Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project

Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project Lt Duncan Ross Grant, U.S. Army Air Corps, was killed in a training accident 31 May 1918 in England. His footlocker was returned home to New York City.

These are the contents.

Operating as usual

07/07/2020

This weekend we will be at the Golden Age Air Museum in Bethel, PA. There is a WWI theme weekend and we will be talking about aviation in the era. Visit the WWI exhibitions.

06/21/2020

Photos from the footlocker of Lt Grant

Noon ET today new live video about photography and photos from the trunk. Watch live and ask questions #fathersday
06/21/2020

Noon ET today new live video about photography and photos from the trunk. Watch live and ask questions #fathersday

Thanks for remembering Duncan today on the 102nd anniversary of his death.
05/31/2020

Thanks for remembering Duncan today on the 102nd anniversary of his death.

05/31/2020

Duncan Ross Grant Tribute

05/31/2020

Today is the 102nd anniversary of Duncan's death in England. At Noon ET I will present his correspondence, war diary, personal items from his footlocker. Watch Live on Facebook 12-1pm ET. Please share.

I opened a stack of mail that was tied with red ribbon. These are 40 or so letters written by Charles Grant, the older b...
05/28/2020

I opened a stack of mail that was tied with red ribbon. These are 40 or so letters written by Charles Grant, the older brother of Duncan. Charles went to Princeton and with some research it might turn up he was roommates with some guy name Fitzgerald. Charlie is alleged to be the first person to fly a plane in Vermont. He went to aviation school in Texas at Kelly Field, but never shipped out.

May 31 will be the 102nd anniversary of Duncan's death in England. There will be a new video and reading some of the let...
05/26/2020

May 31 will be the 102nd anniversary of Duncan's death in England. There will be a new video and reading some of the letters found in his footlocker. In the meantime, please invite your friends to like this Page. Thanks and have a great week.

For Memorial Day: this is the flag that was carefully folded and placed inside Duncan’s footlocker. Reading the letters ...
05/25/2020

For Memorial Day: this is the flag that was carefully folded and placed inside Duncan’s footlocker. Reading the letters will hopefully shed more light on it. We only looked at it once, on Governors Island. It’s about 8 feet wide and has metal grommets. The idea is preservation so it could be displayed flat. It was wrapped in a cotton cloth for 100 years. Next weekend is the anniversary of Duncan’s fatal accident in England.

04/07/2020

A few hundred letters were sorted today that were sent to the parents of Duncan after his death. Three takeaways: Penmanship and handwriting with fountain pens is incredible and definitely a lost art. So many businesses and companies had wonderful letterhead. And private individuals often had embossed and engraved stationery with addresses and often nicknames for their homes. I also found a few more things to write posts about. Stay tuned. If you can, please invite friends to "like" this page, I'd like to get up to 200 followers before Memorial Day!

Envelope marked “news clippings”
03/18/2020

Envelope marked “news clippings”

Red Cross to parents 12 days after Duncan’s death
03/18/2020

Red Cross to parents 12 days after Duncan’s death

03/18/2020

Letters and correspondence catalog update

Wallets (empty) and dictionary
03/14/2020

Wallets (empty) and dictionary

Books and pamphlets of Lt Grant.
03/14/2020

Books and pamphlets of Lt Grant.

I am photographing the book collection. Look at Duncan’s French phrases. He was 19.
03/14/2020

I am photographing the book collection. Look at Duncan’s French phrases. He was 19.

Archiving of negatives can commence now. Even got cotton gloves
03/03/2020

Archiving of negatives can commence now. Even got cotton gloves

02/24/2020
Group Photo ID

Duncan wrote a number on every man. He’s #11. On the reverse he IDs them all. That’s a goldmine for genealogy and aviation history biographies.

Fingers crossed a volunteer comes through with negative scanner.
02/24/2020

Fingers crossed a volunteer comes through with negative scanner.

This is the Vermont senator who pulled strings for Duncan Ross Grant. First, he got him an appointment to the U.S. Naval...
02/22/2020
William P. Dillingham - Wikipedia

This is the Vermont senator who pulled strings for Duncan Ross Grant. First, he got him an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. After Duncan failed a hearing test (hearing a ticking watch at some distance), Sen. Dillingham intervened to get him an Army commission despite his young age. There are numerous personal letters from Dillingham in the collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P._Dillingham

William Paul Dillingham (December 12, 1843 – July 12, 1923) was an American attorney and politician from the state of Vermont. A Republican and the son of Congressman and Governor Paul Dillingham, William P. Dillingham served as governor from 1888 to 1890 and United States Senator from 1900 until...

Dressing & socks
02/16/2020

Dressing & socks

When a group portrait has all 100 names on the back. Lt Duncan Ross Grant, so smart
02/16/2020

When a group portrait has all 100 names on the back. Lt Duncan Ross Grant, so smart

Fort Worth, Texas, training photo, late 1917 or very early 1918 (maybe graduation day). But caption not written by Dunca...
02/16/2020

Fort Worth, Texas, training photo, late 1917 or very early 1918 (maybe graduation day). But caption not written by Duncan, it was after his death

This whole stack is condolence letters to David and Gertrude Grant. In the middle was a tiny card postmarked from Oyster...
02/15/2020

This whole stack is condolence letters to David and Gertrude Grant. In the middle was a tiny card postmarked from Oyster Bay from TR. Quentin had just been killed too...

Coming into the part of the story where the family places paid obituaries in newspapers a week after Duncan was killed i...
02/15/2020

Coming into the part of the story where the family places paid obituaries in newspapers a week after Duncan was killed in England.

02/15/2020

Update 15 Feb 2020: more items from trunk: personal effects, parts of uniform, ephemera, wristlets, letters, diary. Deeper dive into collection

Collapsible wash basin in case. When open bits of laundry powder soap inside
02/15/2020

Collapsible wash basin in case. When open bits of laundry powder soap inside

Sailors’ cap tally U.S.S. Rhode Island
02/15/2020

Sailors’ cap tally U.S.S. Rhode Island

Possibly taken in England.
01/23/2020

Possibly taken in England.

Stack of photos look like tourist images. England?
01/23/2020

Stack of photos look like tourist images. England?

In a stack of photos, possibly all taken in England
01/23/2020

In a stack of photos, possibly all taken in England

Address

New York, NY
10003

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project:

Videos

Photos from the footlocker of Lt Grant

Duncan Ross Grant Tribute

Letters between Duncan’s father, David Gran, the American Red Cross, and the man tending to Duncan’s grave in England.
Letters between Duncan’s father, David Gran, the American Red Cross, and the man tending to Duncan’s grave in England.

England Gravesite Correspondence

Video update on correspondence files
Video update on correspondence files

Looking at more discoveries of what Lt Grant's family saved after his death.

Letters and correspondence catalog update

November 1917
November 1917

Group in training photo taken in Toronto

Group Photo ID
Group Photo ID

Duncan wrote a number on every man. He’s #11. On the reverse he IDs them all. That’s a goldmine for genealogy and aviation history biographies.

1st of 4 group photos from Toronto aviation school
1st of 4 group photos from Toronto aviation school

Update 15 Feb 2020: more items from trunk: personal effects, parts of uniform, ephemera, wristlets, letters, diary. Deeper dive into collection

1st of approximately 50 letters from Duncan to his parents neatly tied in a bundle that was on the top of the foot locker. They begin in April 1915, postmark Ithaca, where he attended Cornell. There are many more letters than these.

Announcing the footlocker will be opened
Announcing the footlocker will be opened

Kevin Fitzpatrick explains that the Duncan Ross Grant footlocker was donated to the WWI Centennial Committee for NYC and the East Coast Doughboys. It will be exhibited for education and tell the story of his life.

Shortcuts

Category

Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project

The Lt Duncan Ross Grant Project is to explore the life of the U.S. aviator who tragically died in a training crash in 1918. The WWI Centennial Committee for New York City and the East Coast Doughboys (eastcoastdoughboys.com) are the curators of Grant’s footlocker. It contains hundreds of letters, photographs, documents, possessions, and ephemera. The contents will be posted here as the project unfolds.

Milestones

Birth: 22 September 1897, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Parents: David Curtis Grant (bank executive, Lincoln National Bank) and Gertrude Grant

Nearby museums

Other History Museums in New York

Show All

Comments

31 May will be 102nd anniversary of Duncan's death at age 20. I'm trying to think of an appropriate way to mark the anniversary. Probably read some of his letters on video. Any ideas? Post here.