David L. Davidson Jr. Collection

The David L. Davidson Jr. Collection documents the personal life, military service, and Boeing career of David L. Davidson. This collection, which dates from 1941 to his retirement from Boeing in 1988, consists of textual materials, photographs, technical drawings, and one digital audio recording. The collection is arranged in three series: Series I, Personal Records, 1941-1950; Series II, Military Records, 1946-1962; and Series III, Professional Records, 1954-1988.

Series I, Personal Records, contains a small amount of visual and textual materials. Included are four photographs of him in his youth and during college; technical drawings he made while studying electrical engineering at college; his diploma from Central Colored High School; an address book; and professional membership cards. Of particular note is a 46-page handwritten autobiography in which he describes his family background, work experience and labor issues at Alcorn State University, his recruitment to Boeing's work on the space program, and his move to Washington. Davidson recorded himself reading this autobiography at some point and his family later digitized the recording; the resulting digital audio file is also present in the collection.

Series II, Military Records, is also a small series which contains documents and records relating to his military appointments and discharge, as well as a commemorative statement from Harry S. Truman. It includes assorted records relating to his service in the Marines during World War II, but his later work with the Army Reserves is represented only by two certificates.

Series III, Professional records, contains the most materials which document his career at the Boeing Company and as a professor at Alcorn State University. These include photographs, administrative records, Boeing management training materials, handwritten notes on labor issues, photos of Davidson, and documentation from his retirement. The photos in this series include 53 black-and-white, 4x5-inch official Boeing photos, and they depict workspaces, equipment, computer systems, and unidentified staff, as well as rockets and launches. Three additional photos depict Davidson. First, an 8x10-inch official Boeing photograph shows Davidson in front of a large computer at the data tape facility in the Kent Boeing Space Center's 18-24 building, and two color snapshot Polaroids depict Davidson at his retirement.

Digitized Materials: Select materials from each series have been digitized from this collection. The Boeing photographs have been digitized but are not available online due to copyright restrictions.