John Franklin Bruce Carruthers (August 31, 1889 – January 13, 1960) was a reverend who ministered to early aviators. His son, John Franklin Bruce Carruthers, presented the Carruthers Aviation Collection to Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, California, in 1950. Through subsequent gifts and purchases the collection contains about 4,000 volumes. He was the chaplain to the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation, in Los Angeles, California.

Early life

He was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, on August 31, 1889, to James B. Carruthers and Anna Wood. He received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1912. He received his A.M. from Princeton in 1917 and later graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Career

From 1919 to 1924, he was head of the Bible Department at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1933, he was the research assistant of Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid, president of the University of Southern California.

Affiliations

Carruthers was a member of the aviation fraternity, Alpha Eta Rho and served as its national historian.

Publications