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Marie Force, Archives Manager, Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum
Airline archivists and historians in the U.S. gathered for the first time in March, at a two-day conference hosted by Southwest Airlines in Dallas, Texas. Unlike other conferences which include military and civilian aviation, this meeting focused on commercial aviation.
Left: Dining under the propellors of American's Douglas DC-3 plane at the C.R. Smith Museum. Photo courtesy Michael Bludworth
Corporate staff came from Alaska/Horizon, American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines. Archivists and board members attended from museums and universities with archives of historic airlines, including Braniff, Northwest, Pan Am and TWA. Archivists from aircraft manufacturer Boeing, a longtime partner of many airlines, also joined us.
Highlights included a tour of Southwest’s corporate headquarters to see archives put into practical use in displays throughout the building. The C.R. Smith American Airlines Museum hosted a reception and dinner, and the Frontiers of Flight Museum conducted a post-conference tour. Guest speaker industry consultant George Hamlin gave a presentation on the “changing face of commercial aviation.”
It was exciting to meet and start building relationships, but also bittersweet at times. We unexpectedly lost Brian Lusk, Southwest’s corporate historian, who passed away two weeks prior to the meeting. It was his enthusiasm, planning and hard work that made this meeting possible which Southwest Airlines held in his memory.
Brian’s legacy lives on, though! We plan to hold an organizational meeting in the Fall, then annual meetings in rotating locations with attendees from more institutions joining us. We look forward to working together to preserve and share the stories of the airlines!
Right: Viewing some of the many artifacts and historical images that fill hallways, lobbies and new culture-themed conference rooms at Southwest's headquarters. Photo courtesy Marie Force
Left: Conference Attendees in Southwest headquarters lobby. Photo courtesy Southwest Airlines
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