History to meet aerodynamics during library's paper airplane competition

On Tuesday, April 23, get ready for take off with Aviation in the Archives: An Open House and Paper Airplane Competition. 

Special Collections and University Archives in Newman Library is hosting a celebration featuring the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration collections. Visitors can dive into the rich history of American space exploration while building their own potentially prize-winning aircraft.

Elevate your paper-folding skills

The fun begins at 4 p.m. in Newman Library's first-floor commons area, when pilots will meticulously assemble their paper planes, scrutinizing each flap, fold, and adjustment in hopes of unlocking the perfect aerodynamic design. They will put their aircraft construction skills to the test in a paper airplane competition. The Special Collections staff will provide all materials needed as well as snacks to fuel competitors' creativity and steady hands as they fold, crease, and tune their flying machines.

“People will be folding paper and throwing it, but there’s some science behind it, even on a small scale,” said Kat Zinn, project archivist at University Libraries. “If you want your plane to go far, you have to think about things like lift, drag, and thrust while keeping gravity in mind. So having this event in tandem with an open house, showcasing some of the manuscript materials we have that explore some of these concepts, is really perfect.”

Come one, come all

Aviation in the Archives is open to people of all ages including faculty, staff, students, and the community. “I am passionate about bridging the gap between Virginia Tech and the surrounding community whenever possible because I think it’s important that we give back to the community,” said Zinn. 

Zinn loves doing programming with K-12 children because she believes they are the next generation of scientists, doctors, writers, and teachers. 

“Young people aren’t always aware of all the options that are available to them after they graduate high school, so I think it’s important to provide opportunities such as this one to potentially inspire them to pursue something as a career,” said Zinn. “Even if we don’t inspire a lifelong love of aviation and aerospace exploration, maybe just attending a University Libraries event will make them realize they want to attend Virginia Tech or be a librarian.”

Ready, set, fly

At 5 p.m. sharp, the launchpads will open for the test flights in Newman Library’s first-floor commons area. One by one, the competitors will step forward and let their creations soar across the room. The archives staff will measure and record each plane's flight distance.

“You can have fun and maybe learn something too,” said Zinn. “I’m hoping that it might inspire some people to dive even deeper into aviation and aerodynamics or aerospace in general.” 

After the last aircraft has flown, Special Collections archivists will award prizes to the top aviators whose designs could defy both physics and gravity, flying impressively far before succumbing to the laws of paper aerodynamics. 

The collection

Founded in 1986, the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration is a repository dedicated to preserving and providing access to published and unpublished materials that chronicle the rich history of American aviation and space exploration as well as related scientific disciplines. Its collection encompasses a wide range of artifacts, including books, articles, personal correspondence, notes, photos, memoirs, memorabilia, oral histories, patents, and technical drawings and schematics.

Currently, the archive houses over three dozen collections of papers, documenting the contributions of pilots, astronauts, physicists, chemists, engineers, administrators, and project managers including writers, illustrators, and researchers from industry and academia alike.

Archivists and access

Zinn, who is responsible for processing and describing several collections related to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration, makes these collections available to the public, including digitizing parts of collections to access online, developing access tools such as finding aids, and promoting the project through community events like this one. 

“I want to give attendees a fun, positive experience with the University Libraries and the university that keeps them invested in what we’re doing and encourages them to come back for more,” said Zinn. “This event is an opportunity to have fun and learn something new, exploring through materials and hands-on experimentation.” 

The project team includes

• Aaron Purcell, director of Special Collections and University Archives and co-principal investigator
• LM Rozema, processing and special projects archivist and co-principal investigator
  
• Zinn, project archivist for the National Historical Publications and Records Commision-funded project “Piercing the Veil: Creating Access to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech”

Bess Pittman, Zinn’s predecessor, was a co-principal investigator for the project and completed about 75 percent of the processing.