Anywho, yesterday as I was getting ready to leave for work, I remembered that Ashdown (the place I live here on campus) was giving away a lot of their old books. This may sound kind of non-exciting, but Ashdown used to be a place to live on Memorial Drive...it's a super beautiful/slightly falling apart brownstone, and is currently called "Old Ashdown." Needless to say, there was only a bit of history brought with in the move to the new building (while the old one waits for asbestos removal and structural integrity fixing). Much of this history was brought in the form of books. OLD books.
Also-- a German printing of Einstein. From the 1920s. Truly. Sure, I can't read it. But it's cool.
Only one book had a name in it: Harold W. Fairchild 3/13/26. His listed address corresponds to a locksmith service in Cambridge. But it also had a marking on the opposite side notating that this book was a gift of John F. Fairchild in memory of Harold W. Fairchild.
This merited investigation. According to old copies of the Tech (the newspaper here), Harold was a fantastic gymnast. He also refused chairmanship of a spring dance.
After about an hour more of searching (I was enthralled. This was way more exciting than homework) - I found a posting of veterans from Pelham, New York:
Lieutenant Harold Fairchild, was born in Pelham, the son of J.F. Fairchild of Harrington NJ. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1929 and received his aviation training at Brook and Kelly Field in Texas. Soon after he joined the research division of the United Aircraft and Transportation Company.
By 1933, Fairchild was considered one of the country's most skillful altitude fliers. On April 10th of that year he conduct an altitude test for the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company of East Hartford taking off from Rentschler Field, where the University of Connecticut football Stadium is now. During the test, he attained an altitude of 35,000 feet and then he lost control of the plane. The plane attempted to level off at 500 feet and the engine was turned off indicating that pilot was still conscious although some thought his oxygen supply might have malfunctioned or run out. The plane crashed into the farm of John Rankl in Marlborough and Fairchild was killed. The New York Times April 11, 1933
Harold's father:
John F. Fairchild, served in World War I as a Major in France with the Fifty-sixth Pioneer Infantry. He was born in Washington and studied at New York University. An engineer by training, he helped construct the Bronx River Parkway. He also served as the engineer for the Village of Pelham and of the Town of Pelham.
His death at age 75 was reported on November 8, 1943. He had a daughter Mrs. John G. Gebhard of Harrington Park, NJ; a brother the former Congressman Benjamin L. Fairchild of Pelham and two sisters Mrs. Addison T. Smith and Mrs. Perry Michener of Washington. His son Harold Fairchild, a test pilot, died in an airplane accident in 1933. The New York Times November 9, 1943.
After much more searching, I was unable to find anything more about Harold. So, I wrote the webmaster of American Legion Post 50 about what I had found out, and that I'd like to know if Harold had any family that would like the book back. Granted, I think the book's really cool...but it has come a long way and deserves to be with someone who will look inside the cover and think, "Wow....my great-great-uncle owned this book when he was at MIT." I also wrote in to MIT's archives to see if they had any more information available about Harold.
Edit: I received an email back from the Legion letting me know that he would look into things. I'll certainly post an update if I find out more.
6 comments:
I do so love doing things like this! We recently bought a stack of records, and they had wedding invitations stuck into them, all which had unreturned RSVP cards, all to the same guy. Really interesting the things that you find!
mieletcannelle: ditto! The stories behind the things that we acquire throughout our lives...they fascinate me.
I still haven't heard anything back, but I'm told the MIT archives has only a few people to spend all day searching old documents to satisfy this sort of request.
Hello,
I also gathered some books that day and stumbled upon your blog when I tried researching Harold W. Fairchild (I have one of his books now as well signed Harold W. Fairchild XVI). Let me know if you would like to have it (titled "Steam and Entropy Tables"). And thank you for your extensive research efforts.
I also got a whole bunch of the german Ostwald's Klassiker books as well as eight of the volumes of The Golden Bough (it looks like you have one of the volumes as well). I was wondering if you would by chance be willing to part with any of them as I would love to try to complete the sets.
By the way, Jonah Maverick is my now two-year-old son. My intent was to create a blog for him, but now that I am a parent reality struck and I have found that time to do such things is especially scarce. Thank you for your consideration and again for your research. Take care.
Regards,
Roger
5ellebell5@gmail.com
Hi Bridget,
I came across this blog post quite by accident this morning while doing research on my grandfather Benjamin L Fairchild.
You may be interested to know that my mother (Elinor Fairchild Stebbins)is the 1st cousin of Harold Fairchild.
My mother positively worshipped Harold and claims she locked herself into a bathroom upon hearing of his untimely death. Later, she herself went on to enlist in the WASP program during WWII and just next month will receive the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in DC for her years of service.
I of course called her to let her know about the book you mention and if by a stoke of luck you still are in possession of it and willing to part with it, she would love to have it.
I so appreciate the great lengths you went to locate a possible family member and find it quite serendipitous that I stumbled onto your blog.
You can contact me at:
elin@elinstebbinswaldal.com
to discuss further.
Again, thanks for the posting, I look forward to hearing back from you!
Best,
Elin
Hello, I too found your blog by accident while searching for information about Harold Fairchild. He was my father's uncle. The story of Uncle Harold enthralled my father, and I believe inspired him to become an aeronautical engineer. We often spoke about flight testing and the state-of-the-art in 1933. I will be glad to exchange more information if you want.
Regards,
David Fairchild Gebhard Jr.
Hello-
My father also corresponded with Elinor Fairchild Stebbins. They occasionally spoke together. I found some correspondence between them while going through his effects. He passed January 20, 2018 (92)
David F. Gebhard Jr. dgeb53@gmail.com
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