Exhibit No. 03 — The Ledger
A life ruled in ink, 1879 — Present
Every entry below is drawn from the workshop books and the field journal. The archive presents them in the order Black himself kept: plainly, and without ornament.
1879
A machinist's son
Matthew Black is born in Dayton, Ohio, third son of a locomotive machinist. By twelve he can bore a cylinder true to the thousandth.
1896
The bicycle trade
Black apprentices at a bicycle works on West Third Street, two doors from the Wright Cycle Company. He and Wilbur Wright first argue — then agree — about the problem of balance.
1899
The glider
Black joins the workshop in Dayton, sketching airfoil curves with Orville. The first glider is designed on a shared set of boards.
1900
First season at Kitty Hawk
Black travels with the crates to North Carolina. He records sixty-two tethered flights and coins the workshop rule: "The sand does not lie."
1901
The failed glider
Tests at the sand dunes disappoint. Black's notes record a stalling pitch that no one can yet explain. The brothers nearly abandon the work; Black talks them back to the tables.
1902
The wind tunnel
A small wind tunnel is built from a starch box and a fan wheel. Black measures lift across eighty wing sections, correcting the brothers' data and the published tables alike.
1903
The engine
No manufacturer will build a motor light enough. Black machines the crankcase from a single block of aluminum in six weeks. Finished weight: 183 pounds.
1903
The first flight
On 17 December, four flights from the rail at Kill Devil Hills — the longest 852 feet in 59 seconds. Black's hand wrote the final entries on the launch rail.
1908
The return
After the Fort Myer crash, Black returns to Dayton to refit the demonstration machine and opens a small pattern shop of his own on Third Street.
1916
The last commission
Black builds wind gauges for the Army Signal Corps, then quietly retires from aviation. He tells a reporter: "I was present at the one that mattered."
1961
The archive
Black formally deeds his field journal, tools, and corner-mounted photographs to the newly founded Wright Archive, serving as its first honorary archivist. He remains a familiar presence in the reading room.