A narrative of the two aerial voyages of Doctor Jeffries with Mons. Blanchard; with meteorological observations and remarks. The first voyage, on the thirtieth of November, 1784, from London into Kent: the second, on the seventh of January, 1785, from England into France.

ma96 John Jeffries Air-Mail Letter Collection, 1784-1961 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Cheryl Gracey, Sarah Sorscher, Peter Nelson. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

Amherst, MA

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarang Gopalakrishnan. 2003-06-24 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 ma96 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Amherst College Archives and Special Collections John Jeffries Air-Mail Letter Collection, 1784-1961 Finding Aid Finding Aid: 1980s Prepared by: Cheryl Gracey Revised: Feb. 2002 Revised by: Sarah Sorscher '05, Student Encoding Assistant Edited by: Peter A. Nelson, Assistant Archivist Prepared for Web: 2002 By: Sarah Sorscher '05, Student Encoding Assistant Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Jeffries, John, 1745-1819 Jeffries Air-Mail Letter Collection 1784-1961 (ca. 0.75 linear ft.) 1 half archives box, 1 flat box, 1 folder Amherst College Archives and Special Collections American physician; first American to be airborne. Includes a letter dropped from Jeffries' balloon during his historic flight, as well as clippings, correspondence and other materials about the letter. English. Biographical Note

On November 30,1784, American physician John Jeffries (1745-1819) and French inventor Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753-1809) flew in a balloon from London to Stone Marsh, Kent. Dr Jeffries was the first American to fly, as well as the first meteorologist; and this flight was the occasion for the first airborne scientific observations of the atmosphere. To amuse himself, Dr Jeffries wrote four notes to friends and dropped them over the side. Three of them were found and delivered to their addresses. The only one of these that still survives was addressed to Mr. Arodie Thayer. This note, considered the oldest piece of airmail in existence, was gifted to Amherst College by his nephew Thatcher Thayer (AC 1831).

The note is a badly stained, yellowed 3 x 5 card. The original is thought to have been written in a quick-fading ink made from pokeberries, and to have been traced over subsequently (and not always correctly) with pencil. Despite the tracer's efforts, a good portion of the note is too indistinct to be decipherable.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The collection consists of the original airmail letter written by Jeffries plus the following: several photographic reproductions, various clippings relating to the letter, correspondence about its preservation, and a scrapbook compiled by S.R. Williams, director of the Snell Museum of Physics at Amherst College, presented to the College in 1947.

Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

There is no restriction on access to boxes 1 and 2 of the Jeffries Air Mail Letter Papers for research use. Access to the original letter is restricted for preservation purposes.

Requests for permission to publish material from the Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in John Jeffries Air Mail Letter Collection [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

Search Terms Jeffries, John, 1745-1819. Blanchard, Jean-Pierre, 1753-1809. Thayer, Arodie. Balloon ascensions--Great Britain. Balloon post--Great Britain. Thayer, Thatcher, 1811-1894. Williams, Samuel Robinson, b. 1879. fmo Amherst College. Class of 1831. Thayer. Additional Information 1 1 Description n.d. 1 2 Histories n.d. 1 3 Correspondence of S. R. Williams n.d. 1 4 Maincent, Paul. Genese de la poste aerienne du siege de Paris n.d. 1 5 News clippings n.d. 1 6 Correspondence regarding restoration and preservation n.d. 1 7 Airman, contains 3-part article on the letter (3 copies of each bound issue, and one copy of the article alone) 1961 Jul-Sep 1 8 Correspondence re Airman article n.d. 1 9 Photographs n.d. 2 - Scrapbook (MS W6d): S.R. Williams: Correspondence, printed material, etc. 1931-1947