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Archives at The Museum of Flight


Northwest Airlines, Inc.

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1926 - 2010

Historical Note

Northwest Airlines was a major United States airline from 1926 to 2010. Initially established as Northwest Airways, Inc. it became Northwest Airlines in 1933. From 1947 through 1986, the airline was referred to as Northwest Orient Airlines between 1947 and 1986. The word 'Orient' was used after the airlines expanded their route map to include flights to Asia. It was removed from the airline name after the 1986 merger with Republic Airlines. The airline ceased operations when it was acquired and merged into Delta Air Lines.

Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:

Elaine P. Austin Northwest Orient Airlines Flight Attendant Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2013-05-07
Contents of the Collection The Elaine P. Austin Northwest Orient Airlines (NWA) Flight Attendant Collection is relatively small and comprised of primarily textual materials with some photographs. The bulk of the material was collected by Austin during her flight attendant career with Northwest Orient Airlines from 1960-1965.Textual materials include a large amount of stewardess training materials, including instructions for various safety procedures, aircraft layouts, and assorted work sheets from stewardess...
Dates: 1922-1961; Majority of material found within 1959-1961
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Mary Christensen Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2000-09-13
Contents of the Collection

The collection includes route maps, schedules, and brochures by Northwest Airlines and Western Air Lines, circa 1940s. Materials from both airlines feature the Douglas DC-4 and DC-3 aircraft in their promotional art. Also included is a Souvenir Air Log by Northwest Airlines, which unfolds to a reversible map that features domestic and international routes along with trivia about the science of air travel.

Dates: Circa 1945-1950
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2018-00-00-23
Abstract

The Commercial Airlines Collection is an artificial collection comprised of textual, visual, and audiovisual materials of commercial airlines from around the world, 1910s-2020s.

Dates: 1910s-2020s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Norman Damborg Lockheed and Northwest Airlines Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 1984-12-28-B
Contents of the Collection

The collection is comprised of Northwest Airlines and Northwest Orient Airlines promotional material highlighting Lockheed aircraft. A Lockheed-Northwest Sales Development Material kit includes three lithographs and a photograph of Lockheed military and commercial aircraft. The collection also includes a Northwest Orient Airlines in-flight entertainment booklet containing puzzles and trivia about the Lockheed Super Constellation.

Dates: Circa 1950s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Don Gray Northwest Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1995-04-27
Contents of the Collections

The collection is comprised of a Northwest Airlines Souvenir Flight Packet containing tickets, timetables, brochures, route maps, decal, postcards, and assorted travel receipts. Packet was received during a Northwest Airlines flight between New York and Seattle in July, 1954. Most of the brochures and postcards feature a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser.

Dates: 1954
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

David R. Hellyer Pan Am Clipper Club Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2024-00-00-32
Content Description The David R. Hellyer Pan Am Clipper Club Collection is a small collection consisting of materials collected by Hellyer as a child traveling between Tacoma, Washington and Asia in the early 1950s. The materials demonstrate how air travel, especially aboard Pan Am Clippers, captured his imagination as a child. Included are drawings by Hellyer of airplanes, a photograph of his Kindergarten class in Tacoma which had a child's drawing of an airplane on view, and an air-travel themed...
Dates: 1951-1953, 1969
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Northwest Airlines Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2009-07-14-A
Contents of the Collection The Northwest Airlines Collection consists primarily of company personnel, promotional, and flight service materials produced by Northwest Airlines from 1975 to 2007. The collection contains textual, audiovisual and visual materials. Formats include videocassettes, an audiocassette, slides, and photographs. In addition, there are an assortment of promotional materials, some of which are posters that picture company aircraft and early company logos. There are documents related to personnel...
Dates: 1975-2007
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Richard Pemberton Northwest Orient Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 2013-10-03
Contents of the Collection The Richard Pemberton Northewest Orient Airlines Collection is a small collection comprised of materials compiled by Richard Pemberton, a flight dispatcher for Northwest Orient Airlines (NWA), during his career. The material includes textual materials and photographs.The textual materials include flight dispatcher seniority lists, 1947-1984; navigational charts; records of aircraft dispatchers flight tours, 1976-1986; photocopies of flight planning tables; a NWA News newsletter,...
Dates: 1940s-1980s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

Alex R. Polson Northwest Orient Airlines Collection

 Collection — Folder 1
Identifier: 1989-07-06-A
Contents of the Collection The Alex R. Polson Northwest Orient Airlines Collection is a small collection comprised of textual marketing materials from Northwest Airlines and Northwest Orient Airlines, collected between 1948-1956. Included are a souvenir Flight Kit, maps, postcards, and brochures. There are also timetables with fares for various routes, predominantly for service to Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, and China. Materials feature several aircraft that began commercial service in the late 1940s, including the Boeing...
Dates: 1948-1956
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

James Sterling Commercial Airlines Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 1992-01-21
Contents of the Collection The James Sterling Commercial Airlines Collection is comprised of commercial airline ephemera printed between 1930 and 1990, such as route maps, flight schedules, postcards, flight kits, decals, catalogs, brochures, air sickness bags and calendars. The materials were items provided to customers by various airlines, predominantly ones with international routes, including: Pan American World Airways, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, TWA, Northwest Orient Airlines, Mexicana De Aviacion,...
Dates: 1940s to 1980s
Found in: The Museum of Flight Archives

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