American Historical Ephemera & Photography

15 x 11 1/2 in. string-bound album containing approx. 270 silver gelatin photographs, most ranging in size from 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. to 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. Mounted recto to album pages, some affixed with adhesive, some tucked inside corner tabs, which allows some photos to be removed to show a photographer's ink stamp and/or manuscript notations. Many of the photos that can be removed bear the verso ink stamp of the Waterloo Photo Co., Waterloo, Iowa. Some photographs are dated ca 1930s-1940s. The photographs are in generally good condition overall, with some edge and corner wear.

The album is highlighted by over 125 photographs of different types of aircraft, with many shots featuring the pilots. Some aerial views and images of accidents involving aircraft are also enclosed, including at least 2 photographs of an A-40 Taylorcraft that crashed in June 1941, killing the pilot, Walt Fox, and a passenger. Photographs documenting journeys to Chicago, IL, Arizona, and San Diego, CA, as well as images of watercraft, such including at least 3 photographs of the cruiser USS Houston, with inked notation indicating that Franklin D. Roosevelt was on board, bound for the Panama Canal in July 1938. 

A certificate issued by the US Department of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Administration, appointing Willis F. Hall a Private Pilot Examiner in July 1946 accompanies the album, indicating that the album was originally compiled by Mr. Hall.