Guide to the McFarland Collection of Wright-Findley Correspondence

Biography of Katharine Wright Haskell and Earl Nelson Findley

Katharine Wright was born August 19, 1874, in Dayton, Ohio, the youngest child (and only surviving daughter) of Bishop Milton Wright and Susan (Koerner) Wright, and a younger sister to the Wright Brothers. When Susan Wright died in 1889, Katharine assumed many of the household duties. Katharine graduated from Oberlin College in 1898 and returned to Dayton, where she taught Latin at Steele High School. She was a strong supporter of her brothers' work in aviation. In September 1908, when Orville was injured in the crash at Fort Myer, Virginia, she rushed to his side, ultimately resigning her teaching position for good. In 1909, she and Orville sailed for Europe to meet Wilbur, as he was making demonstration flights in France. After Wilbur died in 1912 and Bishop Milton Wright died in 1917, it was just Orville and Katharine in the mansion at Hawthorn Hill for several years. It was much to Orville's dismay and disapproval when Katharine wed a long-time Oberlin friend and widower Harry Haskell in 1926 and moved to Kansas, where he was editor of the Kansas City Star. Katharine died on March 3, 1929, from pneumonia, at age 54.

Earl Nelson Findley was born May 29, 1878, in Xenia, Ohio, which is very near Dayton. He became a journalist with the New York Tribune, and around 1908 he began specializing in aviation reporting. It was actually in New York City that Findley first made the acquaintance of (and obtained an interview with) fellow Miami Valley native Wilbur Wright, during the Hudson-Fulton celebration in 1909. Findley later met Orville and Katharine as well and became one of Orville's closest, long-time friends, visiting Hawthorn Hill on several occasions. Shortly after serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I, Findley became an editor of the U.S. Air Services magazines, and he became its owner and publisher in 1925. When Findley died on July 11, 1956, Marvin McFarland wrote a piece in memoriam for which included the following:

Earl Findley needs no monument of marble or granite. He built his own by writing, as he would put it, "a column a day" every day for all the 48 years since he first became an aviation writer. Total it up and you get the stupendous sum of more than 5,000,000 words-a lifetime of work in any man's language.

But Earl wrote more than that because he kept up a voluminous correspondence with friends, personal and professional, everywhere. To him a letter, like a piece for publication, was no cut-and-dried thing. It was something that came from the brain and was revised by the heart...

Source: Marvin W. McFarland, "In Memoriam: Earl Nelson Findley," U.S. Air Services (July 1956): 7.

Scope and Content

The collection consists primarily of correspondence between Katharine Wright Haskell and Earl N. Findley, as well as a typed copy of correspondence to Katharine from Lord Northcliffe. Also included are a few newspaper clippings, articles, and photographs. Topics of discussion between Katharine and Earl Findley include the possibility of Findley's writing a book about the Wrights; the patent lawsuit with Glenn Curtiss; the Langley Aerodrome; visits to Dayton; and other (primarily aviation-related) topics of mutual interest and concern.

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 paper-based material in this collection. All electronic records listed in this finding aid are processed and available; however, researchers are requested to provide two days advance notice when requesting electronic records. Call (937) 775-2092 or e-mail us at
library-archive@wright.edu.

MS-1: Wright Brothers Collection.

MFM-117: Katharine Wright Haskell Papers.

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:

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Technical Requirements

A computer with hardware and software capable of reading a single 144-megabyte PDF file will be required to view the original color digital scans (600ppi) provided by the donor. However, black-and-white reference prints are available.

Preferred Citation

[Description of item, Date], SC-323, McFarland Collection of Wright-Findley Correspondence, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

This digital collection was donated to Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University Libraries, by Leigh McFarland, daughter-in-law of Marvin W. McFarland, in January 2019.

Processing Information

Page numbers indicated at the lower right-hand corner of each page in the print reference copy were added by the archivist for ease of filing and do not appear in the digital scans.

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/1047.