We are excited to share with you a new item that arrived earlier this week: this numbered pin from the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company:
The metal pin/badge (made of copper we believe) is approximately 1-1/2 inches wide by 1-1/8 inches tall. The front includes an image of a biplane, the text “The Dayton Wright Airplane Co. Dayton Ohio,” and the number 15046 (presumably an employee identification number of some kind). The back has a pin mechanism, and this one is in great shape:
This item, which has been assigned collection number SC-371, was donated to us by the Historical Society of Harford County (Maryland). They received the item as part of a donation for their upcoming rummage sale fundraiser, but they could tell right away that this item was something special. While researching the item to learn more about it, they found our blog post from 2019 about a similar badge and contacted us for more information. They ultimately decided to donate it to us, and when we received it on Tuesday, it came with this lovely note:
Thank you for publishing a story that helped us find the “Wright” home for this artifact.
The Dayton-Wright Company was an integral part of the war effort during World War I, producing and delivering to the front over 3500 airplanes: De Havilland 4s (DH-4s), British bombers to be redesigned for the American Liberty engine (which the company also produced) and 400 J-I trainers designed by the American company Standard Aircraft (Standard SJ-1s). (To learn more about the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, visit our blog post Spotlight on the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company.)
We have pictures in the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company Photographs (MS-152) (all dating to 1918) that appear to show employees wearing similar pins/badges. (You can see two more pictures in the original 2019 blog post.)
We would still love to know more about these pins, so if you have any additional information, please leave us a comment or contact us.
Special thanks again to Maryanna Skowronski and Mary Schweers at the Historical Society of Harford County for reaching out to us!