About the archive

Departure 1903 is a photography archive of early American flight. The garments exist so the plates and the names on them can leave the archive and be worn, but the story comes first.

The collection is organized one decade at a time, because that is how the history actually moves. The 1900s begin on the dunes at Kill Devil Hills, where the Wrights ran their camp and made the four flights of December 17, 1903. Later decades open as their plates and captions are ready.

Every garment is drawn from an original plate or a real name from the record, and each one carries the correction the archive was built on: the first flight did not happen at Kitty Hawk.