The Peter M. Bowers Collection is comprised of approximately 43,000 negatives and 150,000 prints, as well as glass plates, scrapbooks, transparencies, correspondence, writings, and research files and additional audio-visual materials. This collection is significant for its documentation, especially visual, on thousands of types of aircraft produced over the course of the twentieth century. The collection is arranged into six series: I. Photographs, II. Correspondence, III. Manuscripts, IV. Research Files, V. Audiovisual Material and VI. Personal.

Series I., Photographs, at more than 229 cubic feet, is by far the largest and most significant component of the collection, spanning the beginning of aviation history in the early 1900s until Bowers’ death in 2003. The vast majority of photographic items are black-and-white prints and negatives, though some color prints and transparencies are present. The series is divided into five subseries: aircraft files, non-aircraft files, glass plates, scrapbooks and albums, and the Eugene M. Sommerich collection.

The aircraft files include prints, negatives, and transparencies, totaling more than 210 cubic feet with more than 142,000 items. These files illustrate the first century of crewed flight. Because this collection was started during the period 1919-1945, when few resources existed documenting aviation history, the collection began as a self-education tool but became a resource for Bowers’ own publications and is a well-rounded collection. As a Boeing employee, Bowers had great access to photographs and information about their aircraft, and this is reflected in the collection as many official Boeing photographs are present. Other significant manufacturers, especially American ones, are well represented. Bowers also had a strong interest in gliders, “one-offs” and one-of-a-kind “home built” aircraft, and his involvement with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is especially rich in describing these types of aircraft. The hundreds of thousands examples of images flying machines in the collection attest to Bowers’ determination to document at least one of every aircraft every conceived.

The non-aircraft files consist predominantly of prints, making up about nine cubic feet of material, or about 2,800 items. These files include biographical subjects, general aviation subjects, and various groups, such as military branches and squadrons. The glass plate negatives include a large number of images related to Glenn Curtiss and his early aircraft as well as views of a variety of aircraft and dirigibles.The scrapbooks and albums, consisting of about five cubic feet, appear to be items collected from others. These cover various topics and seem to be primarily related to early aviation (circa 1910s-1920s). The Eugene M. Sommerich collection is a discrete set of items Bowers obtained from Sommerich, consisting of 1,826 medium-format black-and-white negatives of aircraft (about two cubic feet).

Series II., the Correspondence Series, consists of nine cubic feet of incoming letters dating from 1945-2003 and largely supports the Photographs series. The materials are arranged alphabetically by correspondent, including other notable aviation historians such as William T. Larkins and Gordon S. Williams. The correspondence is comprised of detailed letters describing trades of images, purchases, or quests to “fill known gaps” in understanding. There are very frequent references to loans, contested trades, etc., with correspondents who are since known to have passed, leading to the conclusion that, while he was generous and sympathetic to many diverse projects worldwide, he was a poor record keeper of what he had actually loaned out in good faith. Bowers rarely retained copies of his own outgoing correspondence which, inevitably, results in “hearing only half” of every conversation.

Series III. Manuscripts is made up of six cubic feet documents related to Bowers’ writings. Arranged alphabetically by title or subject, the files include drafts of his hundreds of articles, which were primarily written out by hand in pencil, though some are typewritten. With 350 files in this series, these files are not a complete representation of all his work. Given how prolific a writer he was, this appears to be a small fraction of his writing. Primarily present are drafts of articles rather than of his books.

The Research Files series (Series IV.) supports the Photographs series in that it provides more data and information on the aircraft that Bowers was researching. With 18 cubic feet of materials, thare a variety of types of documents, including drawings, articles, and reports. While most files are related to aircraft and manufacturers, some are biographical and some are on broader subjects. About two cubic feet of material makes up the Audiovisual series, which includes video tapes, film and audio recordings. The final series, Personal, is the smallest series at under one cubic foot, and consists of things like certificates, letters of commendation, clippings, and business cards.

A few boxes of unsorted materials remain unprocessed and will be integrated into the above series.

During processing of the collection it became apparent that some major components to be expected in Bowers’ collection were absent. Most notably, the aircraft produced by the U.S. manufacturer Curtiss was a consuming interest for Bowers; he in fact produced a seminal work in the acclaimed Putnam series devoted to Curtiss, Curtiss-Wright and its entire product line. However, it was found that entire series of aircraft described in this very same volume were missing entirely from his carefully organized negative files, and the Correspondence series, which abounds with detailed discussions about his many book projects, is almost entirely devoid of exchanges relating to Curtiss. These materials were apparently separated from the collection prior to its acquisition by The Museum. Bowers’ also lost a portion of his photo collection to a fire in the 1990s. It is unknown how much or what exactly was lost in the fire, though some of Bowers’ friends estimate that the fire consumed 50-70% of his collection, including not only images but aircraft parts, research files, and manuscripts.