Edwin A. Link papers

The papers of Edwin Albert Link span the years 1939 through 1981, plus a few posthumous additions through 1992, and deal primarily with Link's interests in the air and the oceans. The accession includes correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, financial records, engineering diagrams, reports, company and organization publications, and memorabilia. The bulk of the collection is concentrated between 1940 and 1970 and documents the importance of E.A. Link in the field of aviation simulation and his work in underwater archaeology and ocean engineering.

The Edwin Link papers also includes copies of Link's original engineering diagrams for his Man-in-Sea program, invaluable for showing the evolution of this concept, and his reports on archaeological expeditions and ocean engineering developments.

The largest, and most important series, contains Link's correspondence. A few letters written by Edwin Link's wife, Marion Clayton Link, and his sister, Marilyn C. Link, are also included in this series. Because Link's business interests frequently grew out of his personal interests and were usually intertwined with them, it is difficult to separate precisely his business from his personal correspondence. The correspondence is arranged topically: Aviation; Oceans; Organs and Player Pianos; and Miscellaneous Correspondence.

A flood in the Link Aviation, Inc. offices destroyed most of the early files, so there are no papers prior to 1939, and little information on the development of the early trainers.