University of Dayton students had the rare opportunity to access archives at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in February to complete their capstone history research projects. The visit, a first for UD students, was made possible by UD alumnus Samuel Lynch ’25, a museum curator.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, is the world's largest military aviation museum.
Peter Casper, a senior history major from Evanston, Illinois, is completing a capstone project about the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, using local archival materials.
“The impressive spectacle of seeing the military equipment made the trip a really valuable experience for my classmates and me,” Casper said. “Getting to work hands-on with the archivists at Wright-Patt is going to greatly benefit our research projects.”
Caroline Waldron, associate professor in the UD Department of History, has for many years taken her capstone seminar class to various archives in the Dayton area, including the UD Archives, Wright State Dunbar Library Special Collections and Archives, the Marian Library and others. These repositories give students access to primary sources vital to their research.
“The connections Peter and other students have made in the class and through the archives are a great example of experiential learning, which is at the core of our Marianist mission,” said Waldron, who also serves as UD Women’s and Gender Studies coordinator.
The Wright-Patterson archives house an enormous amount of original material — from oral histories and art, to government propaganda and American POWs’ diaries, as well as newsreel footage — as part of the U.S. Library of Congress’ Manuscript Division.
“I think the richness of the Miami Valley and the openness of community connections among these institutions is wonderful,” Waldron said.
Lynch, who holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UD, interned in the museum archives as an undergraduate student. He was hired as a reference curator for the museum’s research division in January 2025. Lynch is working toward a master's degree in library and information science and plans to continue working at the base to help digitize their collections.
Lynch, who has a fascination for the development of technology, cites his family's military lineage and his time at UD for influencing his career choice. Waldron’s disaster capitalism course and UD Assistant Professor Daniel Vandersommers’ animal history course invigorated Lynch’s interest in the past.
“Having been a student fairly recently and also still working on my master's, I know the things students working on history capstone projects are going to be looking for, and the holes left when only looking at online resources,” Lynch said. “I have a good knowledge of our collection, so I can sort those documents and resources that will fill those gaps for the students.”
Waldron’s history capstone seminar this year focuses on American politics, culture and society post-1945. Students selected topics ranging from the development of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company to national peace activism efforts. After being introduced to properly handling archival materials, which include newspapers, photographs, records and documents, students are admitted into local archives.
Students will present their findings April 22 at the Brother Joseph W. Stander Symposium, an annual University event to showcase academic research and artistic projects.
“I think UD does a fantastic job of offering students opportunities to get out into the field and experience what they're learning, rather than just sitting in the classroom hearing about it,” Lynch said.
“It's one thing to hear a historian lecture on the Cold War; it's another thing to go into an archive or museum and see all the artifacts and documents that a historian has made their life's work on.”