Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Papers of George Conrad Westervelt, Accession #6115, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was loaned to the Library on August 10, 1957, by Mrs. George Conrad Westervelt of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scope and Content Information

This collection, ca. 57 items, 1936-1948, n.d., of the papers of George Conrad Westervelt (1879-1956), consists of correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs. Westervelt was a pioneer of aviation in America and China. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied naval architecture. He later became involved in the Boeing line of aircraft, assisting in the design of a seaplane. During the First World War he supervised the construction of naval aircraft; after the war he continued to design naval aircraft, commanding the Naval Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia until 1927. He then retired and joined the Curtiss-Wright organization. In 1929, Curtiss-Wright and the Chinese government formed a partnership in the China National Aviation Corporation. Curtiss- Wright hoped to market their planes in China through this corporation's efforts. The company's plans went awry due to the Great Depression and the Chinese government was asked to subsidize the operation. Westervelt was sent to China in December of 1930 to insure the economical operation of CNAC. Westervelt married Miss Rieta Brabham Langhorne of Lynchburg, Virginia, on December 20, 1927; they had two daughters, Sally Cary and Effie Eda. [Additional biographical information on Westervelt may be found in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography 43:103-4 '61]

The correspondence is from the period Westervelt spent in China. The letters, 1930-1932, to John Sanderson and C. M. Keys are filled with the details of the daily operations and decisions Westervelt was called upon to make. The letters, 1931-1932, to his wife, the former Miss Rieta Brabham Langhorne, describe the escalating tensions between China and Japan, as well as the military advances the Japanese made in Shanghai. The manuscript entitled "Shanghai to Chungking and Return" describes Westervelt and a colleague's trip by air and boat to Chungking while trying to determine the viability of extending the corporation's flights to Chungking. This 69-page typescript describes in great detail most of their activities, and includes Westervelt's observations on the economic and political climate of the towns they travelled through. There are also observations and descriptions of the everyday activities of the natives; Westervelt and his colleague were given the opportunity to buy two young Chinese girls in Chungking. He also describes the negotiations with local Chinese officials to set up an air route for mail and eventually passengers. There is also a manuscript, October 1925, of ca. 125 pages, entitled "Mongolia," a melodrama in three acts by Westervelt.

Miscellaneous letters include one dated April 4, 1923, from H[oward Everett] Giles (1876-1955) to Miss Rieta Langhorne, concerning her art work and mentioning his own work. There are also miscellaneous photographs and other items relating to Miss Elizabeth Dortch Emory and her wedding in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.