The University Archives, along with all other Notre Dame administrative offices, will close for the Christmas Celebration on December 24th and reopen on Monday, January 3rd.
CAZA 40/01: Christmas Card to Dr. Albert Zahm from the Wrights of Dayton, Ohio
(a certain Orville and Wilbur), 1909.
Dr. Zahm was a physics professor at Notre Dame from 1883 to 1892. He was a pioneering figure in the development of aviation and aeronautics. His relationship with the Wright brothers, however, deteriorated when he testified against them in favor of Glenn Curtiss in a patent lawsuit in the early 1910s.
Marie,
There were flight schools associated with the Naval Training programs at Notre Dame during World War II. While not part of formal curriculum, students formed flight clubs to learn flying. Aviation course are taught as part of the ROTC programs and more recently there was a Notre Dame Pilot Initiative in 2006 (http://www.nd.edu/~ndpi/history.htm). The Aerospace Engineering Department used to have an extensive history of aviation at Notre Dame online, but I can’t find it now. We have a hard copy here in the University Archives.
I would like to hear more about flying and aviation at Notre Dame. Was there ever an aviation program where students could learn to fly as part if their curriculum?