Guide to the Harry F. Guggenheim Letters, 1930-1932

Harry Frank Guggenheim was born on August 23, 1890 in West End, New Jersey to Daniel and Florence Schloss Guggenheim. After graduating from Columbia Grammar School in 1907, and a subsequent brief stint at Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, Guggenheim enrolled at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received both a bachelor's and master's degree, in 1913 and 1918 respectively.

After graduation from Pembroke in 1913, Guggenheim was made executive director of one of his family's mining operations, Chile Copper. At the onset of America's entry into World War I, Guggenheim joined the United States Naval Reserve, where he served as a naval aviator. After the war, he returned to Chile Copper, remaining as executive director until 1923 when he resigned over a dispute regarding the sale of the company.

Guggenheim next served as president of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, which was founded by Harry's father Daniel in 1926. By 1930, the fund had helped establish six schools of aeronautical engineering. His presidency of the Guggenheim fund, as well as other philanthropic ventures, brought Guggenheim into the circles of such aeronautic pioneers as Charles Lindbergh and Robert Goddard. It was also during this time that he was appointed Ambassador to Cuba by Herbert Hoover, a position Guggenheim held from 1929 until 1933.

In 1940, Guggenheim, along with his then wife Alicia Patterson, founded the Long Island newspaper Newsday. At the outbreak of World War II, Guggenheim rejoined the Navy, initially serving as commander of Mercer Field in Trenton, New Jersey, while his wife tended to the operations of Newsday. In 1945, he was briefly transferred to U.S.S. Nehenta Bay (Escort Carrier: CVE-74), which was serving in the Pacific Theater. After the war, Guggenheim returned to the paper, as well as other philanthropic ventures, including overseeing the construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Following the death of his wife, Guggenheim turned daily operations of Newsday over to newly hired publisher Bill Moyers in 1967. After a series of confrontations with Moyers over the political and editorial direction the paper was taking, Guggenheim sold Newsday to the Times Mirror Company in 1970.

On January 22, 1971, Harry Frank Guggenheim died at his Long Island mansion, Falaise.

Davis, John H.. The Guggenheims: An American Epic. New York: Morrow, 1978.

Keeler, Robert F. "Guggenheim, Harry Frank" (23 Aug. 1890-22 Jan. 1971),” in American National Biography, Volume 9, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, 140-141. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Unger, Irwin. The Guggenheims: A Family History. New York: Harper Collins, 2005.

The Harry F. Guggenheim Letters, and their accompanying illuminated manuscript, span from 1930 to 1932. The letters pertain to the presentation of the illuminated manuscript to Guggenheim, and the dedication of the Aéro Club de France.

Three letters pertain to an illuminated manuscript presented to Guggenheim by the Royal Aeronautical Society, honoring Guggenheim's stewardship of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund, and the fund's support of the society. Two of the letters are between Guggenheim and Sir John Joyce Broderick, British Minister to Cuba. The third letter, signed by Guggenheim, is to Guggenheim's mother. The manuscript itself is signed by Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince Albert, Duke of York. The remainder of the collection pertains to the dedication of new facilities for the Aéro Club de France, including two letters between Guggenheim and Walter E. Edge, American Ambassador to France, and several press clippings describing the event.

Additional manuscript material pertaining to Harry F. Guggenheim can be found in the Harry Frank Guggenheim Papers at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.