Minimum weight design of aerospace structres has evolved during the past two decades into a rather rigorous scientific discipline that permits the rational selection of structural configurations and materials for various design requirements. Because of the pertinence of this body of literature to the structural design of advanced aerospace vehicles, a comprehensive bibliography of published literature on optimim structural design has been compiled and reviewed herein. In Part 1, a critical historical review highlights the significant advances in the literature concerned with analytical optimum design techniques for various structural elements, materials and thermal protection systems. The annotated bibliography is contained in Part 2. In Part 3, the current state of the art of the theory of optimum structural and thermostructural design is assessed. Included are the derivation of design indices resulting from various design requirements, a generalized presentation of optimum design theory and preferred methods of presenting optimum design results. (Author).