Photographs and other materials used to illustrate Phillip H. Ault, By the Seat of Their Parts; The Story of Early Aviation (New York: Dodd, Mead, c1978). The bulk of the material concerns the history of aviation in the United States from 1900 to 1950, with special emphasis on the Wright brothers, barnstormers, the first flight around the world in 1924, early air mail carriers, Charles Lindbergh, the Dole Derby of 1927, Amelia Earhart, and Douglas "Wrong-Way" Corrigan.

The material consists primarily of photographic reproductions, most prepared between 1960 and 1977. A substantial number of these were obtained from the David D. Hatfield Collection, American Hall of Aviation History, Northrop University (now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle), and in the Bell Collection, Mentone, Indiana (formerly Bell Aircraft Corporation, Buffalo, New York; now Lawrence D. Bell Aircraft Museum, Mentone). Additional photographs and other materials were obtained from American Airlines; the Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio; British Airways; Flint Journal, Flint, Michigan; General Dynamics, Convair Division [materials now in the San Diego Aerospace Museum]; Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan; Honolulu Advertiser; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Lockheed Aircraft Corporation; Northern Indiana Historical Society; Pan American World Airways; Santa Ana Register, Santa Ana, California; Ryan Aeronautical Library [now part of the San Diego Aerospace Museum], San Diego, California; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; South Bend Tribune, South Bend, Indiana; Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii; and United Airlines. The series includes copies of nine photographs--including seven not published in Ault's work--from Amelia Earhart's 20 Hours 40 Minutes (1928).

The series contains four original photographs from the following sources:

It is not known whether there was any relationship between Phillip H. Ault and the Ault Photo Studio.

Other materials include two maps specially drawn for Ault's book, as well as biographical sketches, each with a reproduction of a pencil portrait sketch by Milton Caniff, of 15 members of the Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio.