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Accident and Disaster

 Digital Record
Identifier: VBI_000366

Dates

  • Creation: 1851

Creator

Conditions Governing Use

Access to the Theodore Newton Vail Collection of Aeronautical Images, Broadsides and Clippings is not authorization to publish. Separate written application for permission to publish must be made to the Institute Archives. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection.

Biographical / Historical

Margaret Graham (b. 1804), and George Graham, known as "Mr. and Mrs. Graham," were active balloonists in England from 1823-c. 1853. Mrs. Graham was the more active aeronaut and made her first balloon ascent in the company of her husband, on June 2, 1824. In July 1836, she ascended for the first time with another woman, marking the first recorded ascent by women alone. The Grahams’ ballooning careers were marked by difficult ascensions and accidents, involving both their solo flights and those made with together. Mrs. Graham’s last recorded balloon ascension was made on August 19, 1853 from the Rotunda Gardens in Dublin.

Language of Materials

English

Existence and Location of Originals

Box 17

Physical Description

Other

Dimensions

6 pages; 24.2 x 16.2 cm

General Note

Pages from the “Accident and Disaster” section of June, August and September issues of The Household Narrative. Columns recounting ballooning accidents involving Mr. and Mrs. Graham, "Madame Garneron" [Garnerin], and Lt. George Gale.

Original publication

The Household Narrative of Current Events, 1851. [London : s.n., 1850-1855] (Whitefriars, London: Bradbury & Evans)

Sources used for Biographical/Historical note

Hodgson, J.E., History of Aeronautics in Great Britain (Oxford University Press, London, 1924), 226-228.

Turnor, Hatton, Astra Castra; experiments and adventures in the atmosphere (London, Chapman and Hall, 1865),136, 220.

Wroth, Warwick, Cremorne and the later London gardens (London, Stock, 1907), 46, 50, 87.

Repository Details

Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository

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