Albin K. Longren, Early Aviation Glass Dry Plate Negatives 

Lot of two 8 x 10 in. negatives of one of Albin K. Longren's early biplanes, ca 1913. One negative shows the aircraft somewhere on the plains, surrounded by technicians and a crowd of curious onlookers, while the other shows the same but with a Longren Aviators Exhibition Flyers truck parked behind the plane. The latter is inscribed in the negative Copyright July 17th, 1913, by M.A. Ellingson. Martin A. Ellingson was active in Cambridge, NE, from 1894 to 1914, and in McCook, SD, from 1914 to 1925.

Albin K. Longren (1882-1950) was an aviation pioneer who designed, built, and flew his own airplanes as early as 1911. Based out of Topeka, KS, "The Birdman" barnstormed around the Midwest, successfully completing 1,372 exhibition flights between September 1911 and late 1914 (an average of more than one per day).  Longren's first two airplanes used rear-mounted push-propellers, as did his fifth, which is on display at the Kansas Museum of History and described as being built in 1914. Therefore, the negatives offered here must show his No. 3 or No. 4 design, with a three-blade, front-mounted propeller. We could only find one other image of this configuration. These particular negatives appear to never have been published.

Excellent.