Guide to the Fred F. Marshall Papers

Biography of Fred F. Marshall

Fred Franklin Marshall was born in Cedarville, Ohio, in 1891. He graduated from Cedarville High School, then attended both Cedarville College and Ohio State University, where he specialized in engineering and journalism. For a period of eight months after leaving the university, he worked as a train dispatcher for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. During this time, he studied industrial photography.

After World War I was declared, Marshall was inducted into the Armed Services and was placed into the photo section of the Signal Corps. For three months he attended the Columbia University of Cinematography, where he engaged in an intensive study of photography for military usages. First, he was stationed at the Pathe Brothers factory in Paris, France. Next, he was sent to Hague, Holland, in October 1918 for the purpose of setting up photographic, cartographic, and photostatic laboratory equipment. In 1919, he was discharged from the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant.

He then obtained a position in the Engineering Division of the Air Corps at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. Soon he was working in the Technical Data Branch, where he participated in the compilation of the first aeronautical dictionary for use in military service. He was employed at McCook Field for four years.

In 1926 he married Faith Susan Marshall from Spencer, Kentucky. While employed at McCook Field, Marshall was the editor of a trade paper, known as "Slipstream". When the publishers of the only other commercially published aviation paper of the world raised objections, "Slipstream" was discontinued. In 1923 Marshall resigned his position to inaugurate the Slipstream Publishing Company. He carried on the publication of the Slipstream Monthly until 1928, at which time he sold his interest to Simmons Publishing Company, New York City. Marshall was employed by Simmons Publishing Company as an Assistant Editor. The name of the magazine was changed to Airway Age.

Marshall then worked for Aero Supply Manufacturing Company in Long Island, New York, until 1931, when the company was discontinued. Returning to Dayton, Marshall served as the local representative for Pump Engineering Service Company (PESCO) of Cleveland, Ohio, until 1943. At this time he retired from business due to ill health. After recovery, he served as representative for a number of aircraft manufacturers until 1955.

During these years, Marshall wrote many feature stories and articles for the Cedarville Herald and the Dayton Daily News.

In 1962, he was named Chairman of the Board of Nominations for the Aviation Hall of Fame. He resigned as Chairman in 1963, but continued his membership. He became a member of the Greene County Historical Society and belonged to the Old Mill organization. Involved in conservation activities, Marshall wrote many articles dealing with areas surrounding Dayton - Yellow Springs, Clifton Gorge, John Bryan Park, etc. In the early 1970s, he built a log cabin, constructing it by the same methods used by pioneers. He also compiled the Wright Brothers Chronology 1903-1908. In 1970 he was honored at a luncheon by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce for outstanding contributions to the research of aviation history.

His wife, Faith, died on September 25, 1972, after suffering a lengthy illness. They had been married 46 years. Fred Marshall died in December 1974.

Scope and Content

The Fred F. Marshall Papers document the life of a man who was a major contributor to aviation research and history in the 20th century. Through these papers, researchers may gain insight into photo journalism during World War I, aviation innovation and history, as well as community life and issues in Dayton, Ohio, during the 20th century.

Series I, Personal Papers, includes two subseries. The contents document Marshall's personal life, military career, and various activities. Subseries IA, General Papers, contains correspondence dealing with family and personal matters dating from 1940 to 1974. Materials are arranged chronologically by date. Subseries IB, Military Service, contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, and general information about Marshall's military service.

Series II, Writings and Publications, contains correspondence, rough drafts, final drafts, records, broadsides, magazines, posters, and a map. It is arranged primarily chronologically. Then, as the feature stories have no dates, each file contains one feature story. The stories are divided into: fiction, Indian stories, conservation activities, individual men of the Dayton area, and a variety of poems. Each file containing one story is arranged with correspondence in the beginning, then rough drafts, and final drafts at the end. This series also contains the rough and final drafts of The Wright Brothers Chronology, layouts, and the final story in the "Sunday Magazine", as well as the copyright claim of the Chronology. Portions of this series are available online in CORE Scholar at
http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms53/.

Series III, General Aviation, contains correspondence, magazines, and newspaper clippings covering Fred Marshall's interest in aviation as well as his work with the Aviation Hall of Fame and McCook Field. Material is arranged chronologically.

Series IV, Slipstream, contains correspondence, telegrams, cards, membership applications for "Slipstream", broadsides, volumes of "Slipstream", and individual issues. Marshall's The Wright Brothers Chronology is serialized and published in three issues of "Slipstream". The volumes are cataloged and shelved with the aviation books.

Series V, PESCO, contains correspondence, certificates, blue books, address books, yearbooks, a wallet, receipts, and cards all dealing with Fred Marshall's work at the Pump Engineering Services Company. Complete information concerning the trial of Marshall in the Renegotiation Act, with exhibits and trial outcome is included.

Series VI, Audiovisual, contains four subseries. This series contains a number of photographs, negatives, records, and scrapbooks created by Fred Marshall during his lifetime and serves to document his various activities. This series should be cross-referenced with the other series in the collection.

Subseries VIA, Photographs, contain photographs that pertain to Marshall's life. Included are photographs of Fred F. Marshall, Faith Marshall, the Marshall home, the Marshall log cabin, photographs from Marshall's feature stories, World War I, aviation, the Wright brothers, and PESCO. Photographs are arranged by subject and are organized as chronologically as possible. Portions of this series, including the majority of Marshall's World War I photographs, are available online in CORE Scholar at
http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms53/.

Subseries VIB, Negatives, contain negatives that belonged to Fred Marshall. Most of these negatives accompany prints that are housed in the collection. These negatives should be cross-referenced with subseries VIA and VIC.

Subseries VIC, Records, contains five records. Three are duplicates of the "Miami River Valley Songs".

Subseries VID, Scrapbooks, contains eight scrapbooks that document Marshall's personal life. Contents range from vacations to family life to poetry to articles about dogs, and also includes Marshall's writings. Scrapbooks are arranged chronologically and by subject. Items that have fallen out of the scrapbooks are separated and located in Box 14.

Series VII, Memorabilia contains three subseries. Subseries VIIA, General, Contains travel maps, vacation souvenirs, brochures, menus, postcards, and other memorabilia that Fred and other members of the Marshall family collected. Subseries VIIB, Rose Society contains ribbons, correspondence, and newspaper clippings relating to Fred Marshall's botanical hobby. Subseries VIIC, Artifacts, contains three items: Fred's Masonic Bible and two awards.

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 materials in this collection.

Portions of this collection, particularly those related to Marshall's service in World War I, have been digitized and are available online in CORE Scholar, Wright State University's Campus Online Repository, at:
http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms53/.

Subject Terms

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

Subjects:

Persons:

Organizations/Corporations:

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Preferred Citation

[Box #, Folder #], MS-53, Fred F. Marshall Papers, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The Fred F. Marshall Papers were donated to Wright State University Special Collections and Archives by Wanda Scroggy, Fred Marshall's niece, in February 1973. Additional boxes were donated by R. Phil Marshall, Fred Marshall's great-grandnephew, in 2005.

Processing Information

The following newspapers were too fragile to be copied and were discarded because of their poor condition. No copies exist in the collection, however microfilm is available in the Dunbar Library:

The Dayton Sunday Journal. Magazine Section. 'Possumholler' by Fred F. Marshall. March 7, 1920.

The Dayton Sunday Journal. Editorial Section. 'Holland: The Flower Garden of the World' by Fred F. Marshall. April 11, 1920.

The Dayton Sunday Journal. Magazine Section. 'In the Jungles of the Amazon' by Fred F. Marshall. June 13, 1920.

The Dayton Sunday Journal. Magazine Section. 'A Fortune in Furs in the Miami Valley' by Fred F. Marshall. Undated

Processed by: Susan E. Smith, May 1978. Reprocessed with additions by Sarah A. Mikell, March 2012. Item-level descriptions for selected folders added by Lisa Rickey, July 2014, in preparation for digitization of those items.

The first finding aid for the Fred F. Marshall Papers was created in 1978 by Susan E. Smith and has been revised in order to integrate the 2005 donation as well as to bring it up to EAD standards. Item-level descriptions for selected folders were added at the end of the container listing by Lisa Rickey, July 2014, in preparation for digitization of those items. Finding aid revised May 2016 by Lisa Rickey following digitization of World War I materials.

Accruals

Additional material may be donated at a later date.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries web site at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/152.