museum of the united states air force. the largest and oldest military aviation museum. and we risibly visited with time warner cable to bring you some of the local literary and historic cultures. >> today and they are is a really great collection here, obviously from our name, wright state university, you can tell that we are named for wilbur and orville wright and the university creates that inventive spirit of the wright brothers. and there is power in this story

and to think that we are carrying on their legacy, that of the wright brothers and their creative spirit, it is so important. here at wright state university, we have the wright brothers report cards. so here we have a few report cards of welder, and he was such a good student. in algebra he was getting 80s and 90s most of the time. he was a pretty good student. he went to central high school in dayton and also a high school in indianapolis, indiana. end of report cards definitely let us know what they were studying in school and what their foundation was for their future experience. and they were not necessarily as good as those of welder. this one was from central high school in dayton and he got a 75 in algebra and you might think it's kind of a low score for somebody to go down and create

an airplane. but he just didn't like the organized classroom although he was very inquisitive. so lots of fun to look at, the younger generation really enjoys looking at these and once they got out of high school, they got into the printing business and this is an actual newspaper that they printed. this one didn't run for very long, but it was a community newspaper and he was listed as the publisher and he eventually added his name to an unlisted it as an editor as well. and lots of neighborhood stories about the hawthorne street area that they would've been in the businesses and the things that were going on. and one of the very interesting things that we have in the collection is this photograph that was put together. an individual who is a reporter

for the new york held. and they took photographs of flying in 1908 in 1909. and he was trying to sell the airplane to the civil court. and that includes newspaper clippings and original photographs. and it includes lots of photographs of the crash that orwell was an and the first aircraft accident victim and when he had that crash, his sister, catherine, left her teaching job in dayton to nurse him back to health and be by his side. there is a letter that i would like to read out of and this was written by catherine from fort myer, and this is september 22, 19 away. and she says i've been with orval all night and it's been a

good night. i'm going to bed about 6:00 p.m. sunday night he was miserably uncomfortable and i stayed tonight to see what i could do to help things in another item that we have in this was this item. this is the original contract that the wright brothers signed with the u.s. army signal corps for the sale of the first airplane. and the specification that they wanted was only two pages long, and if you look at the original contract itself, you can see that it was for one flying machine in the purchase price was $25,000 in the wright brothers received more money and the more weight they carried as well and it was signed by the wright brothers by orval right. they took credit for everything

together and it was a joint project of partnership. as they went on in their career, they traveled a lot and they went to france first and wilbur spent almost all of 1908 showing his airplane and into 1909. this particular album was put together and they gave wilbur room and his factory to construct the airplane and fly locally and it's full of amazing pictures and a lot of the crowds that came to see them. you can see the women in fancy dresses and hats and carriages and so forth. one of the real treasures of the collection is this. this is an original print of the

first flight printed from this glass plate negative and they had a local life-saving situation. when they were attempting the slides and they were told to squeeze the bulb if the plane lifted off. but then when asked if he got the shot later, he wasn't sure, they didn't know when this came out until they got back to dayton. something that goes along with that is this item. this is a diary that their father kept and their father was one who kept a diary from 1857 until 1917 when he died. and this includes all of his family's comings and goings and accomplishments and things that

they were doing and this is on december 17, 1923. and milton wright just received a telegram saying that they had success. and so he records that in the diary. he says in the afternoon that we received the following telegram dated at kitty hawk, north carolina and all against a 21-mile an hour wind. started with engine power alone, average speed, 51 miles. home on christmas. so they had done this amazing thing. and that is one of the key things to remember all of this experimenting and trapping. and another thing i like to share is from 1911.

horrible goes back to kitty hawk, north carolina, he takes along with them his brother and horace who is better known as buster. that was his friend and they went back to do some gliding experience. this is one of my favorite pictures from this album. and it shows them and orval is in his usual suit with his vest and coat. and it looks like he had long underwear on. in his camp legs are all rolled up. and he he has a big floppy hat on and it just shows that human side and something else i want to show you this particular album. and it was presented to orval and wilbur wright on the occasion of the american medals

at the white house in june of 1909. this particular album contains lots of congratulatory letters and things like that. here is a letter from william howard taft to the wright brothers and owners of what they have accomplished. and also a photograph of them at the white house as well and sister catherine is there with them. and this is william howard taft at the white house in dc welder and orval and other members as well that where was signed in her signature is actually on the back of the photograph. in the last thing that i want to show you was very special to me and that was another diary and this is from 1912 and he

recorded the death from typhoid fever and he was only 45 years old when he passed away in the middle of the fights. and when they were were still conducting this business. so this was such a tragedy for orval and the family as well. at 315 he passed away, age 45 years and a short life full of consequence and unfailing intellect, great self reliance and great modesty, pursue pursuing his life steadily. and this was on thursday, may the 30th. it's a very formal and emotional tribute to his son. and a few days later, he actu