Segrè, S. Timoshenko, and H. S. Tsien. There are also a number of original reprints of writings by von Kármán. These supplement those in boxes 123 and 124 of the original collection.

Notable among the memorabilia are the photographs and the many cartoons and sketches of von Kármán. The oil portrait of von Kármán's father, Maurice, by an unknown artist, is of excellent quality.

With the exception of the portrait of Maurice Kármán, all of the new material has been added to the existing collection in 13 boxes, numbered 176 through 188.

In July 1999 materials in the von Kármán supplement were slightly rearranged. A separate collection of medals and awards was created to hold the many honorific medals and decorations won by von Kármán. A list of these awards is available from the Archives' catalog. A few commemorative medals, souvenirs and some memorabilia were added to Box 186, and Box 186.1 was created.