Betty Gubert Collection of African Americans in Aviation

Betty Kaplan Gubert began her career at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, in September 1969. Then called the Schomburg Collection, it was part of the branch libraries, although its books never circulated. In 1972, NYPL renamed this unique collection and moved it to the research libraries division. Gubert retired in May 1991 as assistant chief librarian for general research and reference at Schomburg.

The Schomburg Collection began in 1926 when Arthur A. Schomburg, a Puerto Rican bibliophile of African and German descent, donated his collection of books, printed materials and artwork to the Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints at the 135th Street Branch. The collection was renamed in his honor in 1940 and is considered one of the premier repositories of black history and culture in the United States. Schomburg served as curator from 1932 until his death in 1938.

Betty Kaplan Gubert graduated from City College of New York (CCNY) with a bachelor of arts in English and received a master of science in library science from Columbia University School of Library Service. Post-graduate study included language courses (Italian) at Middlebury College, Vermont; black studies courses at the New School for Social Research, New York; and art history courses at CCNY. She has published two books on African Americans in aviation. They are Invisible Wings: An Annotated Bibliography on Blacks in Aviation, 1916-1993 (1994) and Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science (2002), a biographical dictionary of a hundred men and women historically or presently active in this field.

Both books grew out of increasing inquiries from the public about black aviators, but the great impetus was the 1983 visit to Schomburg by Von Hardesty and Dom Pisano of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; the pair came to do research for their groundbreaking exhibition “Black Wings.” They were most generous in exchanging information with Schomburg. The catalyst for publication was Richard Newman, an editor at Garland Publishing. He wanted to sign up librarians to create bibliographies on little-known areas of the black experience. Garland also published bibliographies on black dance by Alice Adamczyk and black photographers by Deborah Willis Thomas.

Gubert’s other published works include Early Black Bibliographies, 1863-1918 (1982) with Richard Newman and Nine Decades of Scholarship: A Bibliography of the Writings 1892-1983 of the Staff of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (1986). Gubert served as art editor of MultiCultural Review for its first 13 years. She has contributed articles on art, aviation and other subjects to African Arts , American Libraries , Encarta Africana , Black Women in America , Notable Black Women , Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History , St. James Guide to Black Artists and The Harvard Guide to African American History .

Sources

• Blacks in the Army Air Forces during World War II: The Problems of Race Relations . United States Air Force, 1986.
• Gubert, Betty Kaplan. Invisible Wings: An Annotated Bibliography on Blacks in Aviation, 1916-1993 . Greenwood Press, 1994.
• Gubert, Betty Kaplan, Miriam Sawyer and Caroline Fannin. Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science . Oryx Press, 2002.
• Hardesty, Von. Black Wings: Courageous Stories of African Americans in Aviation and Space History . Smithsonian, 2007.
• Holway, John B. Red Tails, Black Wings: The Men of America’s Black Air Force . Yucca Tree Press, 1997.

Scope and Content Note

These files grew out of research Betty Gubert amassed in the writing of Invisible Wings: An Annotated Bibliography of Blacks in Aviation, 1916-1993 [1994] and Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science [2002]. Gubert’s papers range in date from 1927 to 2002, with the predominant range from the 1930s through the1960s. The collection includes a small group of monographs (many signed and inscribed), pamphlets, letters, photographs, funeral programs, aviation publications, newspaper clippings, audiovisuals, serials and memorabilia. The papers have been arranged in four series: Research Notes, Subject Research Files, Photographs and Memorabilia.

These files represent more than 20 years of research on African American astronauts, educators and commercial pilots, and African Americans in the airline industry. One can trace the development of the friendships between Gubert and the African American pilots and their families in the subject research files, which contain ongoing correspondence. All files are arranged in alphabetical and then chronological order.

Series 1: Research Notes
This series includes Betty Gubert’s personal notes and research methodology. Brochures, grants and information on the Smithsonian’s ongoing exhibits honoring blacks in aviation are also included. There is also a file containing Clementine Skinner’s Christmas holiday letters. Skinner was a longtime Chicago resident, activist and educator, as well as past president of the Chicago chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. Skinner was very helpful in Gubert’s search for information on Willa Brown.

Series 2: Subject Research Files
This series includes correspondence, funeral programs and newspaper clippings. Most of the documents and correspondence span the period from individual African American pilots’ entry into aviation until their death. The files on Chauncey Spencer, son of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, are of particular interest. They detail his career and the fight to desegregate the armed forces during the 1940s. There are a number of files pertaining to Willa Brown. Gubert had planned to write a biography of Willa Brown. Even though the project was never completed, the research was incorporated in the Leadership Project (SP Films)—“Willa Brown, Aviator” in 1999. This became a one-hour film. There are also comprehensive files on the Tuskegee Airmen, both as a group and individual airmen.

Series 3: Photographs
Most of the photographs are from the U.S. government and are in the public domain. There is a series of photographs from the Bessie Coleman stamp dedication ceremony. The ceremony took place in 1995 in Chicago at Lincoln Cemetery, where she is buried, DuSable Museum and Midway Airport.

Series 4: Memorabilia
This series includes memorial programs, buttons, pins and tributes to Bessie Coleman and other black astronauts and pilots.

Related Collections

At the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature:

• Robert S. Abbott-John H. Sengstacke Family Papers
• Timuel D. Black, Jr. Papers
• Horace Cayton Papers
• Robert O. French Papers
• McGill Family Papers
• Clementine Skinner Papers
• Eugene Winslow Papers

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