Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Henry J. Kelley Papers
Kelley, H. J. (Henry Joseph), 1926-1988
Ms.1988.021
14.8 Cubic Feet
40 boxes
1948-1988
The Henry J. Kelley Papers include correspondence, notes, drafts and offprints of publications, teaching materials, and research reports from 1948-1988 documenting the career of Kelley (1926-1988), an aerospace engineer and authority on flight optimization. The majority of the collection consists topic based subject/research files, files on individuals (correspondence, resumes, and papers), teaching/course materials, and conference/professional organizational files. There are drafts and final copies of papers by Kelley and others on a range of aerospace and other engineering topics. The collection also includes slides and transparencies, most of which depict equations, charts, graphs, and occasional text.
The materials in the collection are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Henry J. Kelley Papers, Ms1988-021, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Source of Acquisition
The Henry J. Kelley Papers were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in 1988.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Henry J. Kelley Papers was completed in 2012. Original folder titles and physical order of Series I were retained. Series II was organized by archivists. Minimal description was completed in 1988. Updates were made to the description in 2023.
The description of this collection was updated as part of the project, "Piercing the Veil: Creating Access to the Archives of American Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Tech," funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) from 2022 to 2024.
Biographical Note
Henry Joseph "Hank" Kelley was born to Bernard Joseph and Margaret (nee McKillop) Kelley in New York City on February 8, 1926. He married Maureen Youngkin on October 26, 1958, and they had two children Henry Bernard and Maureen E.
Kelley was an aerospace engineer and authority on flight optimization. He earned a B.Ae.E. in 1948, M.S. in 1951, and an Sc.D. in 1958, all from New York University. From 1948-1963, he worked for Grumman Aircraft as a researcher and as assistant chief of the Research Department. In 1963, he founded Analytical Mechanics Associates, which worked with NASA on parameterized steering approaches for Apollo mission planning. From 1978 until his death in 1988, he served as a professor of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech and held the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Chair of the department.
Hank Kelley died on February 9, 1988.
External sources:
Cliff, E. M., "In Memory of Henry J. Kelley," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Vol. 60, No. 1, January 1989, pp. 1-5, https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/10.1007/BF00938794, accessed June 20, 2023.
Henry Joseph Kelley death certificate, Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia. On Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/4677324:9278, accessed June 20, 2023.
"Cole-Kelley",
Roanoke Times, May 30, 1993, on Virginia Tech website, https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1993/rt9305/930530/05280342.htm, accessed June 20, 2023.Henry J. Kelley marriage record, New York State Marriage Index, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY., on Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/712924:61632, accessed June 20, 2023.
Scope and Content
The Henry J. Kelley Papers include correspondence, notes, drafts and offprints of publications and research reports. The majority of the collection consists topic based subject/research files, files on individuals (correspondence, resumes, and papers), teaching/course materials, and conference/professional organizational files. There are drafts and final copies of papers by Kelley and others on a range of aerospace and other engineering topics.
The collection also includes slides and transparencies, most of which depict equations, charts, graphs, and occasional text. For the most part, these visual materials are unidentified.
Arrangement
The collections is arranged into two series based on material type, Series I: Papers and Series II: Audiovisual Materials.
Series I: Papers remains physically in the order in which it was brought to Special Collections and University Archives. It is unclear if this was Henry Kelley's original order. Kelley's original folder labels were maintained when the collection was rehoused in 2012. In the inventory below, the series is intellectually organized alphabetically to facilitate searching.
Series II: Audiovisual Materials contains slides and transparencies, Although the slides are unidentified, most were grouped with rubber bands. Those groups were retained within the box of slides. Identified transparencies were left in their original groupings, and unidentified transparencies are grouped together.
Related Materials
Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives also has several publications by Henry J. Kelley in the Rare Book Collection.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
The guide to the Henry J. Kelley Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).
Aerospace engineers
Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE)
Faculty and staff
Science and Technology
University History
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1944-1970)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970-)
Series I: PapersA. Das226Active Constraint Logic (2 folders)55-6Aerospace Proposal3517AFATL/FXG (2 folders)263-4AFRPL/ARP (2 folders)361-2AFSI237American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)/American Astronautical Society (AAS) Astrodynamics Conference49AIAA Atmospheric Flight238AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference288AIAA Fellow Nominations312AIAA M-S Award209AIAA Publications Committee (5 folders)281-5AIAA Section2010Air Combat Analysis289Aircraft Cruise-Dash Optimization173Air Force Office of Scientific Research412American Astronautical Society (AAS) Denver Paper37Analytical Mechanics Associates (3 folders)233-5Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE)
(Virginia Tech)321AOE 3210 Vibrations72AOE 3220101AOE 3220 Records71AOE 4800318AOE 5240 (2 folders)319-10AOE 62203111AOE 6241 CC317AOE 6241 (Virginia Tech) (2 folders)311-2AOE 6241 (4 folders)313-6AOE 6242 (4 folders)348-11AOE Faculty (2 folders)343-4AOE Teaching (3 folders)345-7Applicants327Archives3211ARO1911Astrodynamics and Orbit Determination38Balady (6 folders)368-13BMO (2 folders)176-7Boost-Glide227Bounded Control Comparison (3 folders)356-8Boyd88Brodsky86Buning89Burroughs310Burroughs Trajectory Optimization271Calise112Cat Data (2 folders)341-2Chattering Cruise225Ching-Fang Lin (2 folders)337-8Chin-Lin, Yuan810Chuang and Speyer286Classroom Readings102Collision Avoidance Maneuvers for Ships410Conjugate Methods812CONMIN Proposal3210Constrained Filter351Contacts236Coppola/Fallin (3 folders)2011-13Cruise (6 folders)211-6Cruise-Dash Optimization224D. Bell328D. Bristol87D.W. Rew15Danesi191DARPA-AUV816Das OCAM Paper (2 folders)91-2Defense Technical Information Center (4 folders)322-5Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Technical Report218Dubrovnik118Dynamical System Parameters2811Edelbaum (2 folders)3212-13Eglin (2 folders)174-5"Energy Climb"35Energy-Climb Transitions (4 folders)192-5Energy State Revisited (2 folders)2110-11Erzberger117Excellence3312F. Kaiser Report (2 folders)181-2Flight Test Data3514Fossard64Games (2 folders)74-5The Goddard Problem223Gracey (3 folders)197-9Grad Co-op65Gradient Chapter273Gradient-Envelope272GRD Report RE- 159265Grocery Slides-Summer '81196Grumman Research Department266Gruver813Guidance and Control2810Guidance Law Handbook for classical Proportional Navigation (2 folders)41-2H. Ashley84H. Robbins16H. Stalford14Henry J. Kelley Thesis219Hix Proposal63Honor System3314Honorifics Committee (2 folders)61-2Houlihan AIAA m/s228I. B. Rhodes48International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), 1987105IFAC 10th World Congress
221IFAC Ardema134IFAC Advisory Comm. (6 folders)161-6IFAC Budapest133IFAC Capri Workshop205IFAC/Klaus Well135IFAC Kyoto (2 folders)131-2IFAC/Mathematics of Control Committee136IFAC MOC (7 folders)251-7IFAC Munich
(2 folders)201-2IFAC Sochi (2 folders)278-9IFAC Rauch (3 folders)51-3Inlet3313J. Case811J. Dunn814J. Ogg11J. Speyer13JACC116JACC 198194JACC/JGC Reprisal m/s96JGC95Joseph Dunn267Jzkubowski letters123K-T Screening (2 folders)334-5Katzir301Kelley239Kelley-GRD268Kelley & Klaus Well, ACC 198354Kelley Publications222Kelley Thesis (2 folders)261-2Kiforenko172Kirklova122Khalil151Knox (2 folders)331-1Kokotovic/Perkins333Kraft Chair121Kraft Lecture126L. Anderson85Langley Intercept (2 folders)124-5Lawden's Problem111Lefton231Leitmann336Leitmann chapter355LeMercier Part I (3 folders)206-8Lifting Vehicle Entry Range Analysis287Lunar Trajectory Error Coefficents3515Mancill (5 folders)363-7Marchal (3 folders)339-11Mauchly34McGlinchey307Meirovitch2812Mendon G&C (2 folders)183-4Midcourse39Mills/Clare ( 2 folders)157-8Moyer m/s76Multiobjective Optimization46NSF23NSF Collision Avoidance (2 folders)21-2NSF Singular152NASA Langley Oct. '85-86 Renewel171NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) Exec. Inst.29Neo Classical Cruise229Oberwolfach (2 folders)203-4OCAM [Optimal Control Applications and Methods?]24Off-Campus (5 folders)241-5Olsder27Optimality of Intermediate Thrusts Arcs in Rotation Potential Force Fields47Optimization for Burroughs217Optimum Thrust Trajectories in General Central Force Fields45P&T12Pachter73Pendray26PKA Menon Prelim Fall '82154Polynomial Proposal352Powers25A Problem of Collision Avoidance44Proposal for Oscillatory Cruise Research815PSQ113Publications of Henry J. Kelley (4 folders)141-4Publications by Others145Quadratic Feedback354Quasi Circular Guidance3516Quasi-circular Orbital Rendezvous277R. Kumar (4 folders)302-5Redstone155RE Entry66Re Entry RFP17Resumes (4 folders)246-9Rew m/s93RPL Contract313Russian Mathematics Institutes Reports411RV Manuevering2410Samso (3 folders)295-7Saxena81SCHEV [Most likely State Council of Higher Education for Virginia]326Schy299SDI (5 folders)269-132nd VAR3512Seywald (2 folders)308-9Shankar306Shiner298Shiner and Speyer2311Sigma Gamma Tau2910Single Perturbations in Flight Mechanics104Singular Cases (3 folders)359-11Singular Perturbation Analysis43Siry/Geyzing/McRuer31Sobieski2911Solar Sailing Gradient33Solar Sailing Indirect274Sussman Rodin82Tapley2912Topics in Optimization232Tracking Data3513Traffic Comm.103TRANS AC Note363-D Boost Turns (2 folders)275-63-D Singular Perturbation2913Tsoitras83T-V Energy Turns m/s115Unidentified Sub-routine data146U. Michigan Talk32V.B. Haas114Valentine Device353Variable Sweep Paper (2 folders)2915-16Visser (5 folders)2411-15V.P.I. (4 folders)291-4W. Boyne329Well [Klaus]2310Weston153Weston Dissertation (2 folders)185-6Whitaker/Moyer2914XW3518Yang P.C.156Z40311Zaremba1910Series II: A/V MaterialsTransparencies (Identified)37Scope and ContentThis box contains transparencies related to the following topics: Differential Turns Energy Model, Singular Perturbations, Variable Metric Projection, and Second Order Variational Approximation (SECVAR).
Transparencies (Unidentified)3839Slides (Unidentified)40