By Jenn Parent
Project Archivist, The Museum of Flight
All images via The William P. and Moya Olsen Lear papers/The Museum of Flight.
The Museum of Flight’s Collections Team is pleased to announce the completion of a 2-year grant-funded project to process and make available the William P. and Moya Olsen Lear Papers. This project was made possible from a major grant from the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
William P. “Bill” Lear is most well-known for the Learjet and his work in the aviation field. Yet with over 130 patents, Lear is considered a pioneer beyond the field of aviation. In 2000, Bill’s widow and a trustee of the Museum, Moya Olsen Lear deeded the William P. and Moya Olsen Lear Papers to the Museum of Flight. Consisting of the more than 285 cubic feet of Lears’ office files and having come directly from Moya, this collection is the most complete and authentic archive of the Lears.
The William P. and Moya Olsen Lear Papers documents the extensive and varied career of inventor and businessman Bill Lear, with a smaller focus on the philanthropic and business activities of Moya Olsen Lear. The collection, which dates from 1838 through 2001, consists of administrative records, correspondence, financial reports, research files, legal records and patent applications, technical reports and drawings, photographs, negatives, scrapbooks, and ephemera illustrating Lear’s interests and inventions, particularly in the realms of navigation and aircraft design, that often were perceived as ground-breaking, innovative, and ahead of their time.
The collection had arrived with little original order. After surveying the materials and determining that there was documentation from several different companies as well as personal items, we decided on a company-by-company arrangement following chronological order with personal materials at the end. We ultimately ended with sixteen series, beginning with Lear Developments in the 1930s, which manufactured direction finders and aircraft receivers, to Lear Fan, Ltd. in the 1970s which developed the Lear Fan business jet. It continues chronologically through his career and past his death as Moya Lear worked to drive his legacy. Additional content focuses on Bill and Moya’s professional lives. The personal materials support their philanthropic and social endeavors, as well as focus largely on recognition they each earned.
Processing such a large and technical collection was no easy feat and there were definitely challenges. As noted, the collection is highly technical and often lacked contextual information. For example, the LearAvia Corporation (Series XII) produced numerous aircraft products, including autopilot systems, a battery temperature indicator, a cabin temperature controller, a nose wheel steering system, and a synchroscope. Each product had several component parts, also produced by LearAvia Corp. or its partners. Documents for those components as well as the products are present in the Technical Files subseries and consist of photographs and transparencies; charts and technical data; diagrams and sketches, including numerous oversize versions; reports and manuals; and related FAA certificates and correspondence. Although the parts were assigned identification numbers, it was not always evident from the files which final product the individual numbered parts actually related to. Because of this confusion and the limited time we could spend trying to identify individual parts, I was unable to group the materials by product and instead listed each piece independently by number.
Additionally there were many photographs of component parts that were unidentified, and without technical knowledge and deep familiarity of the company’s many products it was hard to organize these. The lack of context in such a specialized collection presented difficulty in describing content accurately enough so it would be findable by researchers. For that reason, many of the folder titles are quite granular, providing information on both subjects and formats, so as to provide enough access points as possible.
Relatedly, many of the companies existed contemporaneously and had complex, overlapping relationships as subsidiaries or affiliates that supported or made products for each other. Some were absorbed into main companies, some branches broke out on their own as an organization. Tracking the path and intersectionality of the companies was like a solving complex maze. Another similar challenge was finding materials within the collection from multiple companies that initially we did not know existed and thus requiring multiple restructures of our initial processing plan.
One of the biggest challenges was the enormous number of oversize documents, many of which arrived folded or rolled. The bulk of the oversize materials are technical diagrams that illustrate Lear’s inventions. They were produced in varying formats, including diazo prints, sepia diazo prints, hand-drawn pencil and ink sketches on paper, and reproductions on plastic film. Many of these were too large to fit into our oversize boxes or flat files and needed to remain rolled. Due to the sheer quantity (more than 2500), it was not cost-effective to order archival tubes. We needed 100 tubes to complete the project. To mitigate the cost, archivist Charise Dinges wrapped non-archival tubes in hand-cut polyester which she then adhered to the tube with double-sided tape. As the tubes come in one size, she had to hand-cut approximately 70 tubes to size. She then rolled the documents onto the prepared tubes, wrapped them in archival tissue and tied them securely with acid-free linen thread. The tubes were then placed in long boxes or bags for storage.
Since the collection covers so many of Lear’s companies, I thought I’d share a few series highlights. First is Lear Developments. Founded in 1931, Lear Developments’ main focus was aircraft radio and navigation development and production. The company’s first major success was the 1935 Model L Radio Compass, also called the “Lear-O-Scope.” Supported in the collection with the patent application, specifications, and photographs, it was marketed for commercial pilots and was one of the early radio-based direction finders for aircraft.
Jumping ahead a few years brings researchers to the Lear Jet Corporation, established in 1962 and the home of Bill Lear’s most well-known endeavor, the Lear Jet, a small, fast executive transport plane. Technical documents, including oversize diagrams, and photographs for are present.
Also present are materials around the 8-track player and cartridges which were developed and produced by Lear and his team at Lear Jet Stereo 8. It’s often a surprise to folks to learn that!
The Lear Motors Corporation series is a personal favorite. I had no idea that Bill Lear had worked on anything outside of aviation, much less developing steam engines from 1968-1975.
In an attempt to address pollution, Lear developed steam-powered vehicles, including a passenger transit bus, passenger cars and a racecar. Dozens of photographs, promotional films, and numerous technical drawings document the three projects.
Finally, the Lear Fan Limited series focuses on Lear’s final project prior to his 1978 death: the quest to develop, produce, and market the Lear Fan 2100, an all-composite aircraft. The series holds administrative, financial, and legal records and 2800 photographic items that document its development. This section is also unique in that it’s the only business-related series to feature Moya Olsen Lear prominently. After Bill died, Moya took the lead and fought for FAA certification, although she was ultimately unsuccessful.
These few highlights are just a mere glimpse into the depth and breadth of the William P. and Moya Olsen Lear Papers. The collection is a treasure trove of materials for not only aviation enthusiasts but other interests, such as history of sound technology and business history. It is a rich resource for all types of uses, from casual interest and edification to academic research to telling stories through books and documentaries, and more.
Last but far from least, I’d like to acknowledge my peers on the project team: Karen Bean, Nicole Davis, Charise Dinges, Sarah Frederick, Kelci Hopp, Ali Lane, and Arabella Matthews for their incredible work and assistance during this project. The William P. and Moya Olsen Lear Papers finding aid is available at https://archives.museumofflight.org/repositories/2/resources/63 . Digitized content will be online by the summer of 2023 on our Digital Collections at https://digitalcollections.museumofflight.org/ .
Archival Elements 