The Howard Hughes Public Relations Photograph Collection depicts the activities of businessman Howard Hughes from 1930 to 1950. The photographs primarily depict aircraft flown by Hughes or designed by the Hughes Aircraft Company, including the XF-11 reconnaissance plane, the HK-1 Hercules (or "Spruce Goose"), and the Hughes H-1 Racer. The photographs also depict celebrations following Hughes's circumnavigation flight in New York City, New York and Chicago, Illinois in 1938. Lastly, the photographs include Hughes testifying in front of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in 1947.
Lily Pons (left), Howard Hughes (center), and an unidentified man (right) at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Text printed on an attached strip of paper: "Noted flier and his hostess at cocktail party Los Angeles, Cal. -- Howard Hughes, noted flier, with Lily Pons, singing star, as he attended the cocktail party given by Miss Pons at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Credit Line (ACME) 11/8/38 NY LOND PAR."
Howard Hughes (second from left) standing in front of the experimental helicopter XH-17, Flying Crane in October 1952. From left to right: Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Howard Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, Air Research and Development Headquarters, Baltimore; Gale J. Moore, Pilot; and Chal Bowen, Flight Engineer/Co-pilot.
Typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "As Howard Hughes Was Welcomed to Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Cal. -- Mayor Frank L. Shaw of Los Angeles, Howard Hughes, Will Hays, "Czar" of the movies, and Governor Frank Merriam of California (left to right) are pictured at the luncheon in the Biltmore Hotel which followed the wild ovation for Hughes and his four companions on his record-smashing world flight as they arrived in Los Angeles from their triumph from the East. Credit Line (ACME) 8/2/38"