Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from Paul R. Hill Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Paul R. Hill Collection, Ms2010-068, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Paul R. Hill Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2010 by Julie M. Hill of Norfolk, Virginia.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Paul R. Hill Collection commenced in 2010 and was completed in January 2011.

Biographical Note

Paul R. Hill (1909-1990) was a renowned NASA engineer and UFO enthusiast. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of California, Berkeley in 1936. After teaching at the Polytechnic College of Engineering in Oakland, California, Hill began his career with the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA) in 1939, which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. He worked at NASA until 1970, where he published numerous scientific and technical reports.

Hill was also an adamant UFO enthusiast. Based on his own personal sightings in in 1952, Mr. Hill tried to use his scientific and engineering knowledge to understand how UFOs worked and eventually built his own flying platform. His book on the topic, Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis, was published post-humously in 1995.

Mr. Hill was married to Frances Hoback Hill (d. 1999) and had one daughter, Julie M. Hill. Hill died in 1990 at the age of 81.

Scope and Content Note

The Paul R. Hill Collection contains material relating to the NACA/NASA/Langely career of Paul R. Hill from 1939-1970. Materials include books, papers, newspapers, lantern slides, NASA publications and memos, overhead sheets, and notes from presentations and talks.

Many photographs portray Hill's design for a personal flight device. Other drawings reflect planetary orbits or space station models. Presentation notes accompany a few slide folders.

The collection also consists of various publications and papers written by Hill and other authors. Many of these publications are declassified official NASA reports, and others are NASA publications from award ceremonies and department memorandums. Wherever possible, bibliographies at the folder-level are included in the "Contents List" below. Other publications include drafts of papers reviewed by Hill. A number of books were removed from the collection to be catalogued (see "Separated Materials" below).

Also included in this collection are personal papers of Paul R. Hill. Some of these items include his 1936 voter registration, work evaluations, and correspondence regarding his personal projects. Newspaper and magazine clippings kept by Hill are also included in the collection.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in 5 series. In addition, there are two folders of magazine and newspaper clippings. Where possible, collection materials have been kept in original groupings. Other items, such as publications and clippings, have been grouped and arranged chronologically. Undated material is arranged alphabetically, where possible.

Series I: Paul R. Hill Materials Contains personal materials of Paul R. Hill, including correspondence, work evaluations, and his talks and lecture notes. It also contains papers written by Paul R. Hill.

Series II: Subject Files The files in this series have been kept in original groupings by Hill. Contains, papers, notes, correspondence.

Series III: NASA Reports and Publications This series contains official publications from NASA, memorandums and meeting agendas from Hill's time at NACA/NASA.

Series IV: Other Papers and Publications These files contain other publications that were part of the collection. Some of these publications were copies from other sources. Arranged chronologically.

Series V: Images This series contains slides, slide negatives, drawings, photographs, and photograph negatives.

The Magazine Clippings and Newspaper Clippings files contain clippings from various sources.

Related Material

Index Terms

Subjects:

• United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
• United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Local Subjects:

• Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE)
• Science and Technology

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Separated Materials