Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Henry J. Kelley Papers, Ms1988-021, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The Henry J. Kelley Papers were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in 1988.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Henry J. Kelley Papers was completed in 2012. Original folder titles and physical order of Series I were retained. Series II was organized by archivists. Minimal description was completed in 1988. Updates were made to the description in 2023.

The description of this collection was updated as part of the project, "Piercing the Veil: Creating Access to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech," funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) from 2022 to 2024.

Biographical Note

Henry Joseph "Hank" Kelley was born to Bernard Joseph and Margaret (nee McKillop) Kelley in New York City on February 8, 1926. He married Maureen Youngkin on October 26, 1958, and they had two children Henry Bernard and Maureen E.

Kelley was an aerospace engineer and authority on flight optimization. He earned a B.Ae.E. in 1948, M.S. in 1951, and an Sc.D. in 1958, all from New York University. From 1948-1963, he worked for Grumman Aircraft as a researcher and as assistant chief of the Research Department. In 1963, he founded Analytical Mechanics Associates, which worked with NASA on parameterized steering approaches for Apollo mission planning. From 1978 until his death in 1988, he served as a professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech and held the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Chair of the department.

Hank Kelley died on February 9, 1988.

External sources:

Cliff, E. M., "In Memory of Henry J. Kelley," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Vol. 60, No. 1, January 1989, pp. 1-5, https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/10.1007/BF00938794 , accessed June 20, 2023.

Henry Joseph Kelley death certificate, Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia. On Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/4677324:9278 , accessed June 20, 2023.

"Cole-Kelley", Roanoke Times , May 30, 1993, on Virginia Tech website, https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1993/rt9305/930530/05280342.htm , accessed June 20, 2023.

Henry J. Kelley marriage record, New York State Marriage Index, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY., on Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/712924:61632 , accessed June 20, 2023.

Scope and Content

The Henry J. Kelley Papers include correspondence, notes, drafts and offprints of publications and research reports. The majority of the collection consists topic based subject/research files, files on individuals (correspondence, resumes, and papers), teaching/course materials, and conference/professional organizational files. There are drafts and final copies of papers by Kelley and others on a range of aerospace and other engineering topics.

The collection also includes slides and transparencies, most of which depict equations, charts, graphs, and occasional text. For the most part, these visual materials are unidentified.

Arrangement

The collections is arranged into two series based on material type, Series I: Papers and Series II: Audiovisual Materials.

Series I: Papers remains physically in the order in which it was brought to Special Collections and University Archives. It is unclear if this was Henry Kelley's original order. Kelley's original folder labels were maintained when the collection was rehoused in 2012. In the inventory below, the series is intellectually organized alphabetically to facilitate searching.

Series II: Audiovisual Materials contains slides and transparencies, Although the slides are unidentified, most were grouped with rubber bands. Those groups were retained within the box of slides. Identified transparencies were left in their original groupings, and unidentified transparencies are grouped together.

Related Material

Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives also has several publications by Henry J. Kelley in the Rare Book Collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Aerospace engineers
• Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE)
• Faculty and staff
• Science and Technology
• University History
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1944-1970)
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970-)

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Henry J. Kelley Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).