Guide to the Fred Oliver U.S. Space Program Collection

Biography of Fred Oliver

Fred Oliver attended the University of Cincinnati from 1960-1965. During those years, Oliver worked as a co-op student at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he learned about electric thrusters for satellites. After graduating with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 1965, Oliver joined what was then the Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory in its Space Technology Branch. He managed contracts and conducted in-house work in the field of space maintenance before moving on to orbital structures. During this period, Oliver managed two of the Department of Defense's extravehicular space experiments aboard Gemini and Skylab. Neither experiment was carried out due to the difficulty of conducting them while wearing space suits, and due to the Air Forces' changing role in space which emphasized the use of satellites versus humans for information gathering. The hardware for one of the experiments, a space power tool for Gemini experiment D-016, is on display for viewing at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Scope and Content

Assembled by Fred Oliver, the collection on the U.S. Space Program consists of color 8" x 10" glossy photographs, many of which were produced by NASA, and magazine articles primarily from Aviation Week and Technology. The collection spans the Gemini and Apollo programs from the late 1960s to early 1970s. Included are photos of crew members, shuttle launches, and astronauts at work in space. Of note are two photographs signed by crew members from Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. Also included is a print set of "The Space Shuttle Missions" produced by Rockwell International in the early 1980s.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing this collection.

Major Blanton NASA Patch Collection, MS-377

Four books titled: The First and the Last; Kamikaze; German Fighters of World War II, Vol. 1; and Supersonic Aircraft were received with the collection and separately cataloged for the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room shelves. In addition, the magazines: (bound 1952-1954 volume); Air Progress (bound 1952-1954 volume); Space Age (vol. 1, issues 2-4 and vol. 2, issues 1-2); War Machine (issues 32, 36, 37, 39, 42); and Wings (vol. 6, issue 4 and vol. 8, issue 1) were separately cataloged for the Reading Room shelves.

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

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Preferred Citation

[Box #, Folder #], MS-397, Fred Oliver U.S. Space Program Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by Mr. Fred Oliver and accessioned on July 22, 2009.

Other Finding Aid

This finding aid is available on the Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University Libraries website at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/25.