Answer: The Aero Club of Pennsylvania

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully launched the first flying craft that could be controlled while in the air.  The Aero Club of Pennsylvania, founded in 1909 and chartered in 1910, is one of the oldest, continuously operation aviation clubs in America.  The club was designed not for professional aviators or experts in the field, but for those with a desire to learn about aviation and curious about aviators’ accomplishments in Pennsylvania and nationwide.  Past officers of the club include Henry S. Gratz, Joseph A. Steinmetz, and Harold F. Pitcairn.

HSP holds a collection of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania’s records (#1742) that include membership lists, correspondence, pamphlets, scrapbooks, minute books, as well as unprocessed additions.  The Society also houses other records from some of Philadelphia’s oldest clubs still in operation, including the Print Club (#2065), the Plastic Club (#3016), the Garden Club of Philadelphia (#1476), the Philadelphia Cricket Club (#1439), and the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia.