University of Wyoming
Jack Mansfield Patterson (1915-1978) developed an interest in aviation in his teens and began collecting aviation souvenirs and autographs of people in aviation. He took flying lessons at State College Air Depot in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. After graduation from Pennsylvania State University, he began work at the Gulf Research and Development Company, a division of Gulf Oil Corporation, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While employed at Gulf, he maintained an interest in American aviation history, particularly the history of the air mail system. He served as a naval aviator during World War II on the USS Indianapolis. After the war, Patterson worked for several aviation firms, mostly in a non-aviator capacity, before joining the Boeing Company as an inspector of their aircraft manufacturing units in Seattle, Washington. In 1956, he left Boeing to join the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In 1959, he became an Air Traffic Control Specialist at an FAA Flight Service Station in Thermal, California. He retired from the FAA in 1976.
The collection contains identification cards, including Naval Aviator (1941) and certificates as Life Member of the American Aviation Historical Society, Naval Aviator of the U.S. Navy, and Bering Sea Navigator. There are publications regarding aviation, including books, pamphlets, brochures, and periodicals. Included are newspaper and periodical clippings about Patterson and his aviation career. Also included is an autograph collection, including signatures of Charles Lindbergh (1929) and Orville Wright (1931) and others prominent in aviation. There are numerous photographs portraying Patterson, airplanes, pilots, U.S. Navy ships, Navy personnel, and more. There are also postcards, mostly depicting the Graf Zeppelin, the Hindenburg, the Wright Brothers training ground, and others. Also in the collection are exhibition brochures, information sheets for art exhibits, newspaper clippings, and other publications regarding the paintings of Alfred Owles, famous for his paintings of aircraft. Included are photographs of Alfred Owles.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by Jack Mansfield Patterson at the date of processing.
This material was received from Paul A. Arnerich in 1978 and 1979.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
The American Heritage Center is in the process of converting its older container lists to a more accessible format. This link is to an older version of a container list.